Takaka’s Hamish Harwood is not as fast as he once was … he’s faster.

The former South Islander, now based in Royal Heights, West Auckland, was in dynamic form at the opening round of this year’s New Zealand Motocross Championships near New Plymouth on Sunday.

The 22-year-old took his CML KTM Racing Team bike to finish unbeaten in the MX2 (250cc) class and then took a 300cc KTM SX model bike to finish sixth overall against the 450cc bikes in the MX1 grade as well.

His main focus again this year is on keeping hold of his MX2 crown, the MX1 class assault “just for fun” at this stage in his career and he admitted he “backed off to conserve energy” for his MX2 bid as the temperatures at the Barrett Road facility soared to 30 degrees Celsius on Sunday afternoon.

“I’m pretty happy with that effort,” said Harwood afterwards.

“The track was quite gnarly and became very rough. I made it hard for myself in the first MX2 race with a bad start, but I managed to come through,” he said matter-of-factly.

“The next two MX2 races I was in front from start to finish. I played it safe and just maintained the buffer. I didn’t feel entirely comfortable in the MX1 class and took it a bit easier to conserve my energy for the MX2 battles.”

It’s too early yet to be sure, with three more rounds of racing still to come, but so far it seems that Harwood is well on track to make it three consecutive national MX2 crowns in a row after he won for the first time in 2016 and then successfully defended his title last year.

Harwood finished the day 15 points clear of Taupo’s national cross-country champion Brad Groombridge (Kea Suzuki Racing) in the MX2 class, with visiting Australian Jay Wilson (Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team) ending it third overall, just five points adrift of Groombridge.

Also impressive in the MX2 class was Auckland-based former Taihape rider Hayden Smith, last season’s National 125cc champion.

Riding for the CML KTM Racing Team, Smith holeshot and led the first of the day’s MX2 races before being overtaken by Harwood, the pair making it a CML KTM Racing Team 1-2 at the chequered flag. Smith backed that up by finishing fourth and eighth, good enough to place him fourth overall for the event, just two points behind international star Wilson and seven behind Groombridge.

Hamilton’s Kayne Lamont (Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team) dominated the MX1 class, with defending champion Cody Cooper (Honda Racing Team), of Mount Maunganui, forced to accept finishing overall runner-up for the day.

Harwood’s CML KTM Racing team-mate, visiting former Australian champion Kirk Gibbs, had qualified fastest in the MX1 class, but he struggled with the unfamiliar concrete start pad and was forced to play catch-up in all three races.

“I’ve got good speed at the moment, but I struggled with my starts and I had a couple of tip-overs … nothing major,” said the 28-year-old from Queensland.

“The top four riders are pretty fast, but I’m happy that I’ve got a good platform to build on.”

Gibbs is actually second-equal in the points standings, he and Cooper both on 60 points, behind Lamont’s 75, but the Australian hero took the third step on the podium because of the count-back rule.

Meanwhile, it was a true Kiwi-Aussie battle in the National 125cc class, with Mangakino’s Maximus Purvis and Yarra Valley rider Mason Semmens sharing the wins.

Altherm JCR Yamaha’s Purvis finished 1-1-2 and CML KTM Racing Team rider Semmens finished 2-2-1, giving a narrow three-point advantage to Purvis after this opening round.

Third best rider in this class was Cambridge’s Seton Head (Kea Trailers KTM), although he is a massive 17 points behind Semmens in the series standings.

“I had a couple of runner-up finishes to start the day, but then got a better start in the last race, pulled a gap and just held on to that until the end. I’m looking forward to the next rounds of racing,” said the 16-year-old Semmens.

The series now heads to Rotorua for round two on February 25. Round three is set for Hawke’s Bay on March 11, with the fourth and final round in Taupo on March 24.

© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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Full results can be found HERE

Leading standings after round one of the 2018 New Zealand Motocross Championships:

MX1 CLASS:

1 Kayne Lamont (Hamilton, Yamaha) 75 Points

2 Cody Cooper (Mount Maunganui, Honda) 60 Points

3 Kirk Gibbs (Australia, KTM) 60 Points

4 John Phillips (Rotorua, Honda) 52 Points

5 Rhys Carter (Mount Maunganui, Kawasaki) 49 Points

6 Hamish Harwood (Auckland, KTM) 44 Points

7 Brad Groombridge (Taupo, Suzuki) 39 Points

8 Campbell King (Dunedin, KTM) 38 Points

9 Cohen Chase (Taupo, KTM) 37 Points

10 Jared Guthrie (Nelson, Yamaha) 35 Points

 

MX2 CLASS:

1 Hamish Harwood (Auckland, KTM) 75 Points

2 Brad Groombridge (Taupo, Suzuki) 60 Points

3 Jay Wilson (Australia, Yamaha) 55 Points

4 Hayden Smith (Taihape, KTM) 53 Points

5 Daryl Hurley (Hawera, Suzuki) 46 Points

6 Micah McGoldrick (Tauranga, Honda) 43 Points

7 Trent Collins (Ohaupo, Honda) 42 Points

8 Logan Blackburn (Te Puke, Kawasaki) 39 Points

9 Cooper Pozniak (Australia, Husqvarna) 38 Points

10 Mason Wilkie (Masterton, Yamaha) 38 Points

 

NATIONAL 125cc CLASS:

1 Maximus Purvis (Mangakino, Yamaha) 72 Points

2 Mason Semmens (Australia, KTM) 69 Points

3 Seton Head (Cambridge, KTM) 52 Points

4 Joshua Bourke-Palmer (Rotorua, Yamaha) 48 Points

5 Jacob Beal (Napier, Yamaha) 45 Points

6 Broc Martens (Auckland, KTM) 45 Points

7 Grason Veitch (Dunedin, KTM) 41 Points

8 Liam Kerr (Nelson, Yamaha) 36 Points

9 Zak Hetherington (Okato, TM) 30 Points

10 Tommy Watts (Wairoa, Husqvarna) 28 Points

 

WOMEN’S CUP:

1 Taylar Rampton (Opunake, Suzuki) 70 Points

2 Letitia Alabaster (Rotorua, KTM) 67 Points

3 Mel Patterson (Rotorua, KTM) 58 Points

4 Roma Edwards (Motueka, Yamaha) 58 Points

5 Samantha Kelly (Te Kuiti, Yamaha) 50 Points

6 Chloe Steel (Te Awamutu, Honda) 44 Points

7 Robyn Turnbull (Mangawhai, Yamaha) 42 Points

8 Nicolette Epps (Taupo, KTM) 40 Points

9 Christina Cameron (Tauranga, KTM) 35 Points

10 George Swift (Warkworth, Suzuki) 32 Points