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By Ian Miles:
TOWNLEY DOWNED IN GERMANY:
Disaster for young Kiwi motocrosser Ben Townley at the Grand Prix of Germany.
The high-flying 17-year-old went down in a multi-bike pileup in the first turn of the 125 race and could not continue.
“My throttle cable was snagged and mangled,” said the talented Townley. “I couldn’t ride .. I ended up watching the whole race from pit lane. “I made a reasonable enough start but suddenly in the first corner there were bikes on the ground in front of me, I just had nowhere to go.”
Although bitterly disappointed, Townley retains sixth place in the world championship with two rounds remaining.
The Kiwi expat has won one grand prix this year for his Big Five Vangani team and is already tipped as a major title threat next year on the factory KTM machine.
His Vangani teammate Tyla Rattray of South Africa was also caught in the pileup today and finished out of the points, remaining seventh in the championship.
In a fascinating 40-minute battle the top three in the race for the title took their respective places in this GP.
Frenchman Mickael Maschio pushed his Kawasaki to victory and sneaked the lead in the championship by a single point from the KTM of Belgian Patrick Caps with another Belgian KTM rider Steve Ramon a further seven adrift.
Round 11 is held in a fortnight in the Czech Republic but clearly this battle will go right to the wire at the final event in Russia a further two weeks later.
However KTM has long since wrapped up the constructors title, with help from Townley.
In contrast to the floods raging further east, today’s sunny, 30-degree, breezeless afternoon hosted a large crowd at the rolling green hills of the Auf der Wacht circuit in the south-western corner of Germany.
World 125 championship points after 10 of 12 rounds: 1 Mickael Maschio (France) Kawasaki 182; 2 Patrick Caps (Belgium) KTM 181; 3 Steve Ramon (Belgium) KTM 174; 4 Alex Puzar (Italy) Husqvarna 156; 5 Philippe Dupasquier (Switzerland) KTM 154; 6 Ben Townley (NZ) Big Five Vangani KTM 125; Tyla Rattray (South Africa) Big Five Vangani KTM 99.
