Motorsport: MX1 success for Townley

A fired-up New Zealand rider Ben Townley showed the world he had lost none of the old magic as he emphatically won race two of this morning's (NZT) United States MX1 motocross Grand Prix at Glen Helen, California.

United States-based Townley, making a one-off appearance in the world championship, suffered a setback in race one when a tangle with American rival Mike Alessi left Townley's bike too damaged to continue after just eight laps.

The 2004 MX2 world champion, who set the fastest lap of two minutes, 19.799 seconds in race one, set out to prove his speed was no fluke by flying out of the starting gate in race two.

A string of consistent laps, including the fastest of 2min 20.633sec saw his Honda disappear into the distance and by the 11th lap, his lead was as much as 16 seconds over the field of 33 other riders.

He could afford to button off with five minutes remaining as he beat second-placed Belgian Clement Desalle by almost eight seconds and Italy's reigning world champion Antonio Cairoli by another two seconds. The other New Zealander in the race, Josh Coppins, was ninth.

Race one was won by Cairoli ahead of Alessi and German Max Nagl, giving KTM a clean sweep of the podium.

Coppins retired from race one in the seventh lap.

Townley last appeared in the MX1 world championship in 2005 when he finished third overall before heading to the United States circuit.

The Taupo-born rider is staging a comeback in America after 2-1/2 years sidelined by injury.

Cairoli won the round with Alessi, who was fourth in race two, second and Desalle third. Townley was eighth overall with Coppins 16th.

The Italian, on 259 points, retains his lead in the world championship with Nagl second on 218 and Desalle third on 196. Coppins is 11th on 90.

Townley's next race is this weekend's second round of the US-championship at Texas. He sits sixth overall in the US standings.

- NZPA