BT is back to winning ways
By TMX Archives on 7th Jan 10
BEN Townley made a successful comeback to racing on the Monday after Christmas when he won the Bay of Plenty Motocross event at Whakatane in his native New Zealand. It was his first victory since the summer of 2007 and marks the first step back onto the world stage after suffering serious injury at the Budds Creek Motocross des Nations, some 27 months ago.
Still racing the Penny Homes KX450F Kawasaki BT' shared the wins in the first two motos with Michael Phillips, so it went down to the final moto and the 25-year-old showed the grit and determination which took him to a world and a US title before those career-threatening injuries.
Running second entering the final laps, Townley dived under his rival halfway round the final lap to snatch victory: I knew Phillips was at least as tired as me, so I pushed hard over the last few laps and, sure enough, I could see him starting to change his lines and ride defensively. It's a good feeling to come back and have such a good result, he smiled.
Ben will race the NZ SX series and the Woodville MX GP at the end of January before returning to the world scene. The New Zealander is contracted to contest the AMA outdoor Nationals on Honda for the Troy Lee Designs team, and has already reserved the racing number 101 for the first three MX1 GPs, where he is expected to line up for the Martin Honda team.