New Zealand’s Ben Townley picked the prefect day to dominate the fourth round of the MX2 World championship series with a 1-1 whitewash around the high-speed Eurocircuit in Valkenswaard, Holland, today. While his countrymen celebrated ANZAC day in New Zealand, the 20-year-old KTM factory rider showed why he is the clear favorite to win this year’s World Championship. Racing with pure determination, and struggling with an injured ankle, the Kiwi kid produced two wins, and propelled himself to the front of the pack in the MX2 class.
“It was a tough week for me, as I twisted my ankle earlier and had some problems to prepare this GP,” Townley said. “I’d like to thank all the people who helped me. We had a lot of fun in the second race during our battle with Marc. Unfortunately he was unlucky today. It’s for sure the best day of my racing career.”
In the MX1 class, seven-time World Motocross Champion Stefan Everts produced his own magic, going 1-1 and leading home a Belgian sweep with Cedric Melotte in second and Joel Smets in third place, respectively.
“I was not so successful the last three years here in Valkenswaard,” Everts said. “I’m happy to be back on the podium here. It has been a really hard race, Cedric was going really fast. We had a really good setting on our Yamaha. In the first race I was like a sandwich between Joel [Smets] and Mickaël [Pichon], it was a really tricky situation. When Mickael did a mistake I started to be more relax and was able to come back on Joel. My second race was much better, and when Cedric passed me and Mickael, I knew I had to follow him. Then Cedric start to get tired and it was time for me to made the move.”
MX1 RESULTS
Moto one: 1. Cedric Melotte (Yam); 2. Stefan Everts (Yam); 3. Joel Smets (Suz); 4. Mickael Pichon (Hon); 5. Kevin Strijbos (Suz); 6. Ken De Dijcker (Hon); 7. Steve Ramon (KTM); 8. Kenneth Gundersen (KTM); 9. Chris Burnham (KTM); 10. Marnicq Bervoets (Yam); 11. Yoshi Atsuta (Hon); 12. Danny Theybers (Yam); 13. Tanel Leok (Suz); 14. Lauris Freibergs (Hon); 15. Antti Pyrhonen (Suz).
Moto two: 1. Stefan Everts (Yam); 2. Cedric Melotte (Yam); 3. Joel Smets (Suz); 4. Mickael Pichon (Hon); 5. Josh Coppins (Hon); 6. Kevin Strijbos (Suz); 7. Kenneth Gundersen (KTM); 8. Steve Ramon (KTM); 9. Ken De Dijcker (Hon); 10. Lauris Freibergs (hon); 11. Yoshi Atsuta (Hon); 12. Tanel Leok (Suz); 13. Marko Kovalainen (Hon); 14. Danny Theybers (Yam); 15. Mark Hucklebridge (KTM).
Overall: 1. Stefan Everts (47pts); 2. Cedric Melotte (47); 3. Joel Smets (40); 4. Mickael Pichon (36); 5. Kevin Strijbos (31); 6. Kenneth Gundersen (27); 7. Steve Ramon (27); 8. Ken De Dijcker (27); 9. Yoshi Atsuta (20); 10. Lauris Freibergs (18); 11. Tanel Leok (17); 12. Josh Coppins (16); 13. Danny Theybers (16); 14. Marko Kovalainen (13); 15. Chris Burnham (12).
MX1 Championship points standings: 1. Stefan Everts (176/2wins); 2. Cedric Melotte (150/1); 3. Steve Ramon (129); 4. Mickael Pichon (127/1); 5. Kenneth Gundersen (120); 6. Josh Coppins (114); 7. Joel Smets (102); 8. Kevin Strijbos (99); 9. Tanel Leok (74); 10. Ken De Dijcker (72); 11. Javier Vico Garcia (65); 12. Brian Jorgensen (60); 13. Yoshi Atsuta (57); 14. James Noble (47); 15. Lauris Freibergs (47).
MX2 RESULTS
Moto one: 1. Ben Townley (KTM); 2. Tyla Rattray (KTM); 3. Antonio Cairoli (Yam); 4. Stephen Sword (Kaw); 5. Andrew McFarlane (Yam); 6. Claudio Federici (Yam); 7. Alessio Chiodi (Yam); 8. Mickael Maschio (Kaw); 9. Carl Nunn (Hon); 10. Jonathan Barragan (KTM); 11. Andrea Bartolini (Yam); 12. Garath Swanepoel (KTM); 13. David Philippaerts (KTM); 14. James Dobb (Hon); 15. Jeff Dement (Hon).
Moto two: 1. Ben Townley (KTM); 2. Tyla Rattray (KTM); 3. Alessio Chiodi (Yam); 4. Marc de Reuver (KTM); 5. Carl Nunn (Hon); 6. Stephen Sword (Kaw); 7. Andrew McFarlane (Yam); 8. Billy Mackenzie (Yam); 9. Claudio Federici (Yam); 10. Antonio Cairoli (Yam); 11. David Philippaerts (KTM); 12. Rui Goncalves (Yam); 13. Sebastien Pourcel (Kaw); 14. Andrea Bartolini (Yam); 15. Jeff Dement (Hon).
Overall: 1. Ben Townley (50pts); 2. Tyla Rattray (44); 3. Alessio Chiodi (34); 4. Stephen Sword (33); 5. Antonio Cairoli (31); 6. Andrew McFarlane (30); 7. Carl Nunn (28); 8. Caudio Federici (27); 9. Marc De Reuver (18); 10. David Phillipaerts (18); 11. Andrea Bartolini (17); 12. Billy Mackenzie (14); 13. Gareth Swanepoel (13); 14. Mickael Maschio (13); 15. Jeff Dement (12).
MX2 Championship points standings: 1. Ben Townley (169/3wins); 2. Stephen Sword (152); 3. Andrew McFarlane (128); 4. Tyla Rattray (127/1); 5. Marc De Reuver (121); 6. Antonio Cairoli (86); 7. Carl Nunn (84); 8. Mickael Maschio (80); 9. Aigar Leok (80); 10. James Dobb (78); 11. David Philippaerts (61); 12. Alessio Chiodi (55); 13. Sebastien Pourcel (47); 14. Jonathan Barragan (46); 15. Manuel Priem (42).
