Motocross

Ben Townley rues the one that got away

Posted:

Monday, March 7th, 2016

7:13 AM

Ben Townley came within touching distance of his first overall podium finish of the season at Suphan Buri and the Grand Prix of Thailand as the Team Suzuki World MXGP rider took second position in the second moto but rued a crash that forced his retirement in the first outing and placed him ninth at the end of the day.

in 40 degree temprature Townley launched out of the start gate from Pole Position and straight into fourth place with Tony Cairoli, Romain Febvre and Tim Gajser for company. The New Zealander was part of a quartet that set the pace at the front and was barely divided by more than three seconds for the first part of the sprint.

The long, hard ruts provided a tricky technical test requiring precision and care while other hard-pack areas of the surface were slippery. Townley would ultimately be caught out on lap nine. The 30 year old slipped off the RM-Z450 and sustained minor damage to the handlebars. Despairingly Townley had to cruise back to the pit lane with a broken radiator that was causing the bike to lose liquid and meant that his race was terminal.

Determined to make amends in moto two with the track thoroughly worn in the wake of the second and final MX2 outing, Townley was poised for better. The #‰Û÷8‰Ûª knew that his chances of an overall podium ‰ÛÒ his first since 2005 in Grand Prix ‰ÛÒ had gone with his mistake in the first race but BT was keen to validate his pace and potential once again at the highest level.

He made light work of passing Shaun Simpson in the formative stages to capture second place and then carved out an advantage that saw him adrift of Febvre ahead but safely in front of Max Nagl in third. The final laps involved some heavy work for him ‰ÛÒ as for most of the MXGP field ‰ÛÒ but he motored home to a personal best so far in 2016.

After taking Pole on Saturday Townley crashed in Moto one but finished second in Moto 2.

‰ÛÏI blew it," Townley stated matter of factly! "I made a mistake that caught me out of the blue. It was on the last roller and I was in the wrong gear. I was caught out by how slick it was and got ejected. I was up ready to salvage something but the radiator was damaged and I was lucky to make it back to the pits.

"In the second moto obviously the result was much better but it was tough. Someone jumped the gate beside me so I was late off the line. I started in sixth and worked my way up; I think I had a bit more spark than the other boys. In the end I gave everything I had and I had to talk myself through to the end. It was a mission.

"Overall I‰Ûªm not concerned about the podium but the 18 points that I threw away. It‰Ûªs really disappointing. We are still working on the bike quite a lot, and have made progress every session since starting in Qatar, but there is still work to do on the engine and suspension especially. Onto the next one.‰Û

It was very hot.

Grand Prix of Thailand - MXGP Results - Round 2

MXGP Moto1:
1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), 34:04.313
2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:02.775
3. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:05.871
4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:18.040
5. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:21.958
6. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:33.137
7. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), +0:36.125
8. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki MXGP), +0:47.200
9. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:51.008
10. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:59.191
11. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), +1:02.840
12. Milko Potisek (FRA, Yamaha), +1:05.143
13. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +1:13.586
14. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Honda), +1:16.599
15. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +1:24.528
16. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +1:30.705
17. Tanel Leok (EST, KTM), -1 lap(s)
18. Kei Yamamoto (JPN, Honda), -1 lap(s)
19. Alex Snow (GBR, Yamaha), -1 lap(s)
20. Thanarat Penjan (THA, Honda), -3 lap(s)
21. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), -5 lap(s)
22. Chaiyan Romphan (THA, Yamaha), -5 lap(s)
23. Ben Townley (NZL, Suzuki MXGP), -11 lap(s).

MXGP Moto2:
1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), 34:41.154
2. Ben Townley (NZL, Suzuki MXGP), +0:06.038
3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), +0:07.876
4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:10.723
5. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:20.508
6. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:23.325
7. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:32.355
8. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +0:36.229
9. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), +0:38.176
10. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), +0:41.132
11. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki MXGP), +0:43.047
12. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:47.932
13. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Honda), +0:50.244
14. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:56.903
15. Milko Potisek (FRA, Yamaha), +1:04.770
16. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Husqvarna), +1:12.194
17. Tanel Leok (EST, KTM), +1:42.623
18. Kei Yamamoto (JPN, Honda), +2:02.034
19. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), -1 lap(s)
20. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), -1 lap(s)
21. Alex Snow (GBR, Yamaha), -1 lap(s)
22. Chaiyan Romphan (THA, Yamaha), -2 lap(s)
23. Thanarat Penjan (THA, Honda), -5 lap(s).

MXGP Overall result:
1. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 50 points
2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 36 p.
3. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 34 p.
4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 32 p.
5. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 31 p.
6. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 27 p.
7. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HON), 26 p.
8. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki MXGP), 23 p.
9. Ben Townley (NZL, Suzuki MXGP), 22 p.
10. Tommy Searle (GBR, KAW), 22 p.
11. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 21 p.
12. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 21 p.
13. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 20 p.
14. Christophe Charlier (FRA, HUS), 16 p.
15. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, HON), 15 p.
16. Milko Potisek (FRA, YAM), 15 p.
17. Tanel Leok (EST, KTM), 8 p.
18. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 8 p.
19. Kei Yamamoto (JPN, HON), 6 p.
20. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 6 p.
21. Alex Snow (GBR, YAM), 2 p.
22. Thanarat Penjan (THA, HON), 1 p.
23. Chaiyan Romphan (THA, YAM), 0 p.

MXGP World Championship standings (after 2 of 18 rounds):
1. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 92 points
2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 86 p.
3. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 74 p.
4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 68 p.
5. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 64 p.
6. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 57 p.
7. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki MXGP), 48 p.
8. Tommy Searle (GBR, KAW), 47 p.
9. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 44 p.
10. Ben Townley (NZL, Suzuki MXGP), 42 p.
11. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HON), 37 p.
12. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 37 p.
13. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 35 p.
14. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 33 p.
15. Milko Potisek (FRA, YAM), 28 p.
16. Christophe Charlier (FRA, HUS), 24 p.
17. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, HON), 23 p.
18. Tanel Leok (EST, KTM), 21 p.
19. Kei Yamamoto (JPN, HON), 11 p.
20. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 9 p.
21. Alex Snow (GBR, YAM), 3 p.
22. Thanarat Penjan (THA, HON), 1 p.