Woodville - the highs and lows

I was not there but have 'communicated' with plenty that were.  Saturday was hugely dusty for the Juniors and the high winds did not help. They had put plenty of water on overnight for the Seniors but not a lot you can do about the place drying out after practice and the first round. There was a common theme amongst the input - great racing up the front but track changes had made it just too fast.

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Lets hear it from the winning team - Carlton Dry Honda's Ben Townley.

Townley dominates Woodville GP

In his first event for 2013, Carlton Dry Honda Racing’s Ben Townley has won the Woodville GP in New Zealand on Sunday.

Setting the fastest lap of each race and winning thee of the four moto’s, including the 20min feature race, Townley dominated the event. The former World Champion said he was happy with today’s results and acknowledged that the event had provided a good opportunity to test the 2013 Honda CR450 under race conditions.

Ben Townley: "We definitely made some gains today and we come away knowing what we need to work on. It was great to be able to test the bike under race conditions, we learnt a lot and will do some fine tuning based on today’s learning’s. I am looking forward to the first round of the New Zealand Motocross Nationals, as my speed improves so does the need to change the bike.”

Crew Chief Mike Landman, who flew over for the event will do some more testing with Townley before he returns to Australia next week.

"As Ben improved we learnt a lot more about the motorcycle. We will fine tune the bike based on what we learnt at Woodville and we will test again prior to me returning to Australia.”

Townley will contest the opening round of the New Zealand Motocross Nationals at South Canterbury Motocycle Club on February 10.

Ben Townley -  image courtesy of Dick Koers  

Apparel sponsor SHIFT will release a new video of Townley on Tuesday.

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Paul Whibley, winner of the MX River Race

Paul Whibley: "The River Race draws the spectators from their spots overlooking the track to the river’s edge to get up close and personal to the action as the bikes splash their way upstream.

In the first race Greg Delautour was swift off the line and beat me to turn one. I quickly got by him and was first to splash down in the river. Launching into the river via the drop off then around the gravel bank to power upstream. Aqua planing around a slight turn then up the slick bank behind the start straight. Back through the brief mx section again before another crack at the creek. I was starting to edge away from the guys behind me as the laps ticked by and ended up winning with a safe margin.

Race two began with another shotgun blast but this time I was first to turn one and into the river. The WR had lapped up the conditions in the first race so this time I attacked the river a bit harder. Mitch Rowe had a good start as well and put some pressure on during the race. A few bikes had drowned mid-stream and some evasive action forced me into some deeper
water. The WR got a lung full of water and slowed for a lap while it digested the fluid. Mitch sensed the issues and closed in for the kill. But with a lap to go the WR cleared its throat and I was able to hold on for the win in the final river race.

1st Paul Whibley: 2nd Mitch Rowe: 3rd: Chris Power."

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The low was Shaun Fogarty's crash.

Kawasaki NZ's Scott Wilkins:  Woodville was the debut of the Autowerx, Spectrum MC Kawasaki KX250F piloted by Shaun Fogarty, Shaun's day got off to a great start with a 4th place in Moto 1 but a huge crash in the second race had him airlifted to Palmerston North Hospital.

Here is a video captured by Aiden Krebs.

False neutral or a kicker?  Note the crowd reaction? - obvious lack of a flaggie.

Jamie Stewart posted this on Facebook: "Hey everyone just been at hospital with Shaun Fogarty The latest is 6 broken ribs and punctured right lung, also a a wee bit of blood around right kidney and a pretty major concusion! He is in good spirits and wants to thank everyone for there support! Hopefully heading back to Auckland on Thursday."