Motocross: It says No 30, it means No 1

Ben Townley has worked for 11 years to become a world motocross champion, but his bike will not be carrying the No 1 champion's plate at this weekend's South African Grand Prix at Sun City.

He said from Johannesburg where he is preparing for his final MX2 grand prix - he moves up to the premier MX1 class next year - that he would not be using the No 1 plate at all.

"As world champion, I am entitled to choose my career number and I'll be sticking with No 30.

"No special reason - it's just that people all know that it's my number now," Townley said.

He would be happy to use the No 1 plate when he raced in New Zealand.

Townley, 19, said he and Motueka's Josh Coppins, who is third in the MX1 class, were looking forward to producing strong performances at Sun City to set them up for the Motocross of Nations world team championship in Lierop, Netherlands, on October 2 and 3.

"The team championship is very important for Josh and me - and if we do well in South Africa, we will be mentally really strong."

Coppins and Townley will be joined by Hawera's Daryl Hurley in the New Zealand team for the Motocross of Nations.

Townley said that since winning the world title in Northern Ireland a fortnight ago, he had survived the "mother of all parties", which began the afternoon after racing was over and continued when he returned home in Belgium. "It was a pretty heavy couple of days."

But since then he had squeezed in three days of riding and now felt he was mentally refreshed.

"I'll be out to have fun and enjoy myself."

A win in South Africa would give him nine grand prix wins in the first MX2 season - matching the nine in 1979 by Belgian Harry Everts in the old 125cc class, but one short of the 10 wins that Frenchman Sebastien Tortelli scored in 1996.

Such has been Townley's domination this year that he has led 303 laps of the 15 grand prix already raced.

The next best is Italian Antonio Cairoli with 55.

The International Motorcycle Federation's track designer, Greg Atkins, formerly of Tokoroa, has promised that the Sun City track will be a challenging test for the riders and provide spectacular racing for the fans.

"It will be fast as well as technical, offering different racing lines through certain sections. It is something new we are trying here, and we are confident it will be well received by the competitors."

- NZPA