Josh Coppins kept the New Zealand flag flying at the world championships by finishing second at the Belgium Grand Prix yesterday.
But a technical fault broke his protege Ben Townley's winning streak in the MX2 class.
Townley arrived in Namur having won consecutive grands prix in Sweden and the Czech Republic, but
had to settle for fifth overall after winning the second heat.
He was forced to retire because of mechanical problems in in the first heat, but he gave thousands of fans lining the track a taste of what might have been by easily winning the second heat.
The results left Townley leading the championship by 93 points from his KTM team-mate Tyla Rattray.
With three races to go and a maximum of 150 points up for grabs, Townley, 19, of Taupo is well placed to sew up the championship on August 29 at the European Grand Prix in Germany.
Coppins just missed out on overall MX1 victory yesterday with just one point keeping the Honda rider from taking what would have been his second-ever grand prix win in a 10-year career.
In the first heat, Coppins battled hard to get into second place where he tracked championship leader Stefan Everts to the flag.
In the second heat, Frenchman Mikael Pichon took the lead and Coppins was second after a mistake by Everts, and the three riders held those positions until the end.
Championship standings after 13 rounds:-
MX2: B. Townley (NZ, KTM) 497 points, 1, T. Rattray (South Africa, KTM) 404, 2, S. Sword (Britain, Kawasaki) 382, 3.
MX1: S. Everts (Belgium, Yamaha) 572, 1, M. Pichon (France, Honda) 479, 2, J. Coppins (NZ, Honda) 441, 3.
