Ben Townley Off to a Tough Start in Glen Helen
The first round of the AMA Motocross nationals has seen a difficult start to Ben Townley’s much anticipated return to racing. The 23-year-old Kiwi who is based in Tallahassee, Florida had to overcome a banged angle in the morning qualification session only to have a possible podium finish snatched in the final moto then his machine gave up on him.
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In Moto 2, Townley took advantage of an aggressive first corner to position himself in fourth as he had done in the first moto. He quickly settled down and focused on catching Millsaps which he succeeded in doing on lap 3. As Townley was poised to make a move on his team-mate disbelief overcame the crowd when they saw the number 101 forced to the side of the circuit with a technical problem - The Kiwi’s race was over.
“It’s awesome to be back at the races especially as it’s my first race for the Red Bull Honda Team. Saturday went well and I was able to shake off all the old cobwebs and I got back into the rhythm of being at the races again. Today was a little bit different though - I was going through a turn during qualifying when my foot hit a boulder on the inside of the turn and smashed my heel and ankle. At first I thought the injury was much worse but I still made it to the first moto after icing the foot. I was pleased with my riding under the circumstances and was happy to be in a race situation again. The second moto was cut short with a bike problem but I was feeling confident for a podium spot at that stage.” explained Townley.
Townley has more testing planned with the Red Bull Honda team in California before he heads to round two at the ‘Hangtown Classic’ near Sacramento next weekend.
Race results:
Moto 1
1 James M. Stewart
2 Mike A. Alessi Suzuki RM-Z450
3 David D. Millsaps Honda CRF450R
4 Timmy M. Ferry
5 Andrew T. Short Honda CRF450R
6
7 Ivan Tedesco Honda CRF450R
8 Sean D. Hamblin Yamaha YZ450F
9 Michael Byrne Suzuki RM-Z450
10 Nicholas A. Wey KTM 450SX
11
12 Antonio Balbi Honda CRF450R
13 Jeff Alessi Honda CRF450R
14
15 Bobby B. Bonds
Moto 2
1 James M. Stewart
2 Mike A. Alessi Suzuki RM-Z450
3 David D. Millsaps Honda CRF450R
4 Timmy M. Ferry
5 Ivan Tedesco Honda CRF450R
6
7 Michael Byrne Suzuki RM-Z450
8 Sean D. Hamblin Yamaha YZ450F
9 Jeff Alessi Honda CRF450R
10 Nicholas A. Wey KTM 450SX
11 Antonio Balbi Honda CRF450R
12
13 Jarred Jet Browne Suzuki RM-Z450
14 Charles J. Summey Yamaha YZ450F
15 Joshua R. Hill Yamaha YZ450F
32
Points standings:
1 50 J. Stewart
2 44 M. Alessi
3 40 D. Millsaps
4 36 T. Ferry
5 30
6 26 M. Byrne
7 26 S. Hamblin
8 22
9 22 N. Wey
10 20 J. Alessi
11 19 A. Balbi
12 19 S. Boniface
13 16 A. Short
14 15
15 10 B. Bonds