Luke Styke is one of the great stories of Australian motocross, being handed an opportunity late last season with Serco Yamaha and grabbing it with both hands.

Styke finished 2011 strong and we all knew that he’d be on the pace for the Metal Mulisha-backed team this year, although not many could have predicted the clean-sweep he scored in MX2 at Goanna Tracks last weekend.

With the result, Styke takes over the red plate as series leader for the first time in his professional career. MotoOnline.com.au spoke to him all about it straight after the race before the podium proceedings took place.

You took a clean sweep and took over the red plate in the MX2 championship today at Coonabarabran, so it was pretty much a perfect round for you. Well done!

It was the perfect weekend for me and also [Kirk] Gibbs, I just felt good this weekend, the bike was working, I was working and with the team everyone was putting in – everything paid off. The track was unbelievable today and it just suited me, the Pirelli tyres were unbelievable and it was just all good.

You seemed to get the starts and just keep motoring in those motos, you’ve obviously put in a lot of work in this pre-season. You got this factory opportunity again for a full season, so you’re making the most of it…

Yeah for sure, I’m not going to let go of this opportunity again. I struggled last year with the privateer scene, but it’s all good now and it’s all about moving forward. The team’s great and I can’t thank everyone enough.

Have you spent much time out here at Goanna Tracks in the lead-up to this round?

Yeah, just the once. A few weeks ago Lawson Bopping and me came out here and did a few motos, we stayed out here for two days and got a lot done, so it was good.

You came onboard with the Serco outfit late in the 2011 motocross season and then do well in supercross. How different is it now with the Serco team?

Yeah, well the motocross when I came in late, it was more of a guest ride kind of thing. So when I came in late I got two top four results and supercross turned out with a great result when I trained hard for that. I carried on with my hard training for the motocross this year and it looks like it’s paying off.

Having yourself and Gibbs in the same team running 1-2 in the series, does it add to a rivalry in there or is it pretty much a case of taking it one step at a time?

Yeah, well it’s one step at a time for the first four rounds, but after that it’s time to knuckle down and he’s just another competitor on the track after that.

He’s a clean rider and I like racing against him, he’s got some great speed and when he’s on he’s almost untouchable, so it’s good.

Did you picture that you could dominate like you did today or did you surprise yourself that you did so well out there?

I’m never really a good qualifier, so coming away with my second place qualifying position was great and I knew it was going to be a good weekend. I just wanted to keep at my goal for the first four rounds, to get four top fives and I’d be really happy – anything better would be a bonus. So today ended up being a real big bonus.

We saw that Pirelli have released the new sized tyre specifically for the 250 four-strokes, so how are the Pirelli tyres going so far for the team?

The Pirellis are unbelievable, those guys have done some hard work and they were untouchable with tyres. I got almost every holeshot today and just consistently all-day the tyres were great.

Congratulations and well done.

Thanks mate.