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TOWNLEY TO MX1

Posted By: OS
Source: Synergy Sport

Date: 19 October 2010

Ben Townley returns to the GPs with Kawasaki Team CLS

Ben Townley, one of the fastest motocross riders in the world, will return to the MX1 World Championship next year with Kawasaki Team CLS.

After five seasons racing in the USA, the former World MX2 and US Lites Champion has signed a one year contract with Pro Circuit and Kawasaki Team CLS to compete in the 2011 World series.

The 25 year old from Taupo in New Zealand put two injury-wrecked seasons behind him this summer as he won motos at both the US Grand Prix in Glen Helen and the Motocross of Nations in Lakewood to confirm that he is one of the fastest MX1 riders on the planet.Many leading GP teams have been in contact with Ben during the few last months but, aided by theirassociation with Monster Energy Drinks and Pro Circuit owner Mitch Payton, Kawasaki Team CLS was his eventual choice for a return to the world stage; Ben has a long, well-established relationship with both American firms, having enjoyed two highly-successful seasons in the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki squad when he initially moved to the USA in 2006.

Having arrived in Europe as an unknown at the age of 16 in 2001, Ben won his first Grand Prix in Sweden the following season and two years later became MX2 World Champion, claiming nine of the sixteen GP wins during the 2004 season. Moving to the MX1 class in 2005, he won four GPs and was the “rookie” of the year with third in the final standings. He attained another dream when he claimed the AMA SX Lites championship on the East Coast in 2007, but injuries wrecked the following two seasons. He overcame several unfortunate setbacks during 2010 to finish fourth in the US outdoor series, and his successes at the US GP and the Motocross of Nations proved that he had the speed to run with the regular GP riders.

By signing for Team CLS Ben will not only renew his successful relationship with Kawasaki, MonsterEnergy and Pro Circuit but also with CLS technical supervisor Harry Nolte, the Dutch technician withwhom he has also enjoyed success and fond memories in the past.

Ben Townley: “I’m really excited about the new deal I have with Kawasaki Team CLS. I have had a great relationship with Kawasaki over the years and rode for them as an amateur in New Zealand so I am excited to be back on Green and to renew that relationship again. Kawasaki Team CLS has a lot of experience with the likes of Harry Nolte and obviously the involvement with Mitch and Pro Circuit is a big part of it as well and was the key in making my decision. With Monster Energy being the title sponsor of the FIM MX World Championship it is also a huge incentive to do well and put Kawasaki and Monster up front. I always had the feeling that I had some unfinished business to take care of in the MX1 world championship and I am now looking forward to coming back to fight for the world title. I also have to say a big thanks to Troy Lee and his team for helping me get my career back on track. They helped me when I was at rock bottom and I will always be grateful to them.”
Jean Jacques Luisetti, Kawasaki Team CLS owner: “When Mitch Payton informed me about this possible move from Ben, we were all excited at the prospect of working with such a talented rider. I want to thank Pro Circuit and Monster Energy who put all their efforts to help us sign Ben, and we’ll do our best to help him to reach his goal. We represent Kawasaki officially in the MX2 World Championship, and without the involvement of our main partners we wouldn’t have been able to sign a top MX1 rider also. It’s a huge step for us to have a former World and US Champion in our team alongside Tommy Searle and Max Anstie; for sure Ben will be fighting for the World title aboard his Pro Circuit Kawasaki."

Harry Nolte, Kawasaki Team CLS technical supervisor: “I’m very excited that Ben is coming back to the GPs, and will join Kawasaki Team CLS; my thanks to Jean Jacques and Gael, who put a lot of effort to make this deal happen. For the CLS team, this is another step forward and I’m looking forwards to work with Ben again; together with Tommy and Max, we have a very strong team for 2011 !”

Image: Shayne Rice

TEAM USA WIN MXON 2010 - UPDATE

By: Ollie S
Images: MotocrossMX1.com

Under magnificent weather Team USA have won the 64th running of the Motocross of Nations at the prestigious Thunder Valley Park, Lakewood, Colorado.

With each country providing their best riders out of three divisions MX1, MX2 and Open, every position counting towards the overall meant the team with the lowest overall score from three races wins.

In the end with a total of 23 points over Belgium’s 30 points for 2nd and Germany’s 44 points for 3rd, few could argue that Team USA showed a global audience that they are once again the dominant motocross nation with an undisputed 6th Motocross of Nations (MXoN) title on trot.

Fantastic starts from key Team USA members Ryan Dungey (MX1) and Andrew Short (Open) in their respective moto’s meant the two yanks were never in doubt of pivotal race control from the drop of the gate.

Andrew Short

Third Team USA member MX2 rider, Trey Canard, touted as being the rider to decimate the MX2 division, suffered from shocking starts all day long. Despite Canard’s brilliant back-of-pack charges making for crowd erupting displays of skill and craft, German whizz kid 16 year old Ken Roczen (MX2) was truly sensational in both his races battling with more powerful 450cc machines on his Red Bull sponsored Teka Suzuki RMZ250; even leading the early stages of the second MX2 + Open race.

Team USA MX2 rider Trey Canard

Roczen was to be the standout rider from Team Germany with team members Marcus Schiffer (MX1) and Max Nagl (Open) both individually finishing strong but eventually dropping the teams’ overall podium hopes when Nagl suffered a huge high side, knocking him out early in race 3 (MX1 + Open). Nagl’s crash effectively ended Team Germany’s run for 2nd overall leaving the door wide open for the super consistent Belgian’s of Clement Desalle (Open), Steven Ramon (MX1) and Jeremy Van Horebeek (MX2) who only racked up 30 points in total for 2nd overall behind the Americans, leaving Germany in 3rd on 44 points.

Great Britain’s last minute put-together team of Dean Wilson (MX2), Brad Anderson (Open) and Jake Nicholls (MX1) put together a string of strong finishers for 4th overall with 45 points; narrowly missing out on an MXoN podium after a nail biting Race 3 (MX1 + Open) result with both Jake Nicholls (MX1) and Brad Anderson (Open) going 11th and 12th respectively. Either one of them unable to make the jump on Australian Jay Marmont for 10th that would have provided them with the much needed points to claim 3rd overall.

Italian stallion and MX1 rider Antonio "Tony" Cairoli

Team Italy’s boy-wonder and newly crowned MX1 World Champion Antonio Cairoli, aboard his KTM350SXF, at times showed immense speed in the first race against Ryan Dungey, but inevitably lacked the tenure to make the pass for a class win gradually slipping off the pace late into Race 1. In Race 3 Cairoli’s early bad start left him with too much lost ground against the flying Americans of Dungey and Short. Awkwardly for Team Italy the strong individual efforts from Cairoli’s countrymen, Alessandro Lupino and Manuel Monni still weren’t enough to clinch a podium finish for Italy, finishing 5th overall on 50 points.

Dominant Australian rider, seasoned AMA professional Brett Metcalfe (MX1), with the aid of Jay Marmont (Open) lead the Australian campaign with solid finishes helping Team Australia climb to 6th overall on 54 points.

After a promising start in the early stages of Race 1 (MX1 + MX2), Team France’s hopes of glory dissolved like candle wax in a cauldron when newly crowned MX2 World Champion Marvin Musquin was forced to retire; Musquins Factory Red Bull KTM250SXF suffering from a serious electrical problem and further imploding his dreams of showing up the Americans on home soil as a precursor to his AMA 2011 plans. Musquin’s KTM250SXF was then a double jeopardy when it expired again in his second race rendering team riders Xavier Boog (Open) and Gautier Paulin (MX1) strong individual results useless in the overall with Team France finishing up in 7th on 71 points.

Brad Groombridge (NZL) with the holeshot in MX2 Qualifying on Saturday

Team New Zealand riders Ben Townley (Open), Josh Coppins (MX1) and Brad Groombridge (MX2) were left picking up the pieces in a lowly 8th overall position on 90 points despite Ben Townley’s absolutely breath taking Race 2 (MX2 + Open) win. Race 3 (MX1 + Open) spelt disaster for Townley who, whilst hunting down Team USA star Ryan Dungey in 2nd position, suffered what looked to be a minor front wheel wash-out eventually forcing Townley to retire in the late stages of the race. Josh Coppins’ 11th and 14th in Race 1 and Race 3 respectively, coupled with rookie MXoN team member Brad Groombridge’s respectful results, were simply not enough to push Team New Zealand further up the leader board.

Portugal and “American B-Team” Puerto Rico Teams closed out the top 10; whilst Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Finland and Estonia made up the top 15 positions.

At the end of the day a final one two from Ryan Dungey and Andrew Short in Race 3 sealed the MXoN 2010 Crown for Team USA. Ken Roczen’s prolific display of speed on the RMZ250 against the 450cc machines will be remembered just like the great 250cc battles at MXoN of yesteryear will be. And Ben Townley’s magnificent Race 2 win will be the highlight of his 2010 professional come back campaign, albeit slightly tarnished by the unfortunate mishap in Race 3. Townley, Coppins and Groombridge can rightfully be proud of an emphatic display of brilliance from an almost entirely self-supported team budget.

Update 1: not mentioned earlier but Ken Roczen won the MX2 class on Sunday for his performances. Roczen is the most successful youngest rider of GP Motocross. As you would have expected Ryan Dungey won the MX1 class outright, whilst Clement Desalle snatched the Open class outright from the hands of Andrew Short. Kiwi Ben Townley was on par to take the Open class crown of MXoN 2010 until his unfortunate Race 3 crash.

Update 2: Reports through the grapevine have it that BT busted some ligaments in his ankle during his unfortunate Race 3 crash.

All Photos courtesy of MotocrossMX1.com

Official Results http://www.motocrossmx1.com/reslists.aspx?ct=7&c=6

TOWNLEY PODIUMS AGAIN

Second successive podium for Townley after Red Bud MX National.

New Zealand’s Ben Townley has claimed his second successive podium of the season as the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross championship has hit the halfway point for round 6 of the 12 round series. The Lucas Oil – Troy Lee Designs – Honda racer narrowly missed out on his first moto win at the Red Bud National however another solid score of 4-3 has shifted the Kiwi to fourth in the championship standings.

With probably his strongest qualifying time of the season Townley had fourth pick of the gate going into the first moto and grabbed a good start as he quickly passed Andrew Short to take the lead. With series leader, Ryan Dungey, and reigning outdoor champion, Chad Reed joining the action, Townley pushed hard to try and gap his pursuers. Dungey challenged ‘BT ‘several times for the lead however every time he made a pass, BT would counter attack and regain the lead. With one lap to go Townley made a vital mistake and went down costing him what should have been his first moto win of the season.

With the same four riders once again challenging for the win, moto 2 saw fellow Honda racer, Andrew Short out front with Dungey, Townley and Reed in hot pursuit. Dungey made his way past Short with ‘BT’ following suit so as not to lose tow with the American. With 6 laps gone Townley made a mistake which enabled Reed to move closer enabling the Australian to then make his move to take over second place from the Kiwi. Townley regained his rhythm and tried to challenge Reed but had to settle for 3rd spot at the checkered flag.

“Red Bud is such a great track to ride on and it makes racing here so much fun. I thought I had the first moto in the bag but got cross rutted and went down. I had a great race with Ryan and we traded positions quite a few times which was good for my confidence. In the second moto I made a mistake while chasing Ryan and that took away my momentum and allowed Chad to get me. We got 2 good starts this weekend and it will not be long before we can fit all the pieces of the puzzle together.” explained a determined Townley.

The calendar takes a week break before round 7 takes place in Millville, Minnesota on the 17th July .

www.bentownleymx.com

Race results:Round 6 of 12

450 Class (Moto Finish)

1)Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., Suzuki (1-1)
2)Chad Reed, Australia, Kawasaki (2-2)
3)Ben Townley, New Zealand, Honda (4-3)
4)Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, Honda (3-5)
5)Brett Metcalfe, Australia, Honda (5-4)
6)Josh Grant, Riverside, Calif., Yamaha (6-6)
7)Kyle Regal, Kemp, Texas, Honda (7-7)
8)Ryan Sipes, Flaherty, Texas, Yamaha (8-8)
9)Mike Alessi, Victorville, Calif., KTM (10-9)
10)Nick Wey, Dewitt, Mich., Kawasaki (9-12)

450 Class Championship Standings

1)Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., Suzuki, 268
2)Chad Reed, Australia, Kawasaki, 204
3)Brett Metcalfe, Australia, Honda, 201
4)Ben Townley, New Zealand, Honda, 189
4)Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, Honda, 189
6)Josh Grant, Riverside, Calif., Yamaha, 182
7)Mike Alessi, Victorville, Calif., KTM, 177
8)Kyle Regal, Kemp, Texas, Honda, 122
9)Ryan Sipes, Flaherty, Texas, Yamaha, 114
10)Kyle Chisholm, Valrico, Fla., Yamaha, 108

TOWNLEY NOTCHES SECOND HONDA CRF450R VICTORY IN TWO MEETINGS

A hot, breezy, fast and intense Grand Prix of USA at the challenging Glen Helen circuit in eastern California was the scene of the sixth round of fifteen in the 2010 FIM World Championship. Former MX2 world champ, current AMA title contender and GP wild-card, Ben Townley, expertly guided his CRF 450R across the finish line in first position for the second meeting in succession.

The Troy Lee Designs Lucas Oil Honda man claimed victory in the second moto at the first USGP since 1999 and first since 1992 at Glen Helen on Memorial Day weekend and in front of 16,000 spectators who braved unrelenting sunshine and temperatures in the low ‘30s.

The New Zealander – returning from several seasons plagued with injury – was in fine form as he escaped to victory in the second moto. Unfortunately he was left to curse his retirement in the first moto – as a consequence of bike damage sustained in a tussle with Mike Alessi while pushing for second spot – which ultimately put him out of the hunt for the overall win. Townley had to settle for 8th spot overall and question what could have been had he not suffered cruel luck first time out. The impressive Italian Antonio Cairoli took the overall win on his factory KTM 350 EX-F but can perhaps count himself lucky that Townley dropped out of the first moto, and out of contention for the overall win.
LS Motors Honda David Guarneri was also in good form and had a productive meeting. The Italian scored two top ten finishes for 7th overall and can take encouragement from his showing, particularly in the second moto where his pace – for virtually the entire 35 minute and 2 lap race – was on a par with the fight for 3rd spot just ahead of him on the track.

Ben Townley, Troy Lee Designs Lucas Oils Honda:
“It was awesome and a great feeling to win. It doesn’t matter what race it was but to beat the best people in the world – whether in America or Europe – is the goal I was aiming for. I am not anywhere near how could I can be and when that point arrives then it will be pretty cool. I felt like I had some of the old magic back a little bit after the qualification race yesterday and it come together today. Following Mike and Tony was not hard for me, so speed-wise I don’t have a problem.

Davide Guarneri, LS Motors Honda:
“It was a good GP. I have had some problems in the past with the really hot weather but today was not bad, I lost two positions on the last lap because I was completely finished. In the second moto I was keeping pace with Alessi and Cairoli; I did not start that strongly but was building my speed.”

Roger Harvey, Off-road Manager, Honda Motor Europe:
“It was great to see Ben Townley running at the speed we know he and the bike are capable of and it shows the good work the guys are doing in the US to have him competitive in the AMA one weekend and then winning here and beating the best in the world the next.”

Source: HondProRacing