62nd Annual Woodville Mxgp An Event Of Extremes

JANUARY 27, 2025: It was a case of contrasting extremes at the 62nd annual Honda New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville at the weekend.

With 30-degree heat beating down on the racers, along with billowing dust, on Saturday, and then rain and mud testing the riders in a vastly different way on Sunday, the more than 600 riders entered certainly had to bring their ‘A game’ to cope with the various challenges that arose.

To cut a long story short, Mangakino’s Maximus Purvis demonstrated that consistency counts most when he won the first two of three races in the premier MX1 class and was therefore afforded the luxury of settling for a distant third in the rain-drenched and extremely slippery final outing, enough for him to wrap up the class overall and also to take the prestigious Tim Gibbes Memorial Trophy for the first time on Sunday.

Runner-up was two-time former Woodville champion and national MX1 No.1 Hamish Harwood, from West Auckland, with Kiwi international Josiah Natzke claiming third overall at Woodville on Sunday.

Purvis finished 1-1-3 in his three MX1 outings, while Harwood posted a consistent 2-2-2 score-card. Natzke finished 3-3-1, his performance in the treacherous mud at the end of the day a real stand-out.

In the end, the gap between Purvis and Harwood was just four points for the GP title overall, with Natzke finishing just one point further back.

Meanwhile, in the MX2 (250cc) class, Tauranga’s Cobie Bourke did enough to win the title, fending off Oparau’s national MX2 champion James Scott and three-time former Woodville MX GP winner and multi-time national champion Cody Cooper, from Opotiki.

Tauranga’s Levi Townley easily won the senior MX125 class on Sunday, finishing ahead of Levin’s 2024 junior national champion Phoenix Van Dusschoten and Auckland’s Jack Ellingham.

Levi Townley had also won the junior 12-14 years’ 125cc class title the previous day, finishing ahead of his younger brother Jaggar Townley and Taupo’s Connor Feather.

In all of Sunday’s senior programme, only two individuals finished the day unbeaten, Raetihi’s Richard Horne and his just-turned 16-year-old daughter Karaitiana Horne.

Richard Horne won both the novelty River Race challenges on Sunday, while daughter Karaitiana won all three of her senior women’s races on Sunday. New Zealand’s current women’s champion Karaitiana Horne had also scored a hat-trick of wins in the women’s 12-16 years’ 125cc class the previous day.

Host Manawatu-Orion Motorcycle Club president Brad Ritchie agreed it was a massive effort that had been put in by his club volunteers and it was “an amazing spectacle” from every point of view.

“Thousands upon thousands of man-hours go into creating this each year and it’s so special because this is the home of the first event motocross GP event in New Zealand.

“We had some difficult conditions to work with … scorching heat on Saturday and then we turned up on Sunday with a reasonably dry track, but that became drenched as the day wore on. Conditions were optimal in the middle of the day but, by the end, it was barely rideable.

“I take my hat off to all the competitors. We had plenty of overseas riders here this year from Australia, Japan, the Czech Republic and from France too.”

Class winners from the weekend’s 62nd annual New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville:

Woodville GP seniors and women (Sunday):

Woodville GP: Mangakino’s Maximus Purvis (MX1 class and main Woodville GP trophy);

Tauranga’s Cobie Bourke (MX2 class);

Tauranga’s Levi Townley (MX125 class);

Raetihi’s Karaitiana Horne (Senior women);

Raetihi’s Richard Horne (River Race);

Levi Townley (Roddy Shirriffs Under-22 trophy).

Woodville GP juniors and veterans (Saturday):

Levin’s Phoenix Van Dusschoten (14-16 years’ 250cc class);

Karaka’s Hayden Draper (15-16 years’, 125cc class);

Tauranga’s Levi Townley (12-14 years’, 125cc class);

Taupo’s Connor Feather (13-16 years’, 85cc class);

Tauranga’s Jaggar Townley (11-12 years’, 85cc class);

Otorohanga’s Cooper Bennett (8-10 years’, 85cc class);

Matamata’s Henry Miller (8-11 years’, 65cc class);

Raetihi’s Karaitiana Horne (Junior women, 12-16 years’ 125cc/250cc);

Halcombe’s Indie Allison (Junior women, 12-16 years’ 125cc & over-14 years’ 250cc);

Marsden Bay’s Nariah Hurihanganui (Junior women, 8-11 years’ 85cc);

Hamilton’s Darryll King (Veterans over-35 years class).

- By Andy McGechan

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