Waikato’s Darryll King is determined to make it a clean sweep of titles on Sunday for the team that bears his initials.

The MXDK Rockstar Yamaha Team heads to the fourth and final round of this year’s New Zealand Motocross Championships in New Plymouth with a realistic chance of winning all four titles.

Motueka’s Josh Coppins (Yamaha YZ450F) leads the MX1 class by one point from an on-form Cody Cooper (Power Balance MotoGB BikesportNZ.com Suzuki), of Mount Maunganui, and knows he’ll need to be at his best to keep Cooper at bay on Sunday.

“I just need to win some races,” said the 34-year-old matter-of-factly.

Third and fourth overall in this class after three rounds are Honda pair Michael Phillips (Honda Hamilton), of Rotorua, and defending No.1 Justin McDonald (Timaru Honda), of Christchurch.

Coppins’ team-mate in the MX1 class, Hamilton’s Hayden Clark (Yamaha YZ450F), is fifth in the standings and he will also be worth watching this weekend.

After the first two rounds of this year’s championships, King (Yamaha YZ250) was leading the MX2 (250cc) class and, following round three near Rotorua last weekend, he is still in contention.

Although he’s now slipped to second spot, he is only two points behind Australian visitor Daniel McCoy (Power Balance MotoGB BikesportNZ.com Suzuki) and the MX2 title will almost certainly go to one of these men on Sunday afternoon.

“It’s going to be a battle like nothing else this weekend,” said King.

“I grew up on the Barrett Road circuit, so it’s my home track and I know how it needs to be ridden to win there. It was a surprise to be leading the championship after round two and, although I’m second now, I know I can win it on Sunday.”

King’s younger brother Damien King (Yamaha YZ250F), heavily strapped to prevent aggravating his shoulder injury, is also proving to be a solid performer. He is currently sixth in the MX2 title chase and capable of moving up this weekend.

In the 125cc and under-21 years’ classes, raced concurrently but scored separately, it has almost been a one-horse race with the youngest member of the MXDK Rockstar Yamaha Team, Waitakere’s Ethan Martens (YZ125), winning seven of the nine 125cc races thus far.

Martens needs only to keep a cool head on Sunday to bring home both titles.

Credit: Words and photos by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

 

 

Leading championship points standings after three of four rounds:

MX1- Open

1st Josh Coppins –203

2nd Cody Cooper – 202

3rd Michael Phillips – 180

4th Justin McDonald – 150

5th Hayden Clark – 130

6th Mason Wilki – 119

7th Shannon Hewetson – 109

8th Jesse Donnelly- 108

9th Mason Phillips – 92

10th Mitch Rees – 91

MX2 – 250cc

1st Daniel McCoy – 183

2nd Darryl King – 181

3rd Cody Mackie – 158

4th Luke Burkhart- 154

5th Peter Broxholme –  152

6th Damien King – 124

7th Rhys Carter – 120

8th Cameron Dillon – 108

9th Nick Saunders – 107

10th Jesse Wiki – 101

Under 21 – 125cc

1st Ethan Martens (U21) – 211

2nd Scott Barr Smith (U21) – 189

3rd Cameron Negus – 157

4th Tom Managh (U21) – 143

5th Shaun Fogarty – 120

6th Joshua Jack (U21) – 119

7th Hamish Harwood (U21) – 117

8th Dion Picard (U21) – 93

9th Ryan Thompson (U21) – 84

10th Logan Blackburn (U21) – 83