HEADED TO AMERICA | Bikesportnz

Waikato’s Darryll King is on his way to America to chase glory in the Veterans’ Motocross World Championships.

The 41-year-old former world motocross No.2 will arrive at Glen Helen, California, for the United States Grand Prix this weekend, round three of the Veterans’ World Championships, a series sharing the programme with what will also be round six of the MX1 and MX2 world championships.

The USGP at Glen Helen is the first time a motocross world championship event has been staged in that country in 11 years and comes as a welcome return to many of the ‘old timers’ with fond memories of their years at the very top of the sport in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

“I just felt like it would be a cool challenge,” said King, who raced his way to No.2 in the 500cc world championships on two separate occasions, in 1997 and 1998.

King is also a multi-time champion in New Zealand and in Australia and still features among the top contenders in the premier MX1 and MX2 classes whenever he races in New Zealand. King stunned the young Kiwi stars of the sport when he won the MX2 class at the Auckland Motocross Championships in March.

“I haven’t been able to find a break in my busy schedule to include the earlier rounds of the world veterans’ championships,” King explained.

“The dates were changed from the original schedule and that meant I would have had to spend nearly a month in Europe just to do the first two rounds.”

But, even with his winning a world title plainly now impossible this season, King is determined to make an impact at the USGP, a race that’s sure to attract plenty of media attention in the motocross-mad USA.

King will line up this weekend alongside such motocross legends as Swedish Yamaha ace Mats Nilsson, England’s Kurt Nicoll and American former factory riders Doug Dubach, Ty Davis, Gordon Ward, Chuck Sun and Jeff Matiasevich.

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