KIWI RIDER 02 2020 VOL1 | Page 104

MX1 It was close to perfection from Auckland’s Hamish Harwood when he won New Zealand’s prestigious Woodville motocross crown in late January, becoming the 33rd winner of the main trophy in the event’s fabled 59-year history. The KTM rider from Royal Heights was at his scintillating best when he qualified fastest in the premier MX1 class at the 2020 Honda- sponsored New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville. And that was just the taste of things to come, the 24-year-old builder then took his 2020-model KTM 350SX-F to win the first two of three MX1 class races during Sunday’s senior programme. He made a small mistake while leading the third and final MX1 race of the weekend, handing the advantage to visiting Australian rider Kirk Gibbs (Yamaha YZ450F), but Harwood then took the sensible option of just settling 102 KIWI RIDER into a rhythm and accepting runner-up spot in that last outing, well aware that he had already done enough to win the title outright. Gibbs, who had previously raced a KTM bike to win outright at Woodville in 2015, finished the day second overall, with Waitakere’s Ethan Martens (Kawasaki KX450F) capturing the third podium position. “The KTM 350SX-F is a slightly bigger bike than the one I rode to win the national MX2 (250cc) title last year, but we’ve got the suspension sorted now to how I like it and there really was no horsepower handicap. “I knew I only needed to finish in the top three in that last race, so when I buried the bike in a soft corner, I lost my lead. The track was quite slippery in places and I knew I didn’t need to win, so just rode sensibly to wrap it up. “I loved the bike... it’s got a smaller engine than the 450cc bikes that my rivals are using, but it