BT wins again

[paturoa]

heads up BT at Unadilla Valley Sports Center, New Berlin, New York this weekend

[paturoa]

Sat practice BT is 2nd behind RV.

[denill]

Leading the way in the 250F class was Ryan Villopoto, with a time of 2:08.062 - a time that would have seeded him second in the 450 class.

Villopoto’s Monster Energy Kawasaki teammate, Ben Townley, was second-fastest in the division, with a time of 2:09.444, while Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey
(2:09.983), Sobe/No Fear/Samsung/Honda’s Josh Grant (2:09.995) and Yamaha of Troy’s Jason Lawrence (2:10.207) rounded out the top five

[paturoa]

BT won the first moto and RV was a DNF lap 5

[paturoa]

RV first and BT 3rd.

So BT closed the 20 point gap and now both RV and BT are on 263 points.

[FlangMasterJ]

BT won the first moto and RV was a DNF lap 5

Music to my ears.

[NordieBoy]

You don't get much closer than equal points

[denill]

Date: 15 July 2007.

Press release:

Ben Townley equalizes MX Lites championship after victory in Unadilla.


With a revamped Unadilla Sports Valley circuit welcoming riders after a week’s hiatus on the AMA Toyota Motocross calendar, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Ben Townley is back in the Mx Lites championship hunt after winning with a 1-3 moto score this weekend.

Townley and championship rival Ryan Villoppotto, matched each other blow for blow in the Sunday qualification practice with both riders almost two seconds faster than the rest of the pack.

An excited crowd were expecting an epic battle between the two Kawasaki team-mates however it was Townley who got to the front of the pack in moto 1 and never looked back. Villopoto would go down early on and then retire with a broken radiator hose, leaving Townley to regain the MX Lites championship points lead.

The tables were turned in moto 2 when Townley rode into the back of a slower rider on the opening lap and went down. The resilient Kiwi remounted and charged through the pack to catch Ryan Dungey in second, on the last lap. ‘BT’ was all over the back of Dungey as he crossed the finish line in third to take the overall win.

“I got a good start in the first moto and was able to control the race pretty easily. I saw that ‘RV’ wasn’t out there so I just did what I had to do to bring it home. In moto 2 I ran into the back of someone in a tight rutted turn on the first lap and a whole bunch of guys got by me. I put my head down and tried to salvage as many points as possible and should have got by Dungey on the last lap but third was safe.” admitted Townley.

Townley and Villopoto are now tied on points as the championship has officially reached the halfway mark. With 6 rounds of the 12 round series remaining the two Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/ Kawasaki racers will be going head to head at Lakewood Colorado next weekend.

Race results:

Motocross Lites (Moto Finish)

Ben Townley, Tallahassee, Fla., Kawasaki, 1-3
Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., Suzuki, 2-2
Jason Lawrence, Murrieta, Ga., Yamaha, 4-4
Josh Grant, Riverside, Calif., Honda, 6-5
Andrew McFarlane, Newport Beach, Calif., Suzuki, 9-7
Broc Hepler, Kittanning, Pa., Yamaha, 3-15
Ryan Villopoto, Poulsbo, Wash., Kawasaki, 37-1
Robert Kiniry, Lafayette, N.Y., Kawasaki, 11-9
Robert Goerke, Lake Helen, Fla., Yamaha, 13-8
Jake Weimer, Rupert, Id., Honda, 7-14

Motocross Lites Point Standings:

Ryan Villopoto, Poulsbo, Wash., Kawasaki, 263
Ben Townley, Tallahassee, Fla., Kawasaki, 263
Josh Grant, Riverside, Calif., Honda, 215
Jason Lawrence, Murrieta, Ga., Yamaha, 212
Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., Suzuki, 194
Jake Weimer, Rupert, Idaho, Honda, 131
Josh Hill, Yoncalla, Ore., Yamaha, 121
Thomas Hahn, Decatur, Texas, Honda, 104
Andrew McFarlane, Newport Beach, Calif., Suzuki, 103
Broc Tickle, Cary, N.C., Yamaha, 96

[denill]

Some Unadilla Pics:

[denill]

This report says:

In the Lites division, Ben Townley and Ryan Villopoto ended the day tied in the series points standings after a strange series of event.

In the first moto, Townley ran away with the win, while Villopoto DNFed when a rock knocked a hole in his radiator. Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey finished second with Team Yamaha’s Broc Hepler in third. Hepler was making a return to racing after sitting out a few months with a concussion.

In the second moto, Villopoto put his Monster Energy Kawasaki into the lead and never looked back, easily taking the win over Dungey, while his teammate Townely recovered from a first lap crash to finish third.

Townley and Villopoto head into to the next round in Denver tied in the series points lead after six rounds of the series.

“We are six races into this and here we are tied up, so it is like a six race championship,” said Townley. “Ryan having the DNF was a huge help for me in the points race. I have got to go back and keep working. I didn’t take any time off the last two weeks, I wanted to make sure I was better than I was at Red Bud. Obviously at Budds Creek I got a whipping and I tried to be better at Red Bud and it seemed that I was closer to Ryan. And then today, I felt like if we had got to square off we would have been pretty even, but we didn’t get to do that. I am just tying to work on little things and I want to win this championship. We are so close and I will need every point I can get.”

[FlangMasterJ]

Unadilla image directory:

http://stevebruhn.com/News07/MX06/index2.htm

[denill]

A Poll @ Cycle News. Com:

[paturoa]

BT is up tonight at Thunder Valley MX in Colorado (2 ls??)

Anyway RV faastest on Saturday and BT right up his date less than 0.2 sec behind - Where have I seen that before?

Me thinks BT needs to go to the 8:45am - Chapel Service ???? WTF???

Sorry for those Christian types out there, but a Chapel Service, on the Official schedule, just isn't right.

So fingers crossed (pun intentional)

[Danger]

Villopoto 1st, Ben 2nd in the first Moto. Looks like Ben was leading early on then dropped several places, perhaps a crash. RV set the fastest lap time.

Race 2 is about to start.

[Danger]

RV leading Ben early on in Race 2. RV trying to ride away, Ben sticking with him.
Listen and race laps here.

http://live.motocross.com/thundervalley.php