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From - Andy McGechan:
THE RACING GETS DIRTY AT WOODVILLE:
IT\'S once again impossible to look much further than the King family in picking a likely winner of this weekend\'s annual Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville.
For a staggering 11 of the annual event\'s 42 years, New Zealand’s globetrotting King brothers, Darryll and Shayne, have ruled the roost and they are widely tipped to dominate again at this weekend\'s Blue Wing Honda-sponsored event.
Previous Woodville winners have come from the United States, England, Sweden and Australia but Darryll King, the defending champion, is a five-time winner at Woodville and the smart money is on him to repeat this time. The man most likely to keep Hamilton’s Darryll King honest is his younger brother Shayne, the 1996 500cc world champion and a six-time Woodville champion.
Apart from the odd occasion when fellow Kiwi international star Josh Coppins was an interloper – he won at Woodville in 1996, 1999 and 2000 -- the King boys have kept the main prize virtually to themselves since 1988. Coppins is currently in hospital in the United States after breaking both ankles in a supercross crash in Phoenix a fortnight ago.
But, while it should be another King family benefit this weekend, 32-year-old Shayne King admits it gets tougher to win each year.
“I haven\'t actually raced motocross since the Oceania event in December, while I’ve concentrating instead on supercross,” he said. “And, when I first went out to practice this week, it rained. So my riding recently has been in mud.
“I love the Woodville event ... it\'s one of my favourites but I still treat it the same way I have treated every motocross I\'ve raced in the past 24 years (since he started at age eight), going hard and going for the win. Aiming for anything less is a waste of time.”
Though Shayne King always knows to expect a challenge from his elder brother Darryll (Yamaha), he also anticipates a tough time this year from his own Honda team-mates Corrie Sargent (Featherston), Cody Cooper (Opotiki), Peter Broxholme (Tauranga), Paul Whibley (Pahiatua) and Mason Phillips (Te Puke).
“Mason, in particular, has really come on strong lately. I suppose that just shows what can be gained by racing internationally. He paid his own way to race in two German supercross events and rode two Grand Prix events in Europe last season. That sort of competition hones a young man\'s riding skills and gives him confidence.”
But the Honda riders are just some of the more than 500 rider are entered for the two-day event -- juniors and mini motocross riders on the Saturday with the senior programme on Sunday.
The once-terrifying “Gibbes’ Drop” has been reintroduced to the farmland course, the 20-metre sheer cliff-face feature named after the man who founded the Woodville GP in 1961, Palmerston North’s Tim Gibbes.
No longer riding, but still involved in motorcycling, Gibbes will again man the results computer this weekend. His slick system reads the finishing order via an electronic transponder attached to the front forks of the bikes.
The meeting is sponsored by Blue Wing Honda for the first time this year and the company would like nothing better than for Shayne King and his team-mates to put the red brand on top. More than $17,000 is offered in prizemoney.
