King Going From Strength to Strength

KING GOING FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH

Otorohanga’s Aaron King (Honda), who topped the podium in the 14-16 years’ 250cc class at the weekend. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com

OCTOBER 8, 2014: Otorohanga’s Aaron King is going from strength to strength.

He excelled in contrasting conditions in two different parts of the world, all within a hectic seven-day period, and now hopes he can continue the momentum.

The young motocross rider last week made his first racing foray overseas and, at the weekend, he returned to totally dominate the 14-16 years’ 250cc class at the Otorohonda-sponsored North Island Junior Motocross Championships, on the outskirts of Te Kuiti.

The 16-year-old King took his Honda CRF250 to contest the Australian Junior Motocross Championships last week, finishing a creditable seventh overall against some extremely classy opposition, but the icing on the cake was scoring a hat-trick of wins in front of friends and family on his home turf on Sunday.

King said the Australia experience was a real eye-opener and, if it weren’t for a couple of incidents on the track, he may well have finished on the podium across the Tasman.

“It was my first time overseas and I wasn’t sure what to expect,” said King, a year 12 pupil at Te Awamutu College, who was also crowned national junior cross-country champion earlier this season.

“There were a couple of faster riders than me in Australia, but I could have finished among the top three or four. I crashed in one of my races and that cost me a lot. It all came down to the starts, because there weren’t a lot of places where you could pass.”

Then, switching from the dry of Australia to the rain and mud of New Zealand at the weekend, King was quick to adapt.

But King (Team King Country Racing Honda) was untouchable at the weekend, easily finishing ahead of Te Puke’s Jovhann Phillips and Masterton’s Sam Guise.

“I had the lead in every race (at the North Island Junior Championships) by the second corner and, after that, it was just a matter of staying smooth and keeping upright in the mud,” said King.

“I was on the start line and looked down at my rear wheel before the start of the last race of the weekend and noticed I had a flat tyre. That caused a bit of a panic. We quickly swapped to my other bike, but it could have been a disaster.”

The New Zealand Junior Motocross Championships will be staged at the same Te Kuiti circuit in six months’ time, in April 2015, and King will be looking for a repeat performance.

King is also contemplating what he’ll do for the upcoming New Zealand Senior Motocross Championships in February and March – “I’m not sure what bike yet, but I will either race the 125cc class or the MX2 (250cc) class”.

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

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