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