Features 5 Jul 2012

Race Recap: Luke Styke

MotoOnline.com.au speaks to Serco Yamaha Metal Mulisha Racing's MX2 series leader.

Luke Styke has been unstoppable in 2012 for Serco Yamaha Metal Mulisha Racing, commencing the second half of the Monster Energy MX Nationals with much the same form that he displayed during the first five rounds – out front and winning race.

With an extended series lead of 46 points after Hervey Bay last weekend, he’s in the box seat for the MX2 title, but refuses to get ahead of himself despite winning 50 percent of the rounds contested so far this season.

MotoOnline.com.au caught up with Styke directly following the podium celebrations in Queensland to speak about his performance.

Luke Styke raced to his third MX2 overall of the season at Hervey Bay for Serco Yamaha Metal Mulisha Racing. Image: Dan McCallum.

You managed to grab your third overall win of the season with two wins to start the round and then a fourth in the final moto. Nice work!

Yeah, today was good. You know, I struggled a little bit in qualifying, but the first two motos were great. My Serco Yamaha Metal Mulisha Racing YZ250F was pulling really good starts and it was perfect.

I got every holeshot almost, except the last race. I can’t thank the team enough and overall the day was good.

You pretty much dominated those opening motos, but in the last one you dropped back a bit as the race went on. Was that a case of just focusing on the overall?

I just struggled with the track, bit of a tyre set-up because we should have changed for that last moto. It ended up really hard and we weren’t expecting it, but overall it was good. I just didn’t want to do anything stupid and I was happy with fourth.

We try to aim for 60 points a weekend and we got 68 today, so it’s good.

This championship, you stretched your lead, so it’s going from strength to strength. When do you start thinking championship? Or are you already?

Ah, you know, I’ll think about the championship when it’s done. I’ve got a pretty good points lead, but you can’t rely on that. You’ve just got to keep pushing hard, working hard and not slacking off.

I’m not going to do anything different, just go into every weekend like I don’t have a points lead, keep training hard and hopefully it all works out.

With Josh Coppins retiring at the end of 2012, Styke is in the box seat for a ride at CDR Yamaha. Image: Dan McCallum.

I know you came up to Queensland during the break, but what did you think of the Hervey Bay track today?

The Hervey Bay track was good. They had a lot of water during the week, so the sand wasn’t as deep as we were expecting, but overall the weekend was good. I thought it was going to get a little bit rougher, but those ruts in the singles were pretty brutal.

My Yamaha was tracking pretty good over them though and I can’t thank the team enough.

Did you change anything during the break?

Nah, not really. I’m not one to over-complicate things. I probably change a click here and there, change tyres every weekend, but that’s all we try and do. It’s just trying not to over-complicate it and keep it simple.

Okay, well done. Thanks!

Thanks, mate.

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