Shock body malfunction caused Roczen to hit the deck

Further evaluation needed for Roczen after Nashville crash

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 Competition Post: Kellen Brauer

After a violent crash ended Ken Roczen’s main event in Nashville, the Progressive Ecstar Suzuki team stated he suffered bruising in his knee, ankle and toes. Roczen has now further stated that he will get MRIs done on Monday and is unsure of his current timetable to return to racing.

The crash happened on the eighth lap of the main event when Roczen was right behind race leader Eli Tomac. When landing a big triple before the whoops, Roczen’s bike began smoking. Roczen was able to make it all the way through the whoops before ejecting over the end of the whoops to the flat ground.

“I thought bull riding would be more fun,” said Roczen. “Getting some MRIs on Monday. Knee, ankle and toes got all of it. What a bummer. It was shaping up to be a good battle. But once again you can’t take an ol’ German oak out just like that. We’ll be back. I just don’t know when yet.”

The root cause for the crash and why the bike was smoking was due to a shock malfunction. The team stated it was a component failure, and Roczen further clarified what happened.

“We are doing some investigation as my shock body only had about three hours on it and we have never seen it malfunction like that,” said Roczen. “It wasn’t a seal or anything. The bottom cap/housing or whatever you want to call it completely exploded.”

Further updates will be made available after Roczen has received more evaluation tomorrow. Roczen is currently sixth in 450SX standings with three races left to go, but it seems likely he might not be ready for round 15 in Philadelphia next week.