Bay of Plenty bike ace Ben Townley came under fire from fellow Taupo men Brad Groombridge and Scotty Moir, Waitakere’s Ethan Martens, Atiamuri’s Dion Picard and Rotorua’s Nathan Sharland at the weekend, but he shrugged them all off and emerged with two national TT titles to his credit.

It was a breakthrough moment for the Honda hero as it was also his debut ride at this big annual two-day event.

International commitments had kept Townley away from domestic events such as this in the past, but, since announcing his withdrawal from all international competition earlier this year, Townley is now free to indulge himself closer to home and chase a little Kiwi glory.

The 28-year-old father-of-two made the most of his weekend at Kuratau, near the southern tip of Lake Taupo, racing off with both the MX1 and enduro class titles at the annual New Zealand TT Championships.

He raced a Honda CRF450 motocross bike to dominate the MX1 category, winning four of five races over the two days, claiming the title ahead of former TT champion Groombridge.

He then took an enduro version of the bike, a Honda CRF450X, to make it a clean sweep of five wins in the enduro class as well, winning that title ahead of Rotorua’s Sharland (KTM).

“I had so much fun,” said Townley afterwards.

“The CRF450X enduro machine is such a versatile bike and I enjoyed riding it in the enduro class.

“We have been doing some development work with it and it was really just a last-minute decision to ride it here. It’s the sort of bike that suits all disciplines.

“You can ride it in the tight stuff, among trees and the like, on cross-country circuits like the Honda Tarawera 100 and here at the TT champs too. It’s a great all-around bike.”

© Words and photos by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com