TOWNLEY AND
COPPINS TEAM
UP AT YAMAHA
BEN TOWNLEY, WITH HIS ELDEST SON
LEVI, EXCITED ABOUT MOVING INTO
THE FUTURE WITH YAMAHA
iwi former motocross world champion
Ben Townley has signed on to become
a brand ambassador for Yamaha in
New Zealand, an exciting new development
inspired and enabled by long-time friend and
former Grand Prix rival Josh Coppins.
Tauranga’s Townley (YZ450F), along with
his son Levi (YZ65), a rising star on the junior
motocross scene in New Zealand, have already
collected their new Yamaha bikes and are
both thrilled to be moving into the future with
Yamaha. Ben’s youngest son Jaggar will make
the move across to Yamaha when he steps up
to the YZ65.
“It’s very exciting and came quite out of the
blue,” said the 34-year-old Townley.
“This is a great opportunity for Levi, who
has really started to sink his teeth into
motocross racing. Yamaha has a great range
of motorcycles and Josh has always been
someone that I’ve looked up to and I have a
lot of respect for. It will be great to work with
him in this role. He’s very professional and sets
a very high standard for motorcycling in New
Zealand.”
Townley became MX2 (250cc) motocross
world champion in 2004 and then stepped up
18 KIWI RIDER
to the MX1 class the following season, where
he battled all season long with Belgian Yamaha
ace Stefan Everts and fellow Kiwi Coppins.
Everts won the MX1 world title in 2005, with
Coppins runner-up and Townley finishing third
overall.
Coppins said the appointment of Townley
was an important part in his bid to rebuild
Yamaha’s Junior Racing (YJR) programme
within New Zealand.
“We already have some great representation
within the Yamaha brand with Rhys Carter
(Mount Maunganui’s national MX1 No.4)
running coaching clinics and now with Ben
Townley as brand ambassador.”
“We are looking forward to working with
someone of Ben’s calibre. To have someone
with his experience fostering and mentoring
our younger riders is very exciting. With Rhys
looking after coaching and Ben running the
junior programme, and some other exciting
stuff coming up too, there’s a lot of positive
things happening right now.
“This is the first step... we have a lot of other
things happening down the track.
Watch this space.”