just go and get the holeshot and run away!’ spacer between engine cases and reed cage. The reeds were preproduction carbon. Exhaust pipes and silencers came from SPES in Belgium and we had a couple of different versions to start with, but in the end, Shayne had just one favourite.’ ‘The ignitions were Kokusan, with cdi’s that could also be modified via computer. The radiators were slightly wider than standard for enhanced cooling. The brakes were standard, but the master cylinders and pistons were handpicked by BREMBO. Brake pads front were TOSHIBA sinter and EBC organic rear, and the discs were standard.’
Thinking about the plan and executing it are two very different things though, and it wasn’t long before reality kicked in: ‘I got the holeshot and ran away for the first few laps, and all of a sudden I started to have “don’t crash” thoughts and I just started going backwards, to 2nd, then 3rd, and 4th then 5th. I thought “not good!” But then I regrouped I guess, and back then the races were 45 minutes long; that’s a long time to think about winning the championship.’ When King crossed the finish line in 5th, the Kiwi had just realised his dream of becoming world champion, the first ever from New Zealand.
History Maker Heading into the final round at Gaildorf, Germany, King held a 33-point lead, with 50 still up for grabs. Were there any nerves? No! King’s plan was to go out and do what he’d already being doing: ‘My thoughts were the same as always, 78
‘Probably the hardest race of the year was that first race at Gaildorf, and it showed in my result. It was weird. Up to that point everything felt so natural, but after the first two or three laps of that first race, it all felt so unusual, like all of a sudden I’m in this different zone
of being this racer that had to protect himself because I was afraid of losing everything that I’d done.’ As kids who race motorcycles, we all have this dream of one day becoming world champion, and Shayne King was no different. The reality is that not everybody gets to realise that dream. For King, his dream came true: ‘At 16 years-old I wrote down on a piece of paper that I wanted to be world champion before I was 25 years-old. I got my dad to sign it and then I put it away; I’ve still got it today. The day before my 25th birthday, on September 8th 1996, I won the world championship. I was 24! (The final round of the championship was September 8th, Shayne turned 25 a day later). So, for me it was my childhood dream that became a reality, because I worked hard and fought for everything that you need to fight for when you’ve got a dream like that; my dream came true.’ Photos: Shayne King’s