Townley leads orange brigade at memorial mx

Bay of Plenty's Ben Townley (KTM 450 SX-F), the leading rider at this year's Michael Godfrey Memorial Motocross in the South Island. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com

Bay of Plenty's Ben Townley made it a win-win weekend away over the Queen's Birthday holiday break.

The 33-year-old former motocross world champion from Oropi made it a family weekend away when he took his wife and three children to the South Island for the long weekend and, just for the fun of it, he also decided to race the 35th annual Michael Godfrey Memorial Motocross at Omihi, in north Canterbury.

The KTM rider contested this event for the first time only last year, but the former Taupo man said he enjoyed it so much that he "just had to come back".

"There was a bit of light drizzle throughout the weekend and it made the track tricky, but the more technical it got the more I enjoyed it. It was a fantastic track.

"There were lots of ruts and picking good lines was most important. I had to be creative at times," he says.

He stamped his authority on the premier MX1 class, taking his KTM 450 SX-F to finish the two-day event with a 2-1-2-1-1 score-card over his five MX1 races, finishing the weekend ahead of Kiwi international Rhys Carter (Kawasaki), of Mount Maunganui, and Taupo KTM rider Cohen Chase.

Then Townley followed that up by also winning the all-capacities Michael Godfrey Senior Memorial Feature Race, this time crossing the finish line ahead of Carter and former Grand Prix racer and former national champion Josh Coppins (Yamaha), of Motueka.

"The racing was excellent and I'm sure the spectators would have enjoyed it. There was one race in particular on Saturday where a blanket could have covered five of us riders battling at the front."

Townley had finished runner-up in the MX1 class at this event last year, behind Christchurch's former national MX1 champion Justin Macdonald, but then he won the all-important feature race during that debut appearance, he enjoyable experience there in 2017 enticing him back this year.

"I have not had this new 2018 KTM 450 SX-F for long, maybe a month now, but I'm really enjoying racing it," says Townley.

It was a sensational weekend for the "Orange Brigade" with a slew of other riders on KTM bikes also enjoying success.

Taupo's Chase doubled up to take a 250cc version of his KTM to dominate the MX2 class, his 3-1-1-1-1 score-card giving him a massive edge over Dunedin's Sam Cuthbertson and Mangakino's Maximus Purvis, while Rotorua's Josh Bourke-Palmer won the senior 125cc class, ahead of Nelson's Clayton Roeske.

Motueka's Roma Edwards won the women's class and Tapawera's Keegan Anglesey won the enduro grade.

In the junior grades, Ashburton's Mitchell Stocker took his KTM to record 1-2-1-2-1 score-card and win the win the 14-16 years' 250cc class and he also won both the Junior 125/250 Feature Race and the Trent Haywood Memorial Trophy, while Westport's Reece McBride (Husqvarna) scored 1-1-1-2-2 results over the two days to dominate the 12-16 years' 125cc class.

Rangiora's Cobie Bourke took his KTM to a clean sweep of five wins as he dominated the 12-16 years' 85cc class, also winning the Junior 85cc Feature Race, while fellow KTM star Kobe Thoms, from Leeston, ruled the roost in the 8-11 years' 85cc class.

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