Monster Energy’s Ben Townley Wins Unadilla

Townley wins first moto, o/a and ties teammate for series point lead

CORONA, Calif., (July 16, 2007) – Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/ Kawasaki’s Ben Townley dodged a bullet, er, rock in the first moto that might as well have struck his teammate Ryan Villopoto in the heart when the AMA Lites class series points leader’s (Villopoto) bike was struck with a rock – rendering it unrideable – and handing the Monster Energy Nice N Easy Unadilla MX National over win to Townley with a 1-3 finish.

The two Monster Energy-backed athletes are now tied atop the Lites class points standing, each with 263 points on the season.

Said Townley: “You hate to see something like that happen, especially to a teammate and friend like Ryan. But both of us understand it’s part of racing. It allowed me to make up some points from where I’d ran into some bad luck earlier in the season and now we’re all tied up heading into Colorado.”

The unfortunate situation occurred in the first moto when Villopoto was charging towards the podium early in the race after a not-so- great start put him in 7th place after lap one. At no fault of his (or Pro Circuit and Kawasaki’s for that matter) Villopoto’s KX250F took a rock to the radiator, which caused the coolant to leak out and forced Villopoto to the sidelines.

Nonplussed, Villopoto came back seemingly possessed in the second moto and dominated like he has for much of the season. “Those things happen,” he said of the first moto incident. “You’ve got to count on it happening to you once or so a summer. Hopefully I’ve got that out of the way now. And congrats to Ben on winning. He rode real well today.”

The Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki bikes were obviously the fastest on the track at Unadilla. Villopoto won the timed pro practice by nearly 1.5 seconds (over Townley and was tops in the  econd moto by well over a second again ahead of Townley.

Noteworthy: Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Chris Gosselaar was 15th overall, going 8-23.

Next up for the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team is the July 22 Lakewood (Colo.) Pro National, Round Seven of the 2007 AMA Toyota Motocross Championships.