Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Ben Townley Wins St. Louis

Townley ‘masterful’ in his performance in front of the packed Edward Jones Dome; Monster teammate Darcy Lange OK after breathtaking crash

CARLSBAD, Calif., (March 5, 2007) – Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/ Kawasaki’s Ben Townley won his first AMA Supercross Lites class race of the 2007 Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series season, this past Saturday besting the Eastern Lites region field for top honors at St. 
Louis’ Edward Jones Dome.

Townley, who hails from Taupo, New Zealand, got things going early with a solid 2nd place finish in the first heat race to make the main. Equally as impressive in the early goings of the day was his Monster Energy-backed teammate, Darcy Lange, who won the second heat race to make the main. Both Lange and Townley  went 1-2 in AMA timed practice times, respectively.

In the main the two Pro Circuit-tuned Kawasaki KXF250s got out quickly with Townley pulling the $1,000 Progressive Direct holeshot and Lange not far behind. The two would then take over the race, going 1-2 for much of the contest.

With one lap to go Lange, who had dropped a couple spots, would mount a furious charge at the lead – and actually got it for a moment – before a spectacular crash would put him out of contention for the win, finishing 6th overall. Lange would be please to know, though, that his Superman-like dive into the Edward Jones Dome soil won him 1st place overall on a highly-viewed SPEED channel motorsports highlights wrap up program, beating out the controversial NASCAR pass Juan Pablo Montoya made on his teammate Scott Pruett.

Weathering the Lange storm was Townley, who recorded his first supercross win of his career.

“You can’t believe how happy I am to win,” said Townley. “This has been a dream of mine my entire life. Thanks to Monster Energy, Pro Circuit and Kawasaki – and the rest of my sponsors – for helping me make this dream come true tonight in St. Louis.”

With the effort Townley moved up dramatically in the overall Eastern Lites points chase (7th o/a), while Lange is only three points out of first overall.

Next up for the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team is Round Ten of the 2007 Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series at Daytona International Speedway this Friday, March 9th.