TOWNLEY
MX1 WINNER BEN TOWNLEY
“I raced at Tokoroa for fun really and to
support the sport – I'm real sick and tired
of the brands not supporting it. I have a
lot of passion for the sport and want to try
and grow the sport in New Zealand. I really
wonder why the industry isn't trying to grow
it; I prefer SX to MX. The timing of it means
you have to be really accurate – you've
got the rhythm lanes and you need really
accurate jumping skills.
“I don't really do a lot of riding as I don't
have the time to do the practising apart from
when I'm doing a tour or maybe a club day.
“I rode my 350SX-F and am really enjoying it.
Because I don't do enough riding or training
off the bike, a 450 is too much bike for me
to hang on to. I don't even know why they
bother with 450s these days, a 350 is enough
to hang onto as it is! I wouldn't even mind
dropping down to a 250 these days.
“The race was good. I think Cohen was
my strongest competition, he got all the
holeshots and I had to work to get by. I was
gassed about three or four laps in, so I had
to try and conserve myself to get to the
finish.
“I take my hat off to the club, it's a small
committee and they did a great job. I had
a big hand in designing the track, they
sat there and listened, and the track we
ended up with was what we discussed. The
committee really delivered.
“There were massive entries, which was
awesome to see. I especially loved seeing
all the juniors – there were something like
70-odd riders. We've had a huge lull in
supercross and it's a young man's sport, so
seeing all the kids under the age of 16 was
fantastic.”