Kiwi racer Hamish Macdonald recently won Day-2 and finished 2nd overall at the first round of the Italian Enduro Champs aboard his Serco Factory Racing 300 SEF. I caught up with Hamish to chat about his pre-season build up, his weekend racing and his future expectations.

First off, congrats on your start to the Italian champs. I see you went 2-1 over the weekend and finished 2nd overall behind Verona. You gotta be pretty happy with that right?

Thank you, yes going 2-1 was a great start to the season. I always like to start the season strong as it feels like a boost to your confidence for the ongoing races. So yes, definitely very happy.

The terrain looks quite dry and rocky, apart from the beach test - do you feel this is the kind of terrain you shine in?

No, I was quite surprised about the terrain - it isn’t really my forte and wasn’t super technical or slippery. I guess I just felt good on the bike and really good trust with everything and could push harder and harder. I was surprising myself to be honest because normally I know where my limit is with grip and when the bike will react differently etc, and at that race I felt I could go past those limits without problems. An amazing feeling of connection between myself and the bike, a feeling that doesn’t come often.

Considering Verona was often a podium guy in the World GP's in 2021, this has got to be a bit of a boost looking towards the whole 2022 season?

Varona is very fast but I feel like I should be where he is at now also. Last year was a difficult season for me - we tried a new engine that was hard to ride in Enduro conditions, so we’ve gone back this year and I’m feeling more comfortable.

Has your 2022 pre-season prep been any different from years past? I see you have a bit of a Australasian crew that you sometimes train with too.

Yeah definitely - I feel like I have stepped up my training regime for this year and we have been on training camps and I have definitely been putting the work in. And I guess I never went home for the New Zealand summer and skipped the partying and distractions, so maybe this is the head start I needed.

Riding the Sherco 300cc 4T in a class against 450cc machines clearly isn't any disadvantage. Where do you think the 300 outshines the 450?

The 300 is a great little bike for Enduro, but unfortunately it is underpowered compared to the 450s, 400s and 350s and when you have the likes of Garcia, Salvini, Holcombe and Watson on these bikes, I think the little bike has its work cut out for it in the faster races. But with cons it has its pros, it’s more nimble and when it’s technical this bike excels, so let’s pray for some technical races.

With such a promising start, what are your goals for 2022 going forward?

My 2022 goals are to win some races in the World Championship and hopefully be fighting for a class championship there. We will see what happens…I’m just trying to stay focused now as it’s a long season ahead!