It’s round nine of the Motocross World Championships at Talavera, in Spain, this weekend, but it will now go ahead without New Zealand’s Ben Townley on the start line.

The Suzuki World MXGP factory team racer crashed during training this week and the Bay of Plenty man is now not a starter.

“I won’t be racing this weekend in Spain. I got it all wrong yesterday and am a little banged up,” said Townley.

“Nothing broken but I’m not healthy enough to race. Not sure on the timeline yet, I’ll just take it day by day and get back when I’m ready to go again.”

The crash required a medical check on the Kiwi’s left wrist and ribs.

“I went down and hit my wrist, ribs and banged my head a bit,” he said.

“I’ll need a few days off again. The wrist is not broken but the doctor told me I’d need to rest it and start some treatment. I will have to go day-by-day and see where I can get to. That’s all I know at the moment.”

All eyes will therefore focus on the battle between the MXGP rookie, Slovenia’s Tim Gajser, who leads by four points over the defending champion, Frenchman Romain Febvre, while both will have to keep an eye on the eight-time FIM Motocross World Champ from Italy, Antonio Cairoli, as he quietly chips away at their points in third.

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

Action photo by Ray Archer

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MXGP World Championship Standings (after 8 of 18 rounds):

1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 335 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 331 p.; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 310 p.; 4. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 273 p.; 5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 264 p.; 6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 247 p.; 7. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 204 p.; 8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 189 p.; 9. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 153 p.; 10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 146 p.; 11. Tommy Searle (GBR, KAW), 139 p.; 12. Christophe Charlier (FRA, HUS), 135 p.; 13. Ben Townley (NZL, SUZ), 119 p.

MX2 World Championship Standings (after 8 of 18 rounds):

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 397 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 297 p.; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 260 p.; 4. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 211 p.; 5. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 210 p.; 6. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 202 p.; 7. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 183 p.; 8. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, KAW), 182 p.; 9. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 179 p.; 10. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 162 p.

EMX250 European Championship Standings (after 4 of 10 rounds):

1. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 182 points; 2. Hunter Lawrence (AUS, KAW), 151 p.; 3. Darian Sanayei (USA, KAW), 137 p.; 4. Kevin Wouts (BEL, KTM), 114 p.; 5. Bas Vaessen (NED, SUZ), 110 p.; 6. Nick Kouwenberg (NED, HON), 105 p.; 7. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), 85 p.; 8. Anton Gole (SWE, HUS), 83 p.; 9. Miro Sihvonen (FIN, KTM), 83 p.; 10. Nicolas Dercourt (FRA, KAW), 69 p.