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Vangani Race Report:
It is quite ironic that Ben Townley scored a GP victory before he could claim the laurels in any national championship event in Europe. One week after his first GP success in Uddevalla, Sweden, however, the New Zealander rectified this little oversight by storming to victory in the fourth round of the Dutch Championships in Lichtenvoorde. Ben missed the previous round of the Dutch Championships in order to participate in a round of the US nationals, and he came into the race determined to modify his 12th position standing in the Dutch Championship series.
During the early morning practice – and qualifying sessions it was clear that there were only four riders who had a serious claim on glory for the day – Ben, teammate Tyla Rattray, new KTM recruit Marc De Reuver and Belgian whizz kid Kevin Strijbos. Ben set the fourth-fastest qualifying time, with De Reuver again demonstrating that he holds the aces in the Dutch series with a qualifying time nearly 2 seconds ahead of the second placed rider.
At the start of the first heat, three of the four pre-race favourites headed straight for the front. It was Strijbos who set the early pace, followed by Rattray, who soon had the attention of a determined Drop Bear to contend with, whilst De Reuver fluffed the start completely, and had to recover from last to an eventual fourth place finish. A few laps into the race, Ben found the way past his teammate, and now the hunt was on for Strijbos. Drawing confidence from his fresh GP win, the Taupo tornado was relentless in his pursuit, and in the most memorable incident of the day, he provided a heart-stopping moment when he whipped his KTM virtually back-to-front on the biggest tabletop of the track, mere inches behind Strijbos. Ben continued to hound Strijbos, and show him a wheel here and there, and on the next lap, the New Zealand teenager passed the Belgian teenager to move into the lead.
Strijbos provided some stiff resistance for the next few laps, and stayed within striking distance of Ben’s KTM, allowing him no room for error. Ben handled the reverse pressure like a true veteran, and never looked in danger of forfeiting his hard-fought leading position. The large crowd cheered in appreciation as the likeable youngster came home for his first race victory in a Dutch Championship event.
Benny repeated his good start in the second heat, and moved from fourth to second in a beautiful sweeping maneuvre after the first turn. De Reuver did not repeat his mistake of race one, and he was in the lead from the outset, from where he would use his excellent sand riding skills to pull away steadily for a commanding victory. Ben had an equally easy time in second position, and he concentrated on maintaining this position, secure in the knowledge that it would secure the overall victory for him. He was never challenged for second, and held this position till the end of the race over Strijbos.
Ben’s 1-2 race finishes were good enough to allow him to take the biggest trophy home. He has scorched up the championship ladder, moving from 12th to fourth in one fell swoop. He will put this sand riding experience to good use next weekend when he participates in another round of the US Nationals at Unadilla, where he hopes to improve on his sensational performance during his first US outing a few weeks ago.
