HARWOOD
The faith that Harwood put in his two
CML Makita KTM Racing Team bikes
was well founded and the two machines
never missed a beat all weekend,
Harwood celebrating another hat-trick
of wins in the 125cc class on Sunday and
wrapping up the MX2 class title with a
3-2-1 score-card at the Taupo track.
What was perhaps even more
remarkable is that Harwood was one of
only two riders contesting more than
one bike class this season and, in a
brutally-demanding sport where even
one class is more than enough for most
riders to cope with, Harwood revealed
that he was well short of full fitness.
“Both my shoulders require surgery
to repair previous injuries,” Harwood
confirmed. “I’m booked in for the first of
those operations next week.
“I have torn ligaments in both shoulder
sockets and it made things quite difficult
for me to race,” he said. “I had to ride
with my elbows tucked in. It doesn’t
seem to affect my speed but it does
affect my style,” he laughed.
“This is the first time I’ve won two titles
in one season, four in a row for MX2
and now a 125cc title too. I didn’t make
it easy for myself in the MX2 class. I
had a couple of bad starts, but I only
finished outside of the top three on one
occasion. I had a good points lead at
the start of racing at Taupo, so I wasn’t
too concerned about winning every MX2
race today.”
Harwood has announced plans now
to challenge Cooper and race the MX1
(open) class next season, on either a
350cc or 450cc KTM.
“That’s the plan anyway. I’ll do testing
and ride both bikes when I’ve recovered
from my surgery and make a decision
later in the year,” said Harwood.