Ben Townley,The Troy Lee Design/Lucas Oil/ Honda rider, was injured during practice in New Zealand earlier this week. It appears Townley hit what is called a "false neutral", while attempting to climb a hill. The false neutral sent the Honda rider's body into the handle bars. He was able to hang on without falling off, thus preventing what may have caused more serious injuries.
His stomach took most of the trauma but he was still able to stay on the bike. Immediately, he felt something was wrong and was taken to the hospital as a precaution. It turns out Ben had a small perforation in his bowel. Obviously this isn't something that heals on it's own. Surgery was required and the injury was repaired. The doctors gave Townley the 4-6 week "don't do anything" timetable for healing.
False neutral occurs when the bike pops out of gear while riding. This usually happens when the gears during shifting weren't fully engaged. Needless to say happens when a bike is traveling at a decent amount of speed, or the it's under a certain amount of torque. It never seems there is a good time for this to happen.
Townley responded by saying, " this is definitely a bummer for me. I was really looking forward to racing in Europe in April. Obviously, that isn't going to happen now. I have a lot of friends over there and I'll definitely race some GP's again someday."
Despite the down time the doctors have given him, he should be ready to race on May 22nd. With Townley not being able to compete in Europe, he's heading back to Sacramento, California to mentally and physically get ready for the opening round of the Lucas Oil and AMA Motocross Championships.
