Glen Helen practice and raceday links

[scott411]

Coops 8th overall, 2nd Privateer

great result

[denill]

Date: 26 May 2008
Press release:

Ben Townley off to a tough start in Glen Helen

The first round of the AMA Motocross nationals has seen a difficult start to Ben Townley’s much anticipated return to racing. The 23-year-old Kiwi who is based in Tallahassee, Florida had to overcome a banged angle in the morning qualification session only to have a possible podium finish snatched in the final moto when his machine gave up on him.

After grabbing a good start in moto 1 aboard his factory Red Bull Honda, BT was positioned in fourth on the opening lap. He was then passed by fellow Honda team-mate Davi Millsaps while trying to settle into his race rhythm. Five laps later the Kiwi retaliated and moved back into fourth, then setting his sights on Tim Ferry who was holding a podium spot. Townley gradually reeled in the Floridian and tried to go up the inside of Ferry just after the infamous Glen Helen sand section, but went down in the process. He quickly rejoined the race after losing a few positions and came back to claim 6th spot.

In Moto 2, Townley took advantage of an aggressive first corner to position himself in fourth as he had done in the first moto. He quickly settled down and focused on catching Millsaps which he succeeded in doing on lap 3. As Townley was poised to make a move on his team-mate disbelief overcame the crowd when they saw the number 101 forced to the side of the circuit with a technical problem - The Kiwi’s race was over.

“It’s awesome to be back at the races especially as it’s my first race for the Red Bull Honda Team. Saturday went well and I was able to shake off all the old cobwebs and I got back into the rhythm of being at the races again. Today was a little bit different though - I was going through a turn during qualifying when my foot hit a boulder on the inside of the turn and smashed my heel and ankle. At first I thought the injury was much worse but I still made it to the first moto after icing the foot. I was pleased with my riding under the circumstances and was happy to be in a race situation again. The second moto was cut short with a bike problem but I was feeling confident for a podium spot at that stage.” explained Townley.

Townley has more testing planned with the Red Bull Honda team in California before he heads to round two at the ‘Hangtown Classic’ near Sacramento next weekend.

Race results:

Moto 1

1 James M. Stewart Kawasaki KX450F

2 Mike A. Alessi Suzuki RM-Z450

3 David D. Millsaps Honda CRF450R

4 Timmy M. Ferry Kawasaki KX450F

5 Andrew T. Short Honda CRF450R

6 Ben Townley Honda CRF450R

7 Ivan Tedesco Honda CRF450R

8 Sean D. Hamblin Yamaha YZ450F

9 Michael Byrne Suzuki RM-Z450

10 Nicholas A. Wey KTM 450SX

11 Steve Boniface Honda CRF450R

12 Antonio Balbi Honda CRF450R

13 Jeff Alessi Honda CRF450R

14 Cody Cooper Suzuki RM-Z450

15 Bobby B. Bonds Kawasaki KX450F

Moto 2

1 James M. Stewart Kawasaki KX450F

2 Mike A. Alessi Suzuki RM-Z450

3 David D. Millsaps Honda CRF450R

4 Timmy M. Ferry Kawasaki KX450F

5 Ivan Tedesco Honda CRF450R

6 Cody Cooper Suzuki RM-Z450

7 Michael Byrne Suzuki RM-Z450

8 Sean D. Hamblin Yamaha YZ450F

9 Jeff Alessi Honda CRF450R

10 Nicholas A. Wey KTM 450SX

11 Antonio Balbi Honda CRF450R

12 Steve Boniface Honda CRF450R

13 Jarred Jet Browne Suzuki RM-Z450

14 Charles J. Summey Yamaha YZ450F

15 Joshua R. Hill Yamaha YZ450F

32 Ben Townley Honda CRF450R

Points standings:
1 50 J. Stewart
2 44 M. Alessi
3 40 D. Millsaps
4 36 T. Ferry
5 30 I. Tedesco
6 26 M. Byrne
7 26 S. Hamblin
8 22 C. Cooper
9 22 N. Wey
10 20 J. Alessi
11 19 A. Balbi
12 19 S. Boniface
13 16 A. Short
14 15 B. Townley
15 10 B. Bonds

[arj127]

Where the heck was Kevin Windham???

[oldguy]

[QUOTE=denill;1579866]Date: 26 May 2008
Press release:

Ben Townley off to a tough start in Glen Helen



In Moto 2, Townley took advantage of an aggressive first corner to position himself in fourth as he had done in the first moto. He quickly settled down and focused on catching Millsaps which he succeeded in doing on lap 3. As Townley was poised to make a move on his team-mate disbelief overcame the crowd when they saw the number 101 forced to the side of the circuit with a technical problem - The Kiwi’s race was over.

Thats encouraging news, he can take it to the top guys, Bubba is another story thou. hope Honda get his bike sorted.

Go Ben and Cody

[scott411]

Where the heck was Kevin Windham???

SUpercross only this year, same with Reed, Preston, and a few others

[Danger]

SUpercross only this year, same with Reed, Preston, and a few others

Big girls chasing the money.

[scott411]

i think it is more to do with team budgets,

some teams (butler Bros, atomic) are only doing SX as the nationals cost just as much, and get less press and sponsorship,

unfortunalty i think this is going to continue to be the case there are rumours that the supercross season may be extended to 20 races from the current 16

[Danger]

Also that the Nationals maybe switching to a one race format. The riders earn a lot more money racing SX and I believe it is less work for them. But it only has a tenth of the interest for me. Rather watch a good MX race rather than the aerial antics of SX.

[denill]

Scott and Danger's posts got me wondering. As I have a major preference for MX (over SX) I got to wonder if I was in the minority?

So rather than hijack this thread I've Set Up A Poll:

[scott411]

Also that the Nationals maybe switching to a one race format. The riders earn a lot more money racing SX and I believe it is less work for them. But it only has a tenth of the interest for me. Rather watch a good MX race rather than the aerial antics of SX.

there is conflicting reports on the one moto thing, i think it would be a pretty stupid thing to do,

[Danger]

Me too and I hope and don't think they are silly enough to run with that idea.

[Katoomer]

It didn't work when the MXGPs went to 1 moto format . I think the yanks are just looking at ways to improve their series .They even asked youthstream for some input so thats a good sign.We might even get some decent coverage down here. I rang Sky and there's nothing scheduled for June so its back to hassling them again to show it

[denill]

From HH Media:

I had a call from Russell Burling who was awaiting his flight back to Sydney on Monday night. Russell has been 'assisting' Cody Cooper and owned the Hondas before Coops move to the Biloxi (Mississippi) based Suzuki City/OTSFF/Rockstar team for the 2008 AMA Motocross season.

"He ended up 14th in the first race because he had no rear brake. With his pace he could have been 5th or 6th. In the second race he was 6th and only 4 seconds behind Ivan Tedesco, who was only 4 behind Tim Ferry in 4th." said Burling.

"He is a big story here, an unknown who is 8th in the Championship. All the big motocross mags were all over him. You have to see Glen Helen to appreciate how big the track is, it's massive and there was a huge crowd as Memorial Day Weekend. The jumps are massive also, bigger than anything in New Zealand." he continued.

"Did he like the Suzuki ?" I asked.

"You have to remember he only got the Suzuki RM-Z450 on the Thursday and it is not a full factory bike. He says the turn-in is amazing."

"What happened to BT ?" I asked.

"Ignition problems - the bike would not restart." he responded.

Keep tabs on Coops via: http://www.racelikearockstar.com/index.html

[Pierce]

SUpercross only this year, same with Reed, Preston, and a few others

Kevin is taking the summer off. First summer he's had off since he was like 6yrs old haha. FAmily time I believe