USGP: Townley & CRF450 Lead Honda Team

Motocross Results

A hot, breezy, fast and intense MX Grand Prix of USA at the challenging Glen Helen circuit in eastern California was the scene of the sixth round of fifteen in the 2010 FIM World Championship.

At the hand of former MX2 world champ, current AMA title contender and GP wild-card, Ben Townley, a CRF 450R was able to cross the finish line in first position for the second meeting in succession.

The Troy Lee Designs Lucas Oil Honda man claimed the second moto at the first USGP since 1999 and first since 1992 at Glen Helen on Memorial Day weekend and in front of 16,000 spectators who braved unrelenting sunshine and temperatures in the low ‘30s.

The New Zealander – returning from several seasons plagued with injury – was in fine form as he escaped to victory.

His overall ranking of 8th for the GP however was caused by a first race retirement as a consequence of bike damage sustained in a tussle with Mike Alessi while pushing for second spot.

While new father Townley was experiencing a small slice of a career re-birth there was not a whole set of positive news for the Honda Motor Europe corps.

LS Motors Honda David Guarneri was the most productive ‘red’ racer on the day across a track that was longer, faster and a great deal more ‘vertical’ than a typical Grand Prix course.

The Italian scored two top ten finishes for 7th overall and can take encouragement from his showing, particularly in the second moto where his pace for virtually the entire 35 minute and 2 lap distance was on a par with the fight for 3rd spot just ahead of him on the track.

Teammate Tanel Leok, triumphant at Bellpuig for the Catalan GP two weeks ago, was less fortunate.

A crash and twisted knee in the first moto prompted a DNF and a brave attempt at the second race was halted by a mechanical glitch.

CAS Honda’s Evgeny Bobryshev and Gareth Swanepoel both hobbled away from Glen Helen.

The powerful Russian rookie was 12th in the first moto, two places ahead of the South African, but two crashes left number ‘777′ with a sore neck and thumb and signified a trip to the pits later on.

Swanepoel twisted his right ankle and although a medical check confirmed no long-term damage to the joint he was also another casualty of the Californian ripples in the second outing.

Martin Honda’s Jimmy Albertson was able to participate on Saturday despite dislocating his shoulder only two weeks beforehand.

Sadly the American lost control on the first of the steep downhill descents and needed a hospital visit for a sore back.

Having lost blood on visits to the toilet, the 21 year old will have further tests before hopefully boarding a plane on Wednesday to head over to Europe.

Leok, Bobryshev and Guarneri hold 8th, 9th and 10th positions in the world championship standings with 24 points dividing the trio. Round seven will take place this weekend, meaning a hectic few days travelling and recuperation before the Grand Prix of France at St Jean D’Angely.

Ben Townley (Troy Lee Designs Lucas Oils Honda) says:"It was awesome and a great feeling to win. It doesn’t matter what race it was but to beat the best people in the world – whether in America or Europe – is the goal I was aiming for. I am not anywhere near how could I can be and when that point arrives then it will be pretty cool. I felt like I had some of the old magic back a little bit after the qualification race yesterday and it come together today. Following Mike and Tony was not hard for me, so speed-wise I don’t have a problem.

Tanel Leok (LS Motors Honda) says: "A hard Grand Prix and disappointing after winning in Spain. In the first moto I twisted my knee and I had a lot of pain. I tried to ride for a little bit but I soon had to stop. We put some ice on the leg between the motos and I wanted to attempt the second race. It was not going too badly but then we had a mechanical problem that finished the day."

Davide Guarneri (LS Motors Honda) says: "It was a pretty good GP. I have had some problems in the past with the really hot weather but today was not bad, I lost two positions on the last lap because I was completely finished. In the second moto I was keeping pace with Alessi and Cairoli; I did not start that strongly but was building my speed. I rode better in the first moto and had more energy but my start was terrible and I was outside the top twenty!"

Roger Harvey (Off-road Manager, Honda Motor Europe) says: "On one hand it was great to see Ben Townley running at the speed we know he is capable of and it shows the good work the guys are doing in the US to have him competitive in the AMA one weekend and then winning here and beating the best the next. We cannot walk away too happy from Glen Helen as there were simply too many injuries and we again had poor luck. Everyone will be heading back to France now and we have a busy few weeks ahead."

Fastest lap : Ben Townley (Honda) 2:19.799

1	Antonio Cairoli	259 pts	ITA	KTM	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
2	Maximilian Nagl	218 pts	GER	KTM	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
3	Clement Desalle	196 pts	BEL	SUZUKI	Team Teka Suzuki World MX1
4	David Phillippaerts	184 pts	ITA	YAMAHA	Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team
5	Ken De Dycker	174 pts	BEL	YAMAHA	Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci
6	Steve Ramon	173 pts	BEL	SUZUKI	Team Teka Suzuki World MX1
7	Xavier Boog	167 pts	FRA	KAWASAKI	Kawasaki Racing Team
8	Tanel Leok	135 pts	EST	HONDA	LS Motors Honda
9	Evgeny Bobryshev	115 pts	RUS	HONDA	CAS Honda
10	Davide Guarneri	111 pts	ITA	HONDA	LS Motors Honda
11	Joshua Coppins	90 pts	NZ	APRILIA	Aprilia Racing
12	Kevin Strijbos	86 pts	BEL	SUZUKI	Beursfoon Suzuki MX Team
13	Sebastien Pourcel	75 pts	FRA	KAWASAKI	Kawasaki Racing Team
14	Anthony Boissiere	75 pts	FRA	KTM	B.O Team
15	Gareth Swanepoel	74 pts	ZAF	HONDA	CAS Honda
16	Jimmy Albertson	59 pts	USA	HONDA	Martin Honda
17	Jonathan Barragan	56 pts	ESP	KAWASAKI	Kawasaki Racing Team
18	Rui Goncalves	53 pts	POR	KTM	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
19	Manuel Monni	46 pts	ITA	YAMAHA	3C Racing
20	Mike Alessi	40 pts	USA	KTM	Jagermeister KTM Factory Team
21	Marc De Reuver	40 pts	NED	SUZUKI	Beursfoon Suzuki MX Team
22	Nicolas Aubin	32 pts	FRA	KAWASAKI	No Name – Kawasaki
23	Cedric Soubeyreas	32 pts	FRA	KTM	KTM Sarholz Racing Team
24	Ben Townley	25 pts	NZL	HONDA	Honda Racing MX
25	Kyle Chisholm	20 pts	USA	YAMAHA	No Name – Yamaha
26	Tom Soderstrom	19 pts	SWE	YAMAHA	Yamaha Van Beers Racing
27	Matthias Walkner	15 pts	AUT	KTM	No Name – KTM
28	Alvaro Lozano Rico	14 pts	ESP	YAMAHA	No Name – Yamaha
29	Grant Langston	12 pts	RSA	YAMAHA	No Name – Yamaha
30	Tom Church	11 pts	GBR	CCM	Buildbase CCM Racing
31	Kevin Wouts	7 pts	BEL	KAWASAKI	Sturm Racing Team
32	Julien Bill	7 pts	SUI	APRILIA	JK Datch
33	Gregory Aranda	5 pts	FRA	KAWASAKI	Bud Racing/Rockstar/Kawasaki
34	Filip Neugebauer	5 pts	CZE	KAWASAKI	No Name – Kawasaki
35	Yentel Martens	4 pts	BEL	KTM	No Name – KTM
36	Ryan Hughes	4 pts	USA	HONDA	No Name – Honda
37	Bobby Garrison	4 pts	USA	HUSQVARNA	No Name – Husqvarna
38	Matteo Bonini	3 pts	ITA	YAMAHA	3C Racing
39	Gunter Schmidinger	3 pts	AUT	SUZUKI	Delta Racing Team
40	Justin Soule	2 pts	USA	KAWASAKI	No Name – Kawasaki
41	Antonio Balbi	2 pts	BRA	KAWASAKI	No Name – Kawasaki
42	Stephen Sword	0 pts	GBR	CCM	Buildbase CCM Racing
43	Shannon Terreblanche	0 pts	RSA	KAWASAKI	Sturm Racing Team
44	Ryan Sipes	0 pts	USA	YAMAHA	No Name – Yamaha
45	Ricky Dietrich	0 pts	USA	KAWASAKI	Kawasaki Racing Team
46	Rickard Sandberg	0 pts	SWE	KAWASAKI	No Name – Kawasaki
47	Philips Kempelis	0 pts	LAT	HONDA	Latvia Elksni Honda
48	Morgane Jacquelin	0 pts	FRA	SUZUKI	No Name – Suzuki
49	Mathias Bellino	0 pts	FRA	KTM	KTM HDI MX Team
50	Martin Michek	0 pts	CZE	TM	TM Racing Factory Team
51	Manuel Priem	0 pts	BEL	APRILIA	Aprilia Racing
52	Luis Correia	0 pts	POR	YAMAHA	No Name – Yamaha
53	Loic Rombaut	0 pts	FRA	KAWASAKI	Sturm Racing Team
54	Kyle Pheonix	0 pts	USA	YAMAHA	No Name – Yamaha
55	Ivo Steinbergs	0 pts	LAT	HONDA	Latvia Elksni Honda
56	Hugo Santos	0 pts	POR	KAWASAKI	No Name – Kawasaki
57	Gert Krestinov	0 pts	EST	KTM	No Name – KTM
58	Dennis Stapleton	0 pts	USA	HONDA	No Name – Honda
59	David Gassin	0 pts	USA	YAMAHA	No Name – Yamaha
60	Billy Laninovich	0 pts	USA	APRILIA	Aprilia Racing
61	Bas Verhoeven	0 pts	NED	HONDA	No Name – Honda