Motocross Feature

The 2013 MX2 Motocross championship win has been a long time coming for both rider Luke Styke and team Manager Michael Marty who have both experienced the pain of just missing out on championships in the past couple of years.

For Luke Styke this championship is the culmination of years of hard work that has seen him rise from a privateer racer at the start of 2011 to Championship winner this year.

Styke is not stranger to championship success winning the 2009 Under 19s championship, a victory he celebrated with one of the biggest heel clickers that you will ever see over the old 130 foot table top on the exit of the first turn at Coolum. Styke then spent 2010 in the Pro Lites class with a support ride along side the GYTR Yamaha team before going back as a full privateer in 2011.

An injury to Ford Dale near the end of the 2011 season, seen the Serco Yamaha team offer Styke Dales vacant bike for the remainder of the season and though he did not blow everyone away with his results, he showed that he was willing to put the work in and work hard for the results that he knew he could achieve.

The Serco Yamaha team saw enough in the final stages of the MX season as well as the Supercross season to offer Styke a full time ride in 2012 and he did not disappoint, dominating the majority of the season, before bad luck struck in the final rounds of the season with Styke eventually missing the championship win by the smallest of margins.

With the believe that he was the best rider in 2012 and the determination to make up for last years lost in 2013, Styke has come out and dominated the MX2 class this year, winning 9 out of 8 rounds to date to clinch the championship on the weekend at Toowoomba.

Read below as we catch up with Both Luke Styke and team Manager Michael Marty to chat about the 2013 season and finally capturing the title that Serco last won in 2007 with Jake Moss and have finished runner up in over the past three seasons.

Fullnoise: First up congrats on the win, it is now three days since you won the title, has it started to sink in what you have achieved?

Styke: Thanks, It certainly feels good to win the championship, but at the moment the ball keeps rolling, we still have a round of the motocross to go and then Supercross starts just two weeks after. There is not much time to have a rest or have a vacation, we have to just keep pushing forward.

It is a great feeling for sure, but at the moment we just have to keep working and pushing on.

Fullnoise: You sealed the title with a win in the first moto on the weekend, what was going through your mind as you closed in on Makeham in the final lap and made the move for the race and championship win.

Styke: I was not really thinking about the championship going into that race, I knew sitting on the gate that if I wont that race I would win the championship.

Makeham got a good start and pulled a bit of a gap early. It took me until half way through the moto to start to get him back. With about 10 minutes to go, I started to find my form and pick up my speed and my lap times and got up on to his back wheel.

I knew I was quicker on the down hill, but I didn't want use that option early on and saved it until the last lap.

I ran him high enough, but clean enough to make sure I got a better drive back up the hill than him and pulled five-six bike lengths which was enough with just five corners to go and just enjoyed it.

Fullnoise: You could have easily taken second place in the first moto then cruised to the championship win in the second moto, that is not your style and you went 1-1 on the day, how important was it to you to win the title by again dominating the round?

Styke:It is very important, I know if I am not winning by 20-30 seconds here in Australia I am not going to have any chance overseas. My plan all year has been to win every weekend by a good margin so I can get the ride I am after and progress overseas.

Fullnoise: This championship has come from a lot of hard work and determination over the past couple of years. How much does this title mean to you after making your way back as a privateer in 2011 before missing the title by the smallest of margins last year.

Styke:Not Winning the title this year was not an option. All the hard work, the preparation and everything I dealt with at the start of the season, it just had to be done. I told myself at the start of the year that the only option was to get it done.

Fullnoise: You have a great team around you with Serco Yamaha, how important is having a team that is fully committed to you when it comes to racing for a title.

Styke:It is so important to surround yourself with successful and positive people, I have got a positive trainer, I have positive friends a positive girl friend and the team is super positive as well and it shows in the results.

If you have negative people around you, telling you bad things and telling you what to do all the time it is going to show on the track. Having the right team around you and the right support group is a major key of being successful in motocross.

Team manger Michael Marty and Rab Jones have been great and it just goes back to having positive people and enjoying it.

Fullnoise: With the Championship sealed you will be lining up in both the MX1 and MX2 classes this weekend, what are you looking to achive results wise on the 450, and how important is it for you to try and give the team a perfect 10 from 10 round wins in the MX2 class for the season?

Styke: This weekend is going to be good for the team, I will be heading to Coolum to just enjoy it. I really want to win the MX2 and finish off the season for the team and what ever happens on the 450 happens.

I will be racing both classes which will mean I will be doing an hour and ten minutes of racing on both bikes on Sunday. I don't know what my results are going to be like on the 450, but I will be up there to enjoy it, make sure I win the 250 class and have fun on the 450.

I am not going out there to light the world on fire, hopefully I can get a good start and mix it up with the boys early.

Fullnoise: Will you get a chance to celebrate the win this weekend or is it business as usual with SX fast approching and what are you goals for this years SX season?

Styke:It is just going to be work as usual and ill have my vaction and holiday at the end of the year once Supercross is over.

My intentions are to win the Supercross Championship. The team really did just want to focus on getting the motocross championship done and that is done now, so now we will focus on Supercross and now and put our best results forward.

Fullnoise: Finally how are things progressing for 2014, are you any closer to finalising a deal that will see you racing overseas?

Styke:We are getting real close at the moment, I can't leak to much out but it is still my intention to go racing MX2 next year in the World MXGP's and we are getting there.

Fullnoise: Thanks for your time Luke, Hopefully everything works out for you and we can follow you online next year in the World Motocross Championship.

Styke:Thank you appreciate it.

SERCO TEAM MANAGER MICHAEL MARTY

Fullnoise: It has been a few days since you claimed the championship win, talk us through the emotions you went through when Styke crossed the line to take the moto win and championship win at the end of the first moto at Toowoomba?

Marty:It was a great feeling to finally get the championship win, we had come so close last year and it all went wrong. It was great to see Luke finally get what he deserved the year before.

Sometimes you don't get a second chance to win a title, anything can go wrong like injuries or other issues, but it was good to seem again as the strongest rider this year and get the win.

Fullnoise:What was going through your mind when Luke closed in on Makeham and made the pass for the lead.

Marty:Luke wanted to win that race, he is not a rider who settles for second, I knew he was going to go for it the whole time. I did think he was running out of time. I had given up on it happening in that race pretty much and thought we were going to the second moto, but I knew Luke would have been trying the whole time.

It was exciting to see him make the pass for the lead on the final lap, when he made the pass he stood Kale up in the corner and from where I was standing, what I seen was Kale just about going over the berm, right there and then I knew with just half a lap to go Kale was not going to have the time to make a move back on Luke.

It was at that point that I knew that he had it.

Fullnoise: You were understandably emotional after winning the championship. How important was this championship to the team after coming so close in the previous few years?

Marty:It means a lot. A lot of work goes into it, to finally get the reward you try for every year, previously to this we have come second three years in a row and last years second place was pretty hard to take, so it definitely meant a lot to get the championship win this year

Fullnoise: With the championship wrapped up a round early do you have any special plans for the final round in Coolum this weekend?

Marty:We do have something a little special planned for this weekend, Luke will double up and race both his 250F and will also race the MX1 class on the 450 and give it everything he has got.

It will be a bit of a busy truck this weekend, we have Luke riding both bikes and also a quest rider from the Suzuki Race Safe team who will be riding one of our bikes in the Veterans class this weekend.

Fullnoise: Sounds like it will be a cool weekend, looking forward to seeing Luke out there on the 450.

Marty: It should be good.