M
otorcycling New Zealand (MNZ)
reacted quickly when the nationwide
lock-down was eased in June, hastily
constructing a compact, rapid-fire series to
replace the original five-round championship
(at five different venues) that had been
wrecked by the global virus.
A new schedule was formulated to ensure
that the championships could still be
squeezed into the shortened calendar and
so the Yamaha-sponsored series this year
comprised just four rounds at three venues
over two separate weekends.
The first two back-to-back days of
racing were to be staged at Masterton
and Martinborough, on June 13 and 14
respectively, and the second half of the
series, a double-header finale in the Santoft
Forest, near Bulls, would wrap up the
competition on the weekend of July 11-12.
With most of New Zealand’s leading riders
at home during this time and overseas
travel still problematic, it meant all the
sport’s superstars were in the country
(instead of having zipped away to race
events such as the Romaniacs hard
enduro in Romania).
Te Awamutu’s Rachael Archer was
perhaps the only big name missing, away
racing the Grand National Cross-country
Championships in the United States.
One rider who made the most of being
at home was Canterbury man Hamish
Macdonald, the 2019 125cc Youth Enduro
GP World Champion, and he went on to
eventually clinch the main expert (AA)
grade crown this year, his first domestic
enduro championship title.
Interestingly, this meant he had won a
world enduro championship title before
he had won a New Zealand one.
The 21-year-old from Christchurch had
come close on many occasions, but this
year it was finally his turn to win the New
Zealand Enduro Championships.
KIWI RIDER 27