The many faces of Shayne King ( and , in the bottom left photo , with his elder brother Darryll ), a man determined to win a motocross world title before he turned 26 . He managed that , remarkably by just 24 hours , celebrating his capture of the 500cc world championships in Germany on the eve of his 26th birthday .
It was a similar story for younger brother Shayne . He struggled to earn points on his debut year in Europe , in the 125cc world championships in 1993 (“ I rang home at 4am to tell everyone that I ’ d scored a point , for 15th place , after one GP . I was on a high for a week ”) and he actually only raced six GPs . In 1994 he finished 24th in the 500cc class ( after injuring himself ) and , the following year , he was 9th . By the end of 1996 , remarkably just three years after his first privateer foray into Europe , Shayne King was a full factory rider for KTM and had achieved his childhood dream of becoming 500cc world champion . He was joint 3rd in 1997 , 8th in 1998 and 5th in 1999 . Shayne King took a break from Europe in 2000 and instead raced motocross and supercross in the United States , with mixed results , but returned to Europe and the 500cc class in 2001 where , despite unexpected difficulties , he finished the year ranked No . 7 in the world . The trailblazing sibling rivals were among the first Kiwis to truly embark on professional motocross careers across the globe . They can certainly be credited with paving the way for the handful who followed , individuals such as Atkins , Coppins , Townley , Negus , Columb , Daryl Hurley , Michael Cotter , Andrew Hardisty , to name a few , and their own younger brother Damien King .
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