Kiwi Ben Townley is one of our favourite internationals here at MotoOnline.com.au, so when we spotted him at Pala’s final round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship we just had to stop him for an interview.

Townley has world and U.S. titles to his name against some of the biggest names in the sport, however a string of disappointing injuries that derailed his season largely affected his return to Europe this year.

Now, it’s all about rebuilding for Townley and, at 26, he reveals to MotoOnline that a full season in Australia for 2012 certainly isn’t out of the question next season.

This year’s been ruined by injury in your return to Europe, but you’ve been in the States riding recently. What’s the latest?

Well, I’ve just been sort of getting myself back into order really, working on my physical state and doing some mental stuff as well – just getting my program back together to be honest. It’s coming around really good.

A few weeks after I came back from Europe I’ve been working on it, probably coming up to 10 or 12 weeks almost. I came here this week to see where I was at, to do some riding against fast people and get a bit of a gauge. That’s where I’m at.

What would you prefer at the moment between GPs and America? Once your healthy, where would you rather race?

Whatever I’m doing – I’d throw Australia into that question as well – whether it be any of those three, I just want to be in a position as far as structure and support goes. The bike, the whole set-up has to put me in a position where I can prove what I can do again.

It doesn’t really matter where I race, it’s more about what I can do there. All three of those series are good, they all have a good structure, and all have good teams within them. I just want to be on one of those teams that I want to be on.

So you would consider racing in Australia then?

For sure, just because the big bonus for that is I could live at home. Everywhere has its plusses and minuses, but that’s the biggest thing for me if I did race in Australia.

Do you pay attention to what’s been going on in Australian motocross?

Yeah, I follow it hugely because you can now – through your website and there’s just so much coverage of Australian racing to see. The whole series is just blowing up and on the map. Everyone from the teams to the promoter, has just taken it to a whole new level.

I came to Canberra last year and I was just shocked. I’d never been to an Australian national before and I was shocked, it’s obviously a good place. I’ve raced Super X, well attempted to, and that’s a whole new level now as well. The whole thing in Oz, after speaking to Josh [Coppins], it’s impressive.

When can you expect to be back to 100 percent on the bike?

Ah, not until next year when it’s time to go racing wherever it’ll be. I’ve got until around March next year and I don’t want to try and fast-forward that. I’ll race in between because that’s part of the build up and comeback, but I don’t expect to be where I want to be until early next year.

You’ve had so much success all over the world, but have been hindered by injury as well, so do you feel like you have unfinished business in motocross?

I’m really happy with what I’ve achieved in my career, but in the same breath I would like to achieve more wherever that may be. Wherever it is, I need to achieve what I expect to because I have been underachieving.

That’s what I need to do right, and I believe I can do that. I’m putting myself in that position now and I’ll have to let my riding do the talking next year.

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