Josiah Natzke
enough only for third overall in the B Final and an early exit for the Kiwis . There was one bright spot to come of it , though , with Natzke being credited with setting the fastest lap of any rider in that race . “ Luck was not on the side of the Kiwis this weekend ,” said Team New Zealand co-manager Shayne King . “ We narrowly missed out on Saturday of a direct entry into the main show , and this wasn ’ t helped by both Brodie and Josiah crashing in their class races . “ We started out with fresh attitudes on Sunday morning as we headed into the B Final and we had a commanding lead , until a miscalculation ( the hard-charging Natzke crashed and dropped from third to 12th on lap six of 11 in the B Final ), led to us missing out on qualifying for the main show . “ We gave it everything we had all weekend , in this biggest race of the year , and I ’ m proud of the whole team ,” he said . The MXoN has been a happy hunting ground for New Zealand in years gone by , with Kiwi squads finishing on the podium ( in third place
When the three New Zealand riders – West Auckland ’ s Hamish Harwood ( MXGP class , KTM ), and Tauranga pair Brodie Connolly ( MX2 Class , Honda ) and Josiah Natzke ( Open Class , KTM ) – finished 14th , 18th and 25th respectively in their MXGP , MX2 and Open class qualifying races on Saturday , it saw the Kiwis ranked 21st overall and just outside of the cutoff mark . There was a small lifeline , the “ last chance qualifier ”, known as the B Final , early on Sunday morning , with only the winning team in that must-win race able to advance on to the main event . The New Zealand riders finished third overall in the B Final – Harwood finishing 3rd , Natzke 13th and Connolly 15th – and so that was that , good
Brodie Connolly
34 KIWI RIDER