put him level with former dirt bike great Wayne Jennings as a five-time Tarawera champion.“ I guess I need to come back and win another one now,” Cooper joked. Cooper was impressive as he took his Honda CRF450RX to victory, crossing the finish line nearly four minutes ahead of Taupo’ s defending Tarawera trophy holder and current national cross-country champion Brad Groombridge, but the four-lap race perhaps wasn’ t as easy as he made it look. Cooper won the Tarawera 100 for the first time in 2007, then backed that up by winning it three more times, in consecutive years between 2010 and 2012, but he knew it would be difficult to win again this year, as usual facing a solid line-up of other top-class dirt bike racers with varying degrees of motocross, enduro and cross-country backgrounds, and each one of them tough and extremely capable of winning the arduous battle.“ I was a bundle of nerves at the start... but I guess everyone is with this race,” said Cooper.“ It’ s hard to get used to starting a race with a dead engine. Just as well I had the electric start Honda CRF450RX, because it allowed me to grab the holeshot.“ I had [ fellow Honda star from Tauranga ]
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