Motocross: Townley again at Tarawera

Tauranga's Ben Townley on his way to winning the Tarawera 100 cross-country race near Kawerau on Saturday. Photo/Andy McGechan

He celebrated a winning debut at the Honda Tarawera 100 cross-country marathon last season and now Bay of Plenty's Ben Townley has made it two impressive victories in a row.

The Tauranga 29-year-old, now retired from full-time racing and working as manager of The Honda Shop Racing Team, showed his quality on Saturday.

He took his Honda CRF450 to victory at the 37th annual edition of the great race, on the outskirts of Te Teko.

Former motocross world champion Townley snatched the holeshot as a shotgun blast signalled the start at 10am and he was never headed in the gruelling 140km race.

He finished ahead of fellow motocross exponents Taupo's Brad Groombridge (Bel Ray BikesportNZ.com Suzuki RM-X450) and Mount Maunganui's Rhys Carter (Bel Ray Suzuki RM-Z450).

The margin for victory was narrow, with Townley leading Groombridge across the line by just 21 seconds. The course included four laps of the hilly, grassland circuit.

"I knew I needed a good start and when I got the holeshot I knew I was in a good position to go on and win," he said.

Townley said he really gunned it on laps two and three then simply held on in lap four.

"To be honest, though, I couldn't have held Brad at bay for another lap. I didn't realise he was coming so fast. My hand was hurting near the end because I have not done much riding lately and I had blisters."