Supercross: Thrills a first for Kiwi fans

Kiwi star Ben Townley goes through his paces at North Harbour Stadium yesterday. Photo / Greg Bowker

For the first time, Kiwi motocross fans will be able to witness a round of the Australian Supercross championships on home soil.

The event leaps into action tonight at North Harbour Stadium where 6000 tonnes of dirt have been trucked in.

The track has been custom designed and built by American track designer Jason Baker and will prove a challenge for the riders.

Many of the best motocross riders from New Zealand and Australia will be going at it to gain bragging rights before heading off to Dunedin for round five of the series.

All the best riders competing in the series in Australia have headed to New Zealand for both rounds, including United States competitor and championship leader Josh Hansen and compatriots Mike Alessi (who is fourth in the AMA world motocross series) and his brother Jeff.

They will be joined by Australian Jay Marmont, twice Australia's motocross champion and a top Super X competitor, and one of Australia's most exciting riders, Matt Moss.

"New Zealand has produced some amazing racing talent and our series will allow further growth of the sport as well as provide the country's future supercross stars with the opportunity to compete on world-class tracks against world-class competitors on home soil," said the managing director of Global Action Sports, Michael Porra.

New Zealand has produced some top motocross riders who have triumphed in Europe and America.

Two of the current crop still competing internationally, Ben Townley and Cody Cooper, will keep the visitors honest.

Cooper is a multiple New Zealand and Australian champion who also finished fifth overall in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship in 2008.

Townley is a former world MX2 and East Coast (American) Lites champion, who after two years out with injury recently competed in the AMA Pro Motocross championship.

"Overall the American season was a good one but in my mind it should have been a lot better," he said.

"I had the potential to have some really stand-out races but I made a number of small mistakes and I put that down to not having enough racing and lacking race craft."

Being a former world champion you'd expect Townley to be hard on himself but finishing fourth in a top-level series after two years out is no mean feat. Wanting more race time, he's fired up for tonight's action and is keen to do well.

"I'm bloody excited about this race and I've been putting in a fair bit of practice. I won the New Zealand Supercross championship recently and I'm looking forward to this because the level is ramped up and it's going to be huge for me. I just want to get out there and race in front of the Kiwi fans," said Townley.

"I don't expect to just walk away with it but I have beaten them all in the past. There's going to be some great racing for sure. I'm not too sure where I'll stack up but I'm going for the win, that's for sure.

"This sort of racing is what I dreamed of as a kid and now it's in our own backyard and I can race in front of the fans.

"It's a full-spec US track so it's just like you see on TV."

Townley is looking to these races in New Zealand as a fillip before he heads of to Europe to contest a full world MX1 championship.

"I'm very excited about going back to Europe and the whole package is really good for me. I'd have rather stayed in America but this was a deal I couldn't refuse.

"It sets me up to go back and be a world champion. I'm with the best of the best - CLS Monster Energy Kawasaki."