It was an amazing weekend for the Townley’s with Ben being back in the paddock this side of the world to bring back good memories. However, this time he was busy looking after and keeping both of his sons right: Levi and Jagger who were racing the 85cc class at the Junior World Championship at a rough Heerde.
Levi was able to win and clinch the world title whilst Jagger showed good pace and just qualifying being his age is an achievement. We caught up with Ben to discuss a range of topics which you can listen, watch or read below…
GateDrop: Ben, you must be a very proud father. Unbelievable… he was just telling me about his wrist injury, which I had no idea about, which makes it even more impressive. You must be delighted that he was able to get the job done and become Junior World Champion…
Townley: Yeah, I think the wrist injury was probably a blessing in disguise when you see the last… So, he started riding. We arrived in Europe and he rode for three or four days, got injured. Then he didn’t ride, I think, for seven or eight days. We thought he’d broken his wrist, but he hadn’t and he had a bone bruising.
Then he got back on the bike on Tuesday at Lommel and rode a little bit. He was pretty uncomfortable but rode a little bit on Wednesday and then he felt better… he also rode better. On Saturday morning, he started off a little rusty. For sure but qualifying, he did really well, he improved. And then in warm up this morning, he improved a lot from qualifying. I could see that his pace was… Like, in terms of race pace would be good, not qualifying pace. Like, this morning, he did 2:10s, 2:10s. I could see that it was going to be good.
For him, starts are really inconsistent. It’s not his strength but he just absolutely smashed the first start and then won that one, pretty good. That was a good, strong moto. Moto two, he half-flanked the start a little bit and I think he started about 10th. He got up to 6th by the first lap, maybe and then went fifth, third and got into second. He made a mistake, went back to 3rd and then, on the last lap, he went down, and he was able to stay in 3rd. He said he’d never got up and started his bike so quickly.
GateDrop: He had two very different moto’s… In the second moto, though, I think he showed how good he was under pressure. Because he was in 5th there for maybe half the race and you were sort of thinking, he needs to go now if he’s going to do it… But he dug deep and was able to make the passes. And do it in style, really, to get the Junior World Title.
Townley: Yeah, I wasn’t concerned about the passes. I thought that he would just find the speed and continue to improve. He’s extremely fit, he’s just training so I knew that, fitness-wise, he had it in him. Everyone was going to suffer in these conditions, I knew that but he’s really solid and calculated. He’s extremely calculated and I knew that he would just slowly move his way forward. He caught up to 2nd, I thought that he could get 2nd but then he made that one mistake. But overall, the second moto was really good.
GateDrop: Seeing a Leok and seeing a Townley race, it’s like going back in time 20 years. What does it feel like for you, seeing the next generation?
Townley: Well, Lucas, he rides fantastic. He’s unbelievable. It’s actually impressive to watch him ride. When he came through the mechanics area, it didn’t even look like he was trying. It was the way he rides the bike. He rides really well. So, big congratulations to them also. I think that he’ll obviously go a long way.
GateDrop: Levi, I mean, watching him race, he looks very smooth and in control…
Townley: Yeah, he looks slow…
GateDrop: Yeah, I’m glad you said it that and not me (laughs)… But is that something you’ve tried to drill into him since such a young age? I mean, it almost looks like you on a bike…
Townley: It’s to be calculated. Yeah, it’s to be calculated. I’ve been coaching since I stopped racing in 2016, I’ve been coaching him. I just tried to instill really good habits, technique habits and not allow the boys to go the wrong direction with their riding technique. Because that’s… I quickly learned as a coach that what I spent most of my time doing was undoing bad habits. So, if you create really good habits, they become a part of just how you do it. It’s just like an extension of who you are. So, that’s what we focus on a lot. I don’t focus on the positives, I just point out what can improve you.
GateDrop: Not to just talk about Levi, the other son (Jagger). He’s very young and just to qualify, I think, is good… He was going pretty well…
Townley: Yeah, he was up there in both moto’s, but he crashed in both motos, unfortunately. He’s bitterly disappointed but I don’t think he understands the enormity of his age and the experience. He wasn’t even coming on this trip three weeks ago. Then we decided to come. So, firstly, he doesn’t have the right correct suspension, which he suffered with a lot. But he doesn’t know that, he doesn’t understand that. He suffered with that a lot because we prepared quite well with Levi. Just for him to be here in this environment, it’s huge at his age. He’s the youngest rider out there in that category so he’s got a long way to go. I can see he’s pretty determined to improve from here. He’ll have his time.
GateDrop: What’s it like for you being back in this paddock? Obviously, I think you go to Sardinia pretty much every year or you’ve been there a few times anyway and you’re here… It must be nice to see friends like Everts again…
Townley: Yeah, it’s been great. One of my best mates is Ruben (Tureluren). He came to America with me. He was probably the catalyst to while we were even here. So, we’ve been staying with him and it’s been great.
I’ve certainly caught up with a lot of people but it’s quite busy having two boys racing or riding. It’s extremely busy. So, I haven’t spent a lot of time catching up with people. But when I do it, it’s nice to see them.
GateDrop: Obviously, when you were in the GP paddock as a rider, a lot has changed these days… There’s a lot more focus on the youth with the EMX classes. What’s your thoughts on that? Would you like something like that when you were their age? You can see how it’s raised the standard of sport…
GateDrop: For sure. If you just compare, and I shouldn’t even get into the subject because people go off on a tangent, but the American amateur scene isn’t successful because they haven’t, until recently, had the Supercross Future program. They need to include a lot more of those moto combines or motocross events to bring their level up. Because their youth level, they don’t race enough. Whereas over here, 85’s and 125’s race so much. They come across so many varying conditions. I’m not biased, I’m just saying what I see.
GateDrop: Whenever Levi gets into the 125cc, it would be nice to see him race the EMX125 series. Is that something you want?
Townley: Yeah, it is such a good category for the reason I just said, it’s great. The standard is very high in speed and the competition. And then obviously all of the conditions of you ride so you get a lot of experience.
GateDrop: I believe his racing isn’t done so far this year. There’s talk of maybe Loket this weekend for EMX85 and then he’s also going to be doing Matterley Basin, I think for the 85 class there. So, still plenty to race for between now and the end of the season…
Townley: I’ll have to give the bank manager a call first but we plan to race in Loket. We’ve got a few things that we have to line up to make that work (note: we believe they haven’t been able to organize everything in time). We will be racing in Australia, also later in this year. Most likely in Matterley Basin as well, for the YZ Cup.
GateDrop: Just on MXGP this year, have you been following it closely?
Townley: No. Not really… It’s tough.
GateDrop: I’d like to get your thoughts on Jeffrey Herlings, Tim Gajser and Jorge Prado. Three very different styles, but it’s awesome seeing them battle for the title… I also remember you said one thing about Roman Febvre is that he makes a lot of mistakes, but quite a lot of small mistakes and he got injured this year but he’s still very fast…
Townley: Yeah, that is a shame. The three that you spoke about, Tim, Jeffrey and Jorge. They’re on another level. I always watch the highlights on Monday mornings in New Zealand. The one thing that stood out to me the most was that qualifying race at that new Spanish track. The Prado track in Lugo. The way they were riding was insane. The intensity and the amount of horsepower that a 450cc has. The way that they were able to apply exiting corners. But it looked like it was just qualifying lap after qualifying lap, that’s one thing that stood out to me. I’ll go out and say right now, they’re the fastest motocross riders in the world right now. There’s no doubt about that.
