So what's happening with Ben Townley?

[Danger]

It sure is hard to keep up with where Ben's at. He hasn't updated his website since June and the most recent additions have been new items that have been available from other sources. He hasn't updated his blogs since April!
I guess he might still be submitting articles to Kiwi Rider so if anyone here reads that mag can you fill us in?
I've heard a rumour that he got married (couldn't care if he has or not) but I've also heard a rumour that he is not going to be competing in the '09 AMA SX!!!

Retirement is getting ever closer at this rate. Are we ever going to get to see the best out of this talent again?

[telliman]

he's a kook!

[takitimu]

he's a kook!

That's pretty rough, he setup Cody in the US, I hope he gets genuinely 100% fit & we end up with a Villipoto/Bubba/Cody/BT battle for the MX next year, be great to have four guys battling for the lead.

I reckon he's better to keep low & get healthy.

[scottymonsterkx85]

can someone please tell me out of kimmies farm, slater mx park and thundercross which one is better as i want to ride on sunday.

cheers guys

[Teava]

That's pretty rough, he setup Cody in the US, I hope he gets genuinely 100% fit & we end up with a Villipoto/Bubba/Cody/BT battle for the MX next year, be great to have four guys battling for the lead.


Bubba isnt racing MX next year, SX only as he plans to do a world tour and doing different races around the world.

[B0000M]

can someone please tell me out of kimmies farm, slater mx park and thundercross which one is better as i want to ride on sunday.

cheers guys

that seems a little irrelevant in this thread.

havnt ridden slater, but as a enduro loop id rate both equal depending which terrain you want. try starting a new thread or jump in on the "where to ride this week" thread

[Teava]

can someone please tell me out of kimmies farm, slater mx park and thundercross which one is better as i want to ride on sunday.

cheers guys

a bit of topic dont ya think?:girlfight:

If the weather stays the same as it is, you wont be riding thunder or kimmy's
both clay based and also thunder isnt a MX track more trail, as for slater park i dont think its open yet.

[telliman]

but its hardly rained yet! and hasnt rained for a week and a half!

[Teava]

True, its been raining here for the last 3 days. If Fell's is called off and its dry at kimmy's prob just go there.

[Danger]

Are pink marshmellows or white marshmellows sweeter??? Sheesh guys, help me out here!:bash:

[telliman]

Are pink marshmellows or white marshmellows sweeter??? Sheesh guys, help me out here!:bash:

ben who????

[chop]

i believe you will find pink are sweeter Danger... And while were at it...... can we camp in the forrest???:brick:

[Teava]

Are pink marshmellows or white marshmellows sweeter??? Sheesh guys, help me out here!:bash:

Sorry Danger, as far as i know hes not married yet, hes coming back to NZ
to get married.

Dont read the kiwi biker, but have also heard that he may not be fit for the SX.

Hes pretty good at keeping on the down low, Scotty would maybe know more.

[scottymonsterkx85]

i donno really im more of a bubba person but seeing as he has moved to yamaha he can kiss my ass. so im all the way for villipoto

[MIXONE]

:tugger:I can't believe the number of guys slagging off BT.WTF!!! He's a kiwi doing well on the world scene which is way more then you!!!Tall poppy syndrome anyone?

[Danger]

We wish he was doing well on the world scene but we don't really know what he is up too at the moment. I don't recall him doing anything much for more than a year. Thats the point of this thread, please fill us in.

[soundbeltfarm]

i read in a moto mag i got called motox i think . it a UK mag.
they do an interveiw on him and crikey he has some injuries all on the go at once ,
so i dont know what he will do but he is an honest person to interview , they ask him about the guy on a yamaha lights that rolled the rental car , cant remember his name and ben says i wouldn't waste my breath on him haha ,
one of the better interviews i've read for awhile,

[cs363]

We wish he was doing well on the world scene but we don't really know what he is up too at the moment. I don't recall him doing anything much for more than a year. Thats the point of this thread, please fill us in.

Well I do know he got married about a month ago in Rotovegas and that he's sitting it out as far as racing goes until he is 100% fit, so unlikely we'll see him racing at least in the early part of the season. He may make an appearance at the international MX in Taupo but I expect it will just be in support of the Taupo club and to have some fun with some of the guys who are coming down for it as well as his friends and relatives who live locally.

Scott(411) has probably had more recent contact with BT so hopefully he'll poke his head in here and fill any gaps in my post.

I can't believe the tall poppy knockers are at work already in this thread - BT has achieved a hell of a lot more than many of our international athletes and has helped many others such as Cody Cooper and Katherine Prumm to get where they are today. As motorcyclists we should be collectively proud of our champions, after all per capita we produce far more than our fair share.

[telliman]

hes only had one good season though, injured before that and pretty injury prone in europe to i believe. he showed he could run with villipoto but still has everything to proove!
hardly tall poppy knocking.

[cs363]

hes only had one good season though, injured before that and pretty injury prone in europe to i believe. he showed he could run with villipoto but still has everything to proove!
hardly tall poppy knocking.

Appreciate you expanding on your shorter earlier post :)

But....mate, this a multiple NZ National Champion, MX2 World Champion who also had a very creditable 3rd place in MX1 and then went to the US and really made people over there sit up and take notice.
Hardly a kook, unfortunate maybe as far as injuries go but kook just seems a bit rough to me.
At his age he's still got quite a few years to make good in the US and sitting it out to heal properly is a sensible and mature move in my book.

[telliman]

i agree!!!

[cs363]

i agree!!!

That calls for a :apint: then! :D




:done:

[Ktmboy]

He's still a professional whether he is injured or not. This is his job yet he can't even update his web site. This is what he gets paid for!!

Poor.
Very slack! Where are his media/marketing people, his support crew?

If I was sinking money into pro's (and it isn't just Bt, check out the lizards site) and they weren't comunicating back to their fans I'd be having words.

In a professional world there are things called KPI's. Things they have to do to get paid.

How many of you have sent an email to these guy's and never got a response back?
Hey, they are both injured and there fore must have heaps of time yet can't be fucked with us!!

[cs363]

He's still a professional whether he is injured or not. This is his job yet he can't even update his web site. This is what he gets paid for!!

Poor.
Very slack! Where are his media/marketing people, his support crew?

If I was sinking money into pro's (and it isn't just Bt, check out the lizards site) and they weren't comunicating back to their fans I'd be having words.

In a professional world there are things called KPI's. Things they have to do to get paid.

How many of you have sent an email to these guy's and never got a response back?
Hey, they are both injured and there fore must have heaps of time yet can't be fucked with us!!


Hmm...well, I don't really do the fan site thing - but if that's true then yes, it is pretty slack. Though as you point out it's the media/marketing people that are to blame here as very few professional riders (or any sort of athlete) would have the time to do that sort of thing themselves.
Seeing as both those riders have regular (?) columns in local magazines, maybe that would be worth a letter to the magazines (Kiwi Rider and or DRD - can't remember who writes in which) - would be interesting to see what response you got.
I have to confess to being a bit stunned that neither of those two riders have current website and even more shocked that they aren't replying to emails. Not a good look I agree.

[Danger]

I can imagine that updating the website is a bit of a pain for these guys and I used to check BT's all the time to see what he had to say in his blogs. There were really only 4 riders I wanted to see and meet at the Taupo International MX in 2006 and Ben was the number 1 for me. And when I did meet him he went beyond what was expected from someone that must get sick of people wanting to meet and have a few words with him.
I checked Lizards and BT's websites the other night and Lizard has recently updated his and because he has been racing its kind of easy to know what he is up to anyway. But all is quiet on the BT front and I think that many of us are interested in how he is doing, when he is going to be racing and how the injury status is. Its just a very closed camp as has been brought to our attention before. Just makes it hard to be a fan and keep the interest going when you hear nothing from the guy in over 6 months from his own portal to his fans, his website.
It was great to see Ben take out the World MX2 Championship and push Everts the following year in MX1, but that was quite a few years ago now. Then there was a season of sitting on the sidelines injured, The battles with RV were exciting in the early part of the season last year. But this has been another season on the bleachers. I'm just hoping that next year is not going to be the same and the rumour I heard was that he would be sitting out the SX season!:argh:
I don't really give a toss about the SX season, but it could possibly mean that Bens injury problems are still ongoing?

At least we can look forward to watching Cody progress further in his career, hopefully.

[takitimu]

He's still a professional whether he is injured or not. This is his job yet he can't even update his web site. This is what he gets paid for!!


That's a valid point, something I gotta say Paul Whibley does a real good job with. But you reckon BT's is bad check out Bubba's last update 2006 !!!!.

[cs363]

That's a valid point, something I gotta say Paul Whibley does a real good job with. But you reckon BT's is bad check out Bubba's last update 2006 !!!!.

Yeah - Paul Whibley is definitely very good at keeping the troops informed! :)
I wonder if BT's website issue is related to the change to Honda and the subsequent lay off not long after, maybe some change in management team etc., particularly with him not riding it may just be that no one has actually been assigned to the job?
Whoa! 2006??!! You'd think Bubba's crew would be better than that at his level/profile in the sport. :oi-grr:

[Danger]

Can you guys post up a link for Pauls site please?

[cs363]

I just get his race reports, but I'm pretty sure its just www.paulwhibley.co.nz

[inlinefour]

:tugger:I can't believe the number of guys slagging off BT.WTF!!! He's a kiwi doing well on the world scene which is way more then you!!!Tall poppy syndrome anyone?

they are just jealous little turds

[scott411]

hes only had one good season though, injured before that and pretty injury prone in europe to i believe. he showed he could run with villipoto but still has everything to proove!
hardly tall poppy knocking.


one good season??????
which on was it,
was it 2001 when he went to europe as a 16 year old and qulified for GP's at his first try, living byhimself in Germany
was it 2002 where he came the 2nd youngest person ever to win a GP??
what about 2004 when he became MX2 world champion
what about 2005 when he got 3rd overall in his first season of MX1, then did the unthinkable and ran the the GOAT RC at the MX des nations,
how about 2007 when he won the east coast lites SX championship after dnf'ing round one, and then got 2nd in the Motocross Lites, winning more overalls than RV, the greatest 250F pilot of all time,

then how about 2007 where he flies his long time friend Cody Cooper over to the states, buys him some bikes, pays for a mechanic, gets Mitch Payton to build him fast as motors and great suspension,

then 2008 when he flies Cody back, gets him to live with him, and gets him a outdoor ride with his contacts?????

i admit he has had a shocking run with injuries in 06 and 08, but come on, I don't see where the kbnocking needs to come from? fuck i wish i could have one season that good, and i bet most of the mx riders in the world do too,


as to dangers orginal question, CS363 has it right
will miss alot if not all of the SX as far as i know, he got married a month ago in NZ to his longtime NZ girlfriend, will def not be riding the international and i am unsure weather he will come back for it,

[Danger]

To be honest I think the so called knockers are just fishing for a little debate. I think most dirt bikers here realise what a talent he is.

Thanks for the info Scott. His injurys still mystify as to there extent because of the time its taking to recover. I mean he first got injured about a year ago now. If he makes it back injury free for the start of the outdoor AMA season that will be a good 18 months out! Be nice to hear from Ben what all the issues are.

[telliman]

one good season??????
which on was it,
was it 2001 when he went to europe as a 16 year old and qulified for GP's at his first try, living byhimself in Germany
was it 2002 where he came the 2nd youngest person ever to win a GP??
what about 2004 when he became MX2 world champion
what about 2005 when he got 3rd overall in his first season of MX1, then did the unthinkable and ran the the GOAT RC at the MX des nations,
how about 2007 when he won the east coast lites SX championship after dnf'ing round one, and then got 2nd in the Motocross Lites, winning more overalls than RV, the greatest 250F pilot of all time,

then how about 2007 where he flies his long time friend Cody Cooper over to the states, buys him some bikes, pays for a mechanic, gets Mitch Payton to build him fast as motors and great suspension,

then 2008 when he flies Cody back, gets him to live with him, and gets him a outdoor ride with his contacts?????

i admit he has had a shocking run with injuries in 06 and 08, but come on, I don't see where the kbnocking needs to come from? fuck i wish i could have one season that good, and i bet most of the mx riders in the world do too,


as to dangers orginal question, CS363 has it right
will miss alot if not all of the SX as far as i know, he got married a month ago in NZ to his longtime NZ girlfriend, will def not be riding the international and i am unsure weather he will come back for it,

woops, dont mind me, im just the garage of mis-information!

[telliman]

there was apoint to wat i was trying to say but i cant remember wat it was.

[soundbeltfarm]

scanned part of the mag interview with bt and he has a few injuries.
here it is not sure if it will be readable

[Danger]

Thanks man, I could read that but its old news from months ago. But you can kind of imagine that he needs a shoulder reconstruction, and perhaps thats gonna take some time to fully recover from, hence the decision to sit out SX yet again. Only speculating of course because we have no up to date info available.

Have some bling for your troubles!:apint:

[scott411]

BT ended up with a mutitube on injuries last year, 1st was a very badley crushed foot while practising supercross, which required 2 months of non weight bearing, and that ruled him out of sx,
then as he was practicing for mx he reinjured his Ac joint in his shoulder, he made it to the 1st round where he crashed in practice injruing his wrist, then at round two at hangtown he had another big crash in practice injuring his ankle, after that he retired for the season to let it all heal,
basically a shit of a season,

[cs363]

To be honest I think the so called knockers are just fishing for a little debate.

That would never happen on KB......would it?! :rofl:

[raglanash]

This from the latest racerhead. Looks like SX is on!
A bit in there about cooper as well.

http://www.racerxonline.com/article/racerhead-43.aspx


Rumors have been swirling for weeks about Ben Townley’s status with Honda Red Bull Racing. Apparently, Townley has a wrist injury that was taking a long time to heal, and Honda considered looking for another rider to replace Townley, even if just for the supercross championship, while his wrist healed. The new addendum to this rumor has it that the riders being talked to about replacing Townley were all told “never mind” recently when Townley rode and found out that his wrist was fine. He will race supercross in 2009, so as of now, the replacement is no longer needed.

[Danger]

Thanks Ash! Heres hoping things are looking up for Ben!