Interviewing Australia’s top riders is something I have just started to get my head around, just over 12 months ago I never thought I would be in this position but now not only did I have a top Australian rider who was also a top rider on the world stage being a runner up in the world MX2 championship and a top AMA series rider in Andrew McFarlane standing in front of me, but also New Zealand’s Ben Townley a rider who has won a world MX2 title and also a AMA Lites Supercross title then went on to only just miss out on the outdoor title to Ryan Villipoto.
I didn’t want to intrude too much so I got a quick photo with the Iphone to post on the Fullnoise Facebook page then quickly organised to interview both riders on Sunday.
I think the nerves must have really got to me as I didn’t really organise a time or place to catch up on Sunday. Sunday came and I was busy doing the feed, the end of the day came and I had thought I have blown my chance to catch a rider I have been watching and following as a fan.
I was on my way to the car so I could get to the airport on time to catch my flight when I seen Ben sitting on a four wheeler chatting maybe things were going to work out. BT was kind enough to spare some time to have a chat, for me I was tired and looking forward to going home so the nerves were gone and I was actually able to speak, so here it is, a quick Chat to Troy Lee Honda’s Ben Townley.
Aaryn: What brings you to our Nation’s Capital this weekend?
Ben Townley: Obviously there are a lot of Kiwis riding, also I have a strong connection with Cody (Cody Cooper) he lived with me in America for a little bit and I have been involved with his racing a little bit, so I wanted to come over and see how he was doing for a little bit. The Kiwis done well today so it was a good one to come to.
Aaryn: You are out injured at the moment after perforating your bowel in a practice mishap, how is the injury coming along at the moment?
Ben Townley: Really well, it is around five weeks since the injury at six weeks I am back into everything. It is a funny injury as in it is already actually healed, the injury itself has healed I have to wait for the muscle around to basically knit. If you don’t you run the risk of a hernia and apparently and I don’t know much about that, but it’s apparently not good.
I am just trying to take my time you know, I have been through so much I would be foolish to try and rush back into something right now. I don’t really know, I intend on riding in a couple of weeks but I just don’t know I’ll just see how things go.
Aaryn: Obviously you have not been able to ride, has it been possible to do any other training in the mean time?
Ben Townley: No nothing at all.
Aaryn: This year you are heading back to the AMA to ride for the Troy Lee Honda team, are you excited to be riding for this team?
Ben Townley: Yeah it’s a great situation for me, I get to remain on Honda the set up really has nothing strictly to do with Honda but I get to maintain that relationship. The biggest thing for me was about the choice of components and parts that I want to use, the connection with Pro Circuit is there, the Showa suspension and stuff like that, just really using good equipment. They really have not cut any corners and that’s a big part of why I am on that team.
I had different options but this suited me the best because I was comfortable with all the equipment. To go back and reassert myself and my career I had to be comfortable. That is the biggest thing I can take out of it the team have done so much already, the team has sent all my stuff out to New Zealand, I will be based out of Florida so they are really moving heaven and Earth to get me back up front again.
Aaryn: How have you adapted to the new Honda so far, are you finding it a good bike to ride?
Ben Townley: It is good, I had the two years with the factory team but I didn’t really get to race, I like the new bike a lot obviously with fuel injection you can set up the power how you want. The biggest thing for me is getting it set up so it is a balanced bike, I don’t like a bike to have any one certain characteristic, I like a well balanced bike all around and that’s what we are working on at the moment.
The Honda tends to have a twitchy front end and we have ironed that out a lot already, power wise there is not a problem what so ever. I think the biggest thing is we don’t go chasing our tails; I got into that predicament a couple of years ago when I got on a 450. The 450 is such a different animal to the 250, a lot of people especially young people don’t understand that and you can end up going around in circles instead of going forwards, so the biggest thing is making sure we are moving forward and being comfortable.
Aaryn: Your expectations coming back into this year, Is it a year to get yourself back on the map or are you going out to win the outdoor Championship?
Ben Townley: Without a doubt I need to get back on the map, It is all about me you know when I say that I obviously want to do well for my team and my sponsors, but I want to get myself back into a position where I am fast again where I am strong again, Healthy, Happy when I go racing.
I am really happy living in New Zealand a lot again, although I raced against Villipoto and Dungey in supercross and I would love to be there with them right now it’s a bit of a catch twenty two for me because I had been away for so long from New Zealand I want to spend more time at home, but ulitmatley for me right now it is all about doing the AMA outdoors and seeing where it goes from there and not looking too far ahead of this season really.
Aaryn: Just a couple of quick questions before I let you go. Are we ever going to see you race in Australia?
Ben Townley: The only time I have ever raced as a adult in Australia was at the GP in Broadford, I did a couple of junior titles that I won at Mt Gambier and raced as a junior at Oakdale and Cobram a couple of times, but I don’t know. Maybe SuperX I really would like to but I am getting ahead of myself, for me it is all about re asserting myself in America and I will go from there, If I can do that who knows.
If I was going to do it I would want to set myself up so I have all the same set up I would have in America, same bike same equipment back here. The SuperX series is very strong I have not done much racing at all I have not raced supercross since 07, but I would like to get back into the mix and the SuperX series here is only 8 rounds, so it fits better with me. I can live in New Zealand where I have my own supercross track so it would be good for me.
Aaryn: Plus you would also get to race SuperX in New Zealand
Ben Townley: Yeah.
Aaryn: Finally is there any truth that one of the reason’s you got signed to the Troy Lee Designs Honda team is so that team manager Ping (David Pingree) could peel the number 101 off your bike and reclaim it for himself?
Ben Townley: (Laughs) Yeah I actually just got some photos from his yesterday being a smart arse, we are definitely going to have to race for pink slips, I will win that one for sure and I think that is what it is going to come down to and he will lose every time, well unless breaks out the Super moto, or Eating Twinkies he is good at that as well.
Aaryn: Well that’s all then Thanks very much for your time and the best of luck this year over in America.
Ben Townley: Thanks.
