10 Mar 2010

It was back to school for Kiwi motocross legend Darryll King last week.

The multi-time former New Zealand and Australian motocross champion took his Subway Yamaha race truck and race bikes, as well as one of the popular Yamaha TTR50 trail bikes, to Southwell School in Hamilton last Friday to help educate the primary school children about bike safety.

"It was the school's Wheels Day and I went along to chat about rider safety, riding gear and to tell them a little bit about my career in Europe and racing this part of the world too," said the 41-year-old King, who is still very much active in the sport with racing and coaching.

King actually went on to convincingly win the MX1 (open) class at the Auckland Motocross Championships just two days later.

"We put on a bit of a show for the kids - about 120 of them, aged between five and seven - and, as a bit of a novelty thing, I raced a TTR50 against their fastest runners… the kids won the race actually," he laughed.

"Then I showed them what a difference it would be if I was on my YZ450F, bike five times the size, and that was really no contest at all, of course. It was all good fun though and done very safely.

"I do three or four school visits like this a year. The children really enjoy it and it helps to introduce them to motorcycles and motorcycling.

"It is actually going to be a very busy year for me. I will try to fit these school visits in between my trips overseas to race the World Veterans' Motocross Championships - the first round is in Italy on April 11 - as well as the rider coaching courses that I run.

"The first 50 customers who purchased a new Yamaha recently were also given entry into my DKMX Riding School for free lessons and I do eight additional coaching days during the year after that. We cater for all ages and abilities and the sessions are very popular."

So it is going to be an extremely busy period for the father-of-two over the next few months as he juggles demonstrations, school visits, rider coaching and international racing as well.