By Kent Gray
WANTED: Up-and-coming New Zealand road racer seeks race-spec’d Yamaha YZF-R3 for crucial track session/s. An R6 loaner would be super handy too, just in case anyone also has one of those idly lying about.
In addition to Tyler King’s not unsubstantial list of mechanical wants is an essential personal need: a new pair of running shoes.
You see, the Silverdale 20-year-old is entering the next, hugely exciting phase of his career with eyes wide open.
Natural talent and teenage physiology have got him this far but King knows increased fitness will be critical to successfully navigating the hectic Australasian summer incoming, alongside some much-needed track time on the unfamiliar Yamahas.
By hectic, we mean five rounds of Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) racing from November through late March and the biennial FIM Intercontinental Games in Brazil in mid-December.
Then multi-bike campaigns at the 75th Cemetery Circuit races in Whanganui on Boxing Day, the BEARS showcase Sound of Thunder meet at Ruapuna in February and the three better finance™️-NZSBK Championship rounds at The Levels, Ruapuna and Hampton Downs January through March.
King’s NZSBK campaign is set to include a maiden Superbikes bid on a shiny new and soon-to-be delivered Aprilia RSV4 1100, in addition to a Sportbike title-tilt on an Aprilia RS 660. There’ll even be a new-livery Suzuki GSXR 1100 and Harley-Davidsons dusted off for Whanganui and the Sound of Thunder respectively in a summer schedule that already has King’s old man, Shawn, in happy logistical knots.
But first things first.
King Jnr urgently needs to get up to speed on the Yamaha YZF-R6 to ready himself for the rapidly approaching ASBK season and his step up to the Supersport NextGen class for Robbie Bolger’s Stop & Seal Racing Team.
He’s graduating to the 600 class as the reigning Australian Supersport 300 champion. That historic crown was sealed following a nerve-jangling final round at Queensland Raceway in June as King became just the second New Zealander to win an ASBK title – 35 years after Aaron Slight famously captured the premier Superbike class.
With only the Superbike class running alongside the MotoGP alphas at the combined Australian GP / ASBK season-opener at Phillip Island next month, King does have until round 2 of ASBK at The Bend Motorsport Park in November to source some reconnaissance track time on an R6.
He’ll then race round 3 at One Raceway in Goulburn, NSW, in early December before jetting directly from Sydney to Brazil for arguably his most exciting opportunity yet.
King was earlier this week confirmed in the FIM Oceania team for the 2026 FIM Intercontinental Games (ICG) in Goiania. For the uninitiated, the ICG is raced by teams of 12 split evenly across Supersport, Supersport 300 and Motocross categories.
King has been selected for the 300s, thus the search for a loaner R3 so he can hit the spectacular Autódromo Internacional Ayrton Senna running from December 10-13.
The chance to race Brazil’s 12-turn, 3.835km MotoGP track (hopefully minus any repeat of the home straight sink hole that marred the circuit’s top-flight debut in March) is exciting. It does come with a couple of reality checks though.
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool…definitely very proud to be selected,” King said of his Team Oceania call-up before outlining the next steps.
“Just keep training, do as much seat time as I can. Got to get some running shoes too, probably do some running because I think the races are way longer. I believe like 18 laps or something. Yeah, like real long races. And yeah, I haven’t ridden an R3 in, like, ages.”
The feelers have gone out for a R3 and now also a R6. But what about your fitness, Tyler? Have you done much before?
“I haven’t been doing too much fitness, but, now there’s a bit of— it’s a little bit of responsibility when you’re representing Oceania, so it’s time to kind of pick up my game, make sure I arrive there [Brazil] top notch.”
This will be the second ICG with King following in the green and white fairings of Jesse Stroud who rode the inaugural event at Jerez in Spain in December 2024. Despite losing one rider, Oceania claimed the bronze medal behind Europe and Asia two years ago.
Motocross has been added to the program this time with Horowhenua’s Phoenix Van Dusschoten the only other Kiwi selected alongside King. The motocross riders – Aussie trio Byron Dennis, Liam Owens and Taylah McCutcheon make up the Oceania quartet - will campaign their own machines, a Husqvarna in Van Dusschoten’s case.
The Supersport riders – ASBK Superbike campaigners Mike Jones and Cameron Dunker, recent WorldSPB podium placer Carter Thompson and WorldWCR rider Tayla Relph - will ride on FIM supplied Yamaha YZF-R7’s. The Supersport 300 riders – Archie McDonald, Olly Simpson, King and Tara Morrison - will be on supplied R3s.
“It’s been a goal of mine to be selected for the Oceania team since Jesse made it two years ago,” King said.
“I haven’t talked to him about it yet, but I think he— I was talking to Andrew [Jesse’s decorated dad] and he reckons it was pretty cool. On Dunlop tyres as well, so it’d be a bit different.”
The ability to adjust and adapt in real time on different bikes and rubber – Pirelli in ASBK, Dunlops in Brazil and Bridgestones in NZSBK – is going to be a key subplot to King’s 2026-27 summer story.
Looking at the schedule, with so much racing and training on the calendar, there seems very little chance of him wearing out the rubber on those new training kicks. Luckily, he’s still young, naturally fit, and — in his trademark way — quietly determined to get the most out of every km ticked off, regardless the tread.
Tyler King’s Summer Down Under (+ Brazil)
2026
NZCMRR Winter Classic – Taupo International Motorsport Park (Sept. 26-27)
ASBK - Round 2: The Bend, South Australia (Nov. 13-15)
CAMS Southern Classic Festival: Levels Raceway, Timaru (Nov. 20-22)
ASBK - Round 3: One Raceway, Goulburn (Dec. 4-6)
FIM Intercontinental Games: Autódromo Internacional Ayrton Senna (Dec. 10-13)
Suzuki Int. Series – Round 3: 75th Cemetery Circuit, Whanganui (Dec. 26)
2027
ASBK - Round 4: Queensland Raceway, Willowbank (Jan. 15-17)
NZSBK - Round 1: Levels Raceway, Timaru (Jan. 21-23)
NZSBK - Round 2: Euromarque Motorsport Park, Ruapuna, Chch (Jan. 29-31)
ASBK - Round 5: Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Victoria (Feb. 19-21 2027)
BEARS Sound of Thunder: Euromarque Motorsport Park, Ruapuna, Chch (Feb. 27-28)
NZSBK - Round 3: MotoFest, Hampton Downs (March 5-7)
ASBK - Round 6: Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW (March 19-20)
FIM Oceania for the 2026 FIM Intercontinental Games – Brazil (Dec 10-13)
Supersport
Mike Jones (MA, captain)
Cameron Dunker (MA)
Carter Thompson (MA)
Tayla Relph (MA)
Supersport 300
Archie McDonald (MA, captain)
Olly Simpson (MA)
Tyler King (MNZ)
Tara Morrison (MA)
Motocross
Byron Dennis (MA, captain)
Liam Owens (MA)
Phoenix Van Dusschoten (MNZ)
Taylah McCutcheon (MA)