SEPTEMBER 7, 2009: It was a twist to the classic Eastwood cowboy movie "The Man With No Name", only this time it was "the bike with no number".
But if spectators at Sunday's inaugural Taikorea Sand Prix motocross event in the Manawatu were asking "who is that man?", they were not in the dark for long as Daryl Hurley soon showed that he was the man to beat.
The Suzuki star from Hawera arrived at the sandy motocross circuit with a plain-wrap version of the new 2010-model Suzuki RM-Z450LO.
Hurley said he brought the as-yet un-adorned bike to the Manawatu at the weekend to kick start his training for the upcoming motocross nationals and, true to his status as current national champion, did not disappoint.
The 33-year-old easily won both MX1 races and then also led from start to finish to win the feature race at the end of the day.
"I've only had this bike a week and I'm still getting it set up but I really wanted to race here today," said Hurley afterwards.
"It's always a good workout at this track. Sand is very demanding but the new bike was brilliant.
"It's the new model and has so much more horsepower than the 2009 model.
"There are a heap of changes to the new bike. It has new fuel injection, new head, new cams, new crankshaft … it just produces a lot more useable power and it revs a lot longer."
Hurley led a Suzuki 1-2-3 in the MX1 class on Sunday with Taupo's Brad Groombridge taking the runner-up spot and Marton's Cam Smith finishing third overall.
Success for the brand didn't end there either, with Wanganui's Tom Managh taking his Suzuki RM125 to back-to-back wins in the Junior 125cc class.
"It was a good day for me. I was not troubled at all," said the 16-year-old Wanganui High School fifth-former.