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).