After a strong performance in the first two motos (4-4) of the Valence International in France, MXGP Suzuki’s Ben Townley went down while getting block passed by the former MX2 World Champion Jeffrey Herlings. The Red Bull/KTM rider went on to finish his perfect 1-1 day in the MX2 class with a win in the Superfinal while Townley suffered a knee injury in the crash.
Ben said after the race, “Coming back to Europe is not easy and the conditions are tough. It has been quite a challenge each weekend, but I’m improving every race. I started quite slow. I couldn’t follow the fast guys in Moto 1, but I got more used to the track in Moto 2 and could stay with them for some laps,” Townley said. The New Zealander finished both motos in fourth position.”
After the crash, Team Manager/Team Owner Stefan Everts was not happy with Herlings’ move, and he pulled no punches in his statement in a Suzuki press release. Stefan said, “The pass on BT by Herlings was unnecessarily aggressive. It’s a pity to see that things like that happen as BT hurt his knee. There are already so many injured riders, and the season hasn’t even started yet. A little respect between riders is not misplaced. At the moment, we do not know how serious it is for Ben, but we will wait and hope for the best,” Everts added.
BT has suffered many injuries over his long career, and we were looking forward to seeing the New Zealander chasing a World title, but that now looks up in the air. We will bring you more updates on the Kiwi’s injury when we get them.
