Townley was awoken some 50mins later to the fantastic news that his hip will require no more than a few weeks rest and then rehab. The news comes at a huge relief to Townley's family, friends and fans. BT is expected to make a full recovery over the next month.
As Posted Earlier - 16/11/2010
If you couldn't make it along on Saturday night to the Auckland round of the Monster Energy Super-X or you're patiently waiting for the Monster Energy Super-X series to roll into town, that's you Dunedin, take a look at what you can expect come Saturday night.While the racing was hot all night and there were few major injuries, one crash was felt a little too close for comfort for those in attendance. Ben Townley's horrific heat 1 crash left the crowd in a sombre mood and his future, at least for now, looks to be hanging in the balance.
The crash itself took place only several laps after KTM Factory rider Mike Alessi's failed block pass on Kawasaki's Townley, pushing Ben off-track on the entry to the triple, triple, triple section directly in front of the eager NZ crowd.
A video of the incident can be found on YouTube which has been posted by an anonymous uploader.
Having restarted and almost an entire lap down it was evident from Townley's body language during the following laps that he was seeing red with Alessi's earlier front wheel impact. And at the crucial moment of take-off heading into the same section Alessi had taken Townley out in, Ben seemed to have lost crucial rear-wheel drive.
A lack of momentum is most likely a key ingredient to Townley's lack of height to adequately clear one of the most technical pieces of the track, resulting in Townley cart-wheeling in spectacular fashion. The bike is believed to have landed on Townley's left thigh at high impact causing the suspected hip dislocation.
Whilst the heat race was red-flagged for safety precautions Townley lay prone on the track as the medical team rushed to his aid.
Townley is believed to have remained in hospital throughout the weekend with a dislocated left hip with doctors making the decision to operate around midday on Monday 14/11/2010 in order to restore Townley's left hip socket.
The extent of the injury, and the outcome of the surgery is still an unknown at this stage.
Townley's plans to join his newly signed CLS Kawasaki MX1 Team in Europe for pre-season testing on the factory Kawasaki KX450F will be riding high on the full extent of his injury. An injury of this severity could take months to fully recover from. Meaning Townley may well be several months down, conditioning wise, heading into the start of the World MX1 Grand Prix season when it kicks off in Sevlievo, Bulgaria April 4th 2011.
Our thoughts are with BT101.