Words by Shayne Rice Via: FullNoise.com.au

Photo by: Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com

Monster Energy rider Ben Townley has dominated the MX1 class at the opening round of the New Zealand Motocross Championships at Timaru.

On a an extremely dusty day Townley took the three moto wins on offer over Josh Coppins and Justin McDonald. Defending champion Cody Cooper finished fourth, missing the podium by a point, while Michael Phillips had a strong return from injury taking fifth for the day. 

Townley´s three wins weren´t without issue. 

"The first race i had a problem with the brake, we where trying something new and it snapped, so thats something we will have to fix before Australia," Townley explained. 

Other than that the former World MX2 champion was in a class of his own displaying blistering fast and smooth corner speed through the day and giving notice he will be the man to beat both in New Zealand and Australia in 2012. 

"I am getting good starts and am so happy with my bike set-up, it´s not much different to when i rode a Honda in America in 2010. I am really enjoying riding it, it´s not hard work and it´s easy. Its all working really well and i can concentrate on going faster so we are in a good spot." he added. 

"It´s great at the moment, i am not having to take risks and everything is working so i am pretty happy with how today went," he concluded.