A ROYAL PERFORMANCE | Bikesportnz

It doesn’t get much better than this.

The high-profile MXDK Rockstar Yamaha Motocross Team is now on top in all four classes after the second of four rounds in this year’s Demon Energy New Zealand Motocross Championships near Morrinsville on Sunday.

Motueka’s Josh Coppins finished overall runner-up in the MX1 class at the Patetonga track on Sunday but this was still good enough for him to extend his lead at the top of the championship standings.

Coppins is now six points clear at the top, ahead of new No.2 rider Cody Cooper (Power Balance Suzuki), of Mount Maunganui.

And it was another truly dominating performance from Waitakere’s Ethan Martens (MXDK Rockstar Yamaha), who topped the podium in both the 125cc and under-21 championship standings with a stunning hat-trick of wins on Sunday.

But a lot of the chatter in the pits was centred on the performance of semi-retired MXDK Rockstar Yamaha Team boss Darryll King, racing a two-stroke YZ250 against the young guns on their 250cc four-strokes in the talent-packed MX2 (250cc) class.

Only an occasional racer these days, as the 42-year-old father-of-two concentrates instead on team management, it was a much-debated and last-minute decision for him to even enter the national series.

But now, after winning the day at the Patetonga track on Sunday, King is top of the MX2 standings.

King finished 1-3-2 in his three races on Sunday, leapfrogging the two Australian “stars” and taking over the championship lead. King had been third overall at the start of the day, 12 points behind Kiama’s Cody Mackie (Timaru Honda) and four points behind Sydney’s Daniel McCoy (Power Balance Suzuki), but now he’s on top, three points clear of Mackie.

“As a team manager I am naturally overjoyed to be leading all the classes,” said King afterwards.

“As for my one performance, I just rode sensibly and didn’t take too many risks today and that seemed to get the job done. My energy levels were getting a bit low near the end of the day and I’m surprised that I could beat these riders on a track that would have favoured the four-stroke bikes.”

There is now a small break before round three, set for Rotorua on March 20, with the fourth and final round scheduled for Taranaki on March 27.

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