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Photo - Darryll King and Daryl Hurley at the Auckland MX Champs, locked in a battle that is set to continue in the Aussie Maxxis:
Words and Pic by Terry Stevenson
The 2005 Maxxis Australian Mr Motocross championship will be raced over eight rounds, beginning at Wonthaggi on Sunday. With defending champion Darryll King (Hamilton) recovering from a serious foot injury, the door is wide open for riders to capitalize and put maximum points on the board in the early rounds - before DK fully recovers. And he will. King broke a major bone in his left foot in a December 28 racing tangle with world MX1 number 3, Josh Coppins. After spending six weeks in plaster, the CDR Boost Yamaha rider is now back into his training routine, but doesn’t expect to be fully fit for the first one or two rounds.
Not only are Australia’s best riders lining up to fill the gap, but several Kiwis think they have a stake in Australasia’s premier motocross championship too.
Second in Pro Open last year, Shayne King (New Plymouth) is riding a Honda CRF450 out of a satellite team for the huge Team Moto dealership group, based from the Shogun Honda shop in Brisbane. And like most Kiwis who do the series, SK will fly to every race from NZ.
“It’s kind of easy. Australia is pretty close which makes it good.” Shayne King said, who hasn’t raced a lot in NZ recently because of family and business commitments. “But the last month I’ve been pushing pretty hard so there’s no reason why I won’t be out front with Darryll, Hurley and Ando. You never know, it’s a different year this year and a lot of things can happen.”
“My goal is to fight for the championship. I haven’t won an Australian championship, other than a four-stroke title, so the motocross championship is definitely one of the things I want to achieve in Australia. I don’t want to say it, but I’d sacrifice a NZ title for an Australian title, just to have that on my resume. It’s something I’ve always wanted, and it’s about really wanting it, and this year I’ve got the bit between my teeth again.”
That’s a big statement coming from a former world champion, wanting an Australian title so bad! “It’s been so close every year I’ve been there, and Darryll has beaten me every time. Then I come to NZ where I’ve been beating Darryll the last three years, it’s hard to swallow. We race head-to-head over there and race head-to-head here - I’ve won here, he’s won there. I just feel I need to give myself another challenge and to win an Australian championship is something that will give me that challenge.”
“Ando (Craig Anderson) is going to be a fearsome competitor and it’s going to be good to see if Darryll and myself can be up to speed with him, I don’t see any reason why not. Same with Hurley.”
Boost CDR Yamaha YZ450F rider Darryll King clinched his third Australian Pro Open Motocross title last year. The 36 year old starts this year injured, but definitely not out. Will his broken foot be strong enough come race day?
“I’d love to still win that title this year, however I have to be realistic. I’ve surprised myself - now I’ve spent some time on the bike. It’s only taken a week to get back up to 80-90% of my race speed, so hopefully, with another couple of weeks still to go, I will be able to increase that even more,” Darryll King said. “I will most likely be strong enough. The pain is going to be biggest thing - how I deal with pain on that day, like, even when I ride now it feels like there’s a knife in there!” DK is realistic about what he can achieve at the first two rounds, saying it is unlikely he can win both races. All he needs to do is bag as many points so as possible to catch up from round three onwards.
After two big seasons on the US circuit, DK rates Craig Anderson (Australia) as his strongest competitor, ahead of Shayne King and Daryl Hurley (Hawera). Shayne pushed him hard last year, so how does he cope racing against his brother? “We treat each other as any other competitor on the track. Shayne has always been like that, I’ve always been like that, and we respect each other as well. If he leaves a gap open, and he knows he does, I’m up there. The same thing, he’s always looking for that gap I leave open on the track somewhere.”
Darryll tested his 2005 YZ450F just before his crash, saying it was even better than last year’s machine. But as an Ohlins factory suspension developer, it should be, “We are using top-of-the-line suspension now, it’s bigger, works better, it doesn’t bottom the way it used to before and the wheel stays on the ground over the bumps. We also use a Rinaldi factory kitted YZ450F engine - supplied from Italy. It’s an awesome engine, nice and smooth, heaps of torque, heaps of top end.”
But can he make it inside the top three come round eight? “It all depends on how many points I lose in the first one or two rounds. I might totally surprise myself. I might go to the first two rounds and do better than my expectations.”
Daryl Hurley is also back from two years in the US, and has already been testing his Shift Motul Suzuki RM-Z450. Hurley was near unbeatable at Woodville and Patetonga recently on an out-of-the-box RM-Z450, and won his second NZ title within the space of four months as he wrapped up the NZ 250 Supercross series in January. Hurley blitzed the field in a show of talent not seen for some time.
Hurley said, “I want to win the Australian Supercross and Motocross championships this year. This year I’m on a proper motocross bike so I’m definitely going to do the job. I’ve had a really good build-up, so I’m ready for it.”
Hurley clearly likes his new bike, which has “Plenty of horsepower” and “Steers like a two-stroke.” “I’ve just got back from Australia from a week of testing. I’ve got a new suspension kit in the 450 over there and I feel way more comfortable now. It’s definitely got the horsepower, as much as the Honda - in the right area. I think we’ve got a really good bike.” And like the others, Hurley rates Craig Anderson as his closest competitor.
Pro Lites
Cody Cooper (Tauranga) blitzed the 2004 Pro Lite class on his No Fear Honda Australia CRF250, so what was his secret? “Probably just training with Shayne, and with Darren Henderson. We went training all the time - most weekends, just doing fitness because they have 30 minute motos. Over here it’s like 20 minutes, so at the end of 20 mins over there they sort of get tired and that’s where the race is won most of the time.” Cooper said, who is standing up on the bike more. He also pulls the clutch in on his four-stroke on each corner, to roll more. “I haven’t seen many people doing that, so it’s something different I think.”
And who will be your biggest competition this year? “There are quite a few, Troy Dorron (team-mate), Troy Carroll has moved down from the open class, and he won it the year before me so he’ll be winning, and then there’s the runner up last year, Cam Taylor. I should be up there hopefully. I know there’s going to be some tough competition so I am just getting prepared for it.”
Cooper, 21, has a goal. “I want to go to Europe next year and try to become the world champion in the following years and then go to America after that probably. That’s what I want to do.” But watch out, his goal this year is to win the Pro Lites championship, again.
2005 Maxxis Australian Motocross Championship calendar:
Rd1 March 20 Wonthaggi, Vic
Rd2 April 10 Horsham, Vic
Rd3 April 24 Toowoomba, Qld
Rd4 May 1 Coolum, Qld
Rd5 May 22 Newcastle, NSW
Rd6 June 12 Penguin, Tas
Rd7 June 26 Gillman, SA
Rd8 July 3 Conondale, Qld
