The sky’s the limit.

That’s the catch-phrase for this season’s four-round New Zealand Supercross Championships, set to kick off in the South Island in just two days’ time (Wednesday evening).

Motorcycling New Zealand Supercross co-commissioner Neil Ritchie, Palmerston North, said he was thrilled to report that Bay of Plenty’s former American supercross champion Ben Townley would contest the series as he completes his final preparations before returning to racing in the United States.

The sparks are really expected to fly because Kawasaki’s Townley is not the only headline act for this national series with several other Kiwi internationals, including Mount Maunganui pair Cody Cooper (Suzuki) and Mason Phillips (Kawasaki), Queenstown’s Scott Columb (Suzuki), Hamilton’s Jesse Wiki (Honda) and Christchurch’s Justin McDonald (Honda) also likely to be strong contenders.

Columb is the 250cc class champion and he will be back to defend his title this season, although, unfortunately, Hawera’s Daryl Hurley (Suzuki), the open class champion last season, is on the injured list and won’t be able to race this summer.

The venues are Timaru (Wednesday, January 6), Motueka’s Rat Track (Sunday, January 10), Tokoroa (Saturday, January 16) and, finally, at the Telstra Clear Events Centre, Manukau City, on January 23.

The opening round is at the Backflips Supercross Track, McKnight’s property, 60 Landsborough Road, Timaru, and this new venue has already drawn strong praise from drawcard rider Townley, who has also been operating in an advisory capacity for the organisers.

“Ben (Townley) visited the track a couple of months ago and his first reaction was ‘wow’. He was certainly impressed with what he saw,” said Ritchie.

“He said it would match anything he’d seen or experienced in America.

“Gaining supercross skills are essential for New Zealand racers who seek to earn a professional contract overseas and we hope that this series provides just that grounding they need.

“Comparing supercross to motocross is like comparing one-day cricket with test cricket … very similar sports but, in supercross, everything is condensed and concentrated. A rider has to be very precise and make no mistakes.”

2010 MNZ NEW ZEALAND SUPERCROSS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Round 1 – Timaru             Wednesday Jan 6

Round 2 – Motueka           Sunday Jan 10

Round 3 – Tokoroa            Saturday Jan 16

Round 4 – Manukau          Saturday Jan 23.

Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com