Townley goes for MXGP world title bid
Former World Champion Ben Townley makes his comeback as a Grand Prix rider for the Factory Suzuki World MXGP team with the aim of adding to his CV with a premier class title. He is only thirty years old (the same age as Tony Cairoli and Kevin Strijbos and slightly younger than Ken De Dycker and David Philippaerts) and won his MX2 world title in 2004 and then took the AMA 2005 Supercross title in 250. East Coast, but will now return to Europe to start testing in the coming weeks or early January at the latest.
Suzuki announced this week that Ben Townley had signed for one season (while the team spokesperson in Lommel stated that Steven Frossard is still recovering from a vertebral fracture and may still compete in a few races in 2016) and the New Zealander made a clear impression during the Motocross of Nations in Ernée at the end of September by finishing second in the third and final series behind MXGP World Champion Romain Febvre. The Nations was only his second match at a high level after he supposedly quit. Townley still rode MXGP Grand Prix competitions in 2012 until a concussion separated the paths between CLS Kawasaki and him. Since then he has coached young riders in his home country and also worked as a test rider for HRC in Japan.
“I had a personal goal in Ernée and a clear goal to see him far against the most important riders at the moment and I think I achieved that goal,” Townley said. “This got me thinking about trying again in the world championship next year. I am not just here to earn a good salary and if I notice after one year that it is no longer possible to go for this title, I will simply leave!”
As a father of three children and with the necessary experience on his side and the deal with Suzuki, which is one of the best teams in the MXGP and which now puts three riders in contention for the title that was won more than a decade ago, is. He says he has a desire to win and that motivated him to compete and move to the other side of the world. He made this step before when he was only fifteen years old in 2001. The biggest question for many of course remains whether Townley has the ability to complete the very grueling 2016 calendar with nineteen Grand Prix, thirty-eight series and fifty-seven races including the qualifying heats.
Original: Adam Wheeler – ontrackoffroad.com – Dutch Version: @Kris…
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