Image: Andy McGechan (BikesportNZ.com).

It was a successful weekend in New Zealand for Todd Waters in multiple ways as he and his factory Honda crew used the 2017 Woodville Grand Prix event as a chance to put the all-new CRF450R to the test in a race situation.

Remaining on the standard machine domestically until the event, team manager Jay Foreman took the popular pre-season race as a chance to sample a selection of suspension and engine combinations with the former MXGP World Championship contender.

“It was a great testing ground for us,” said Waters. “We’ve just been riding a standard bike back in Australia and Jay brought some new parts, some new engine mods and some different suspension over to test. It took me a little bit to get used to the bike, it had a lot of power which is really good but I just wasn’t used to it.”

After battling through the pack for the majority of the day due to bad starts, Waters confirms that working on his starting technique will be the number one priority as he continues his pre-season program.

“I really struggled with my starts which I need to work on,” he explained. “They are going to be my number one thing in my training program for the coming championships.”

It was a positive event overall for the Queenslander using a 3-2-1 moto scorecard to claim victory in the MX1 category ahead of current Motul MX Nationals premier class champion, Dean Ferris.

“We ended up with the win, after having a fair few bad starts and having to come through the pack but ended up winning the last race which gave me the overall,” he said. “Super stoked to be the winner of the Woodville event, it’s pretty massive and not many Aussies get to do that so it’s a pretty good achievement in that regard.

“Overall, we went there to test the bike and make some changes so we’ve got a lot of things to work on which is positive and preparing us for our championships.”

Waters will remain in New Zealand aboard his updated 2017 Honda CRF450R ahead of the first round of the 2017 New Zealand Motocross Championship at Timaru on 5 February.