Luck Abandons Team NZ In Its Hour Of Need

It was a mixed weekend of emotions for the men from Downunder at the Motocross of Nations, the so-called “Olympic Games of Motocross”, at the weekend.

There were massive highs for Team Australia and bitter disappointments for Team New Zealand at this 77th edition of the Motocross of Nations (MXoN) on the Matterley Basin circuit, near Winchester, in southern England.

The three-man team from Australia celebrated winning their first Chamberlain Trophy on Sunday (actually Monday morning NZ time), winning the MXoN outright ahead of the three-rider squads from the United States, The Netherlands, Spain and France.

Meanwhile, with 36 nations represented at this year’s event and spaces only for 20 teams in the MXoN main event, a “whittling down” qualification process was required and, like a penalty shootout in football, this can be cruel at the best of times.

Suffice to say, luck didn’t favour the Kiwis this time around.

When the three New Zealand riders – West Auckland’s Hamish Harwood (KTM, MXGP class), and Tauranga pair Brodie Connolly (Honda, MX2 class) and Josiah Natzke (KTM, Open class) – 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 cut-off 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 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, 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, speaking from England this morning.

“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, with just five minutes to go, 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 overall) on three memorable occasions in the past and, prior to this 2024 edition of the MXoN, New Zealand had regularly outshone their Australian cousins.

New Zealand finished third at the MXoN at Foxhills, in the UK, in 1998, were third again at Namur, in Belgium, in 2001, and Team New Zealand stood on the podium in third overall once again in 2006, ironically at the same Matterley Basin venue that hosted this year’s MXoN.

The United States is set to host the MXoN next year, at the Ironman Raceway, just outside Crawfordsville in Indianapolis, and New Zealand will then again hope to return and attempt to rekindle a few of those past glories.

The 2024 New Zealand MXoN campaign was sponsored by Penny Homes, Best Build Construction, Nutrition Systems/C4, DUB Construction, Priority Demolition, the Taupo Motorcycle Club with their Battle of the Clubs fundraiser event and Motorcycling New Zealand.

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