It has been long overdue, but Bay of Plenty rider Hadleigh Knight and his Husqvarna team-mate Liam Draper have finally claimed their first major cross-country victory.

Both Hadleigh, from Reporoa, and Liam, from Howick, have been impressive at various events throughout New Zealand in recent months, and it surprised nobody when they scored the outright win at the Acerbis Four-Hour dirt bike marathon near Taupo at the weekend.

Reporoa's Hadleigh Knight with Husqvarna team-mate Liam Draper, of Howick, outright winners of the Acerbis Four-Hour dirt bike cross-country marathon near Taupo. Photo: Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com.

Motocross exponent Hadleigh joined forces with multi-talented moto trials, enduro and cross-country ace Liam to dominate the race, held in forestry land just north of Taupo.

The gruelling marathon had been won over the past two years by Taupo's Brad Groombridge, with the 25-year-old riding solo both times and also riding a 450cc four-stroke bike.

But Brad was comfortably beaten to the finish line this time around by the pair, who shared riding duties on their smaller Husqvarna TC250 and TC125 bikes respectively.

By tag-teaming one another for the four-hour duration, both riders were able to hit the track each time in a relatively fresh state, although they were also handicapped by visiting the pits twice as often as race favourite Brad.

But it was a trade-off that did not favour Brad this time around and, as the track became rougher and the day heated up, he faded to aroud three minutes behind the duo, to eventually finish an unaccustomed fifth overall.

Hadleigh and Liam finished the seven-lap race more than six minutes ahead of eventual runner-up duo of Rotorua's Scotty Birch and Tauranga's Peter Broxholme.

Meanwhile, Palmerston North's Adam Reeves and Mokau's Adrian Smith teamed up to finish third overall, with Pahiatua's Charles Alabaster and Whakatane's Mitch Rees rounding out the top four.

Only the first four teams completed seven of the 28-kilometre laps in the four hours.

'We were in fourth place when I ducked into the bush for the first time after the start,” said 19-year-old Hadleigh afterwards.

'But I was in the lead and with a two-minute buffer at the end of lap one, with Simon Lansdaal behind me. Liam took over from me and managed to extend our lead over the next lap.

'Brad charged up to second place, but he slowed on lap five and we were able to push out our lead to six minutes.”