The abbreviated nationals went right down
to the wire at back-to-back rounds three
and four in the Santoft Forest, 15 kilometres
west of Bulls.
Macdonald (Sherco SE-F 300i) started the
Santoft weekend third in the championship
standings after the previous month’s racing
in the Wairarapa region, but when he won
round three on the sandy forest course on
the Saturday, he was suddenly propelled
into the series lead.
His nearest rivals, Cambridge’s Dylan
Yearbury (Husqvarna TE300) and
Whanganui’s defending champion from
2019, Seth Reardon (Yamaha YZ250FX),
finished fourth and seventh respectively on
the Saturday and, within the blink of an eye,
Macdonald was in the series lead, two points
clear of Yearbury and eight ahead of Reardon.
When Macdonald backed that up by also
winning the day overall in Santoft the
following day, the title was his, Yearbury
forced to settle for second and Reardon
third overall. Helensville’s Tom Buxton (KTM
350 EXC-F), Manawatu’s Paul Whibley
(Yamaha YZ450FX) and Whangamata’s
Jason Davis (Husqvarna TE300) rounded
out the top six overall.
Macdonald was only back in the country
because of international chaos caused by
the pandemic, but it meant he was able to
race the full Kiwi series for the first time
since 2017, the same season that his elder
brother Angus Macdonald (Sherco) won
the title and Hamish Macdonald had been
forced to accept third overall that year,
just behind 2016’s national champion Brad
Groombridge (Suzuki).
“It was good to get the national crown and
match my brother, Angus... and to match my
father, Mark, too. Dad was a multi-time New
Zealand enduro champion in the 1980s.
“Normally I would still have been overseas,”
explained Hamish Macdonald, who spends
his time between Milan, in Italy, or Birmingham
in England as part of the Sherco Factory Race
Team effort.
“But I was in New Zealand this time around
and it would have been rude not to [race
the nationals]. I think it is good for the sport
here to have so many of our top overseas
riders, guys like Dylan Yearbury and Tom
Buxton at home this year... it certainly made
it a tough championship.”
There was little rest for Macdonald, who
headed back to Milan and his team two
days later (on the Tuesday).
MNZ enduro commissioner Justin Stevenson
said “everyone was really happy with the
two-day format” and he said MNZ would
consider doing it again next season too.
“The only reason why the season was short
this year was because of COVID-19. Next
year we will use this series as a build-up for
Kiwi riders wanting to race the International
Six Days Enduro (set for Italy from August 30
to September 4, 2021).”
28 KIWI RIDER