35 years on from Aaron Slight, New Zealand finally has another ASBK champion
Measured for Greatness: Tyler King's historic title arrived with an instant reward — a team ride for 2026-27.
By Kent Gray
It goes without saying that things happen fast in motorbike racing but on the really good days, everything positively whizzes by.
Like Tyler King’s Sunday at Queensland Raceway which started with him eight points behind Riley Nautu in the Australia Supersport 300 Championship and ended, in a flash, atop the shoulders of his father Shawn and mechanic Gavin Veltmeyer as the freshly-minted champion.
King Jnr’s feet had barely touched down from the assisted lift to Cloud 9 when he was being poked and prodded with a tape measure for a new set of leathers. The photos and videos from his emotional, historic title fight were still being uploaded and yet the rising NZSBK star was already being sized up for bigger things.
The Silverdale 19-year-old will race in the baby blue and black colours of Queensland’s Stop and Seal Racing in the next Australian Superbike Championship starting at Phillip Island in October, the richest of rewards after becoming the first Kiwi in 35 years to win an ASBK title.
The last guy to do that? Aaron Slight when the WorldSBK star-in-waiting became the first and thus far only international rider to win ASBK’s premier title in 1991.
“Oh, man, it’s like checking the box, you know? Like you’ve done it, man. First Kiwi in 35 years, dude!” Shawn King told The Final Sector.
“We just hoped he’d be good enough for a big team to pick him up, and that’s what’s happened. We’re with Stop & Seal Racing, with Robbie Bolger — so that’s [Superbike class frontrunner] Cru Halliday, Tom Toparis and Tyler.
“Going forward we’ll be racing with them in Supersport NextGen, in the 600s.”
It was the sweetest of sweet moments in a sport that is all about sacrifice for the caregivers, fiscally, emotionally and with a far greater time investment tax than many other sporting parents would be willing to give.
“We just had a photo, and it was probably about 50 of us,” Shawn said. “They’ve all come over to watch him. It was awesome, man.”
It was indeed. And nerve-jangling all weekend long in Willowbank.
King arrived four points adrift of Riley Nauta after the Queenslander’s five-win streak – three of them during a perfect penultimate round at Morgan Park - flipped the Race & Road Supersport 300 title script.
The Kiwi had gone into Morgan Park with a 27-point advantage so needed to respond quickly at QR and did immediately — stripping Nauta’s own lap record off him in Saturday qualifying for pole and a bonus point, only to be run down and beaten by .066s in Saturday’s Race 13, the margin to the Queenslander typically thin but the deficit now out to eight points.
Then came Race 14’s twist: pole-sitter King dropped to third on lap one, fought back to second, before inheriting the lead when Nauta crashed after being taken down by his team-mate Orlando Peovitis at turn 3 on lap seven of the 10-lapper. It was a blocking move gone horribly wrong, and while the Queenslander rejoined and scored points for 17th, it was a swing that flipped a eight-point deficit into a 13-point lead for King with one race to run.
Race 15 needed only one thing from King: eight or better, assuming Nauta won. What followed was a tactical chess match as much as a race.
“That race was real weird,” King Jnr said. “He kept sitting up and waiting for me to come past — a few mind games going on.”
Nauta was trying to back up the pace and bunch the field, hoping to bring rivals and a potential championship ending crash into the fight. King somehow kept his nose clean in the pressure-cooker.
“I knew, from previous rounds, if you’re not going to pass, you’ll be passed — so I was just trying to pass someone at least every lap, then let them go again.”
There was late weather to worry about too.
“Yeah, real nerve-wracking. I mean, the last race was probably the most nerve-wracking of them all, because it was like big dark clouds coming over and I didn’t want it to rain, So like, there’s all that going on. And then, yeah, not crashing at the same time.”
The Kiwi held his nerve, eventually crossing the line second behind Nauta, championship secured by eight points after a ding-dong, season long battle.
What were the immediate emotions, champ?
“Well, just I mean, crossing the line, it’s like, ‘I’ve done it’. And then, yeah, I don’t know, so much adrenaline, just awesome.”
For King Jnr, the moment belonged as much to the people behind him as the result itself.
“It’s like everything Dad and [Shawn King’s wife] Vicky sacrificed — it just seems like it’s all just paid off,” King Jnr said.
“It’s awesome when all the family’s come over too. It just couldn’t be any better, really.”