New Zealand’s Ben Townley will be back in action and possibly in hot form too at this weekend’s sixth round of 18 in the 2016 Motocross World Championships.

The former New Zealand champion and former MX2 world champion from the Bay of Plenty was forced to skip the previous two rounds of the world series because of a debilitating and unexplained virus, but he returned to racing a week ago at the ADAC MX Masters event in Germany, winning the first of the two MX1 races that day.

Swedish Suzuki rider Filip Bengtsson won the second MX1 race at the ADAC MX Masters.

The 2016 FIM MXGP Motocross World Championship takes place this weekend on the wide track of Kegums this weekend, the Grand Prix of Latvia, and will be the first of three consecutive race weekends with GPs to follow in Germany and Italy.

Team Suzuki World MXGP and MX2 assault will be near full-strength with Townley re-joining Belgian team-mate Kevin Strijbos back in the MXGP fold after missing recent trips to Argentina and Mexico.

For Townley, Kegums – the site of the 2014 Motocross of Nations – will be an important meeting to get back into the pace and rhythm of Grand Prix after the virus sidelined him in the wake of round three at Valkenswaard in the Netherlands over the Easter weekend.

The 31-year-old had impressed at round two in Thailand in achieving pole position and second place in the second moto; still the team’s best classification so far this season.

“It has been a turbulent month and it feels like a lot of little things have happened to stop us making forward steps and showing potential, but since I came back and started to feel better, then we’ve done some good work.

“There is still no set explanation for what it was,” he continues. “It came from the Flu after Thailand, but just left me wanting to sleep all day with no energy whatsoever. I saw a cardiologist, specialists, sought herbal solutions – everything – but it just needed a passage of time to clear. It is frustrating.”

Townley has been riding and honing the works RM-Z450 in the past two weeks and had a positive showing at the ADAC MX Masters opening fixture at Drehna in Germany last Sunday.

On the same weekend, Strijbos owned both motos for a perfect score in the first event of the Dutch national series at Mill in Holland. Overall there are positive signs ahead of Kegums, and after the team has been able to sculpt the current race machines further in terms of set-up.

“The team has drawn a line in the sand when it came to our technical direction,” says Townley.

“I hadn’t really been able to test to my full capacity before, but lately we found some good solutions. It has all been about feeling comfortable on the bike because that is the main ‘fix’ to be able to go fast.

“As most people know, I haven’t been riding that much over the last couple of years and it has taken me this period to gel with the bike and work-out the best way forward. I felt I was missing drive over some obstacles and also in slightly softer ground. We worked on that and looked at the shock and I’m very happy with where we are.”

While Swiss rider Jeremy Seewer flies the flag high in MX2 – with four podium finishes from the five rounds to-date – and remains the only rider in the exhaust fumes of runaway leader Jeffrey Herlings, Townley has had to admit that his aspirations on MXGP title-success in 2016 have now been damaged by his forced absence.

“It’s out of the window now and my perspective on this season has changed. My only goal at the moment is to get through the next Grand Prix and see how I feel over Saturday and Sunday and then go from there.”

Strijbos is currently seventh in the MXGP points table and is eying progress up the leaderboard and into the top five.

The Belgian has decent memories of Kegums, having scored a second place at the track last year (the 2015 edition saw Suzuki’s sole triumph of the campaign with former rider Glenn Coldenhoff walking the top of the podium). He also won a moto at the 2014 Motocross of Nations.

“It was a decent day at Mill and came about because we’d done a bit of work with the engine and I was feeling good on the bike; it is coming at a good time because I like Kegums,” the 30-year-old says. “Some nice races in the past and I hear the weather forecast is not so positive and that’s great for me! Kegums is even better in the wet.”

A staple venue on the MXGP calendar, the Kegums layout boasts some big jumps, a tricky waves section and a curious, loose soil that is almost sandy in texture but can also rough-up into hard ruts, low berms and rippling bumps. Traction and dealing with a slippery surface underneath the softer stuff are usually the main issues surrounding a visit to the circuit around 60km outside of the capital city of Riga.

“It’s my first visit and I’m looking forward to trying something new. It looks soft and wide and a bit of a challenge,” said Kegums ‘newcomer’ Townley.

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Photo courtesy Steve Bauerschmidt

MXGP World Championship Standings (after 5 of 18 rounds):

1. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 219 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 216 p.; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 171 p.; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 170 p.; 5. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 165 p.; 6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 162 p.; 7. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 127 p.; 8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 122 p.; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 104 p.; 10. Tommy Searle (GBR, KAW), 98 p.; 11. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 97 p.; 12. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 79 p.; 13. Christophe Charlier (FRA, HUS), 72 p.; 14. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 61 p.; 15. Milko Potisek (FRA, YAM), 59 p.; 16. Ben Townley (NZL, SUZ), 49 p.

MX2 World Championship Standings (after 5 of 18 rounds):

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 250 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 192 p.; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 166 p.; 4. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 163 p.; 5. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 132 p.; 6. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 126 p.; 7. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, KAW), 121 p.; 8. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 117 p.; 9. Alvin Östlund (SWE, YAM), 89 p.; 10. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 82 p.