Troy Lee Designs/ Lucas Oil/ Honda rider Ben Townley suffered a minor setback to his return to racing this week while practicing at a local facility in New Zealand.

The former MX2 Motocross World Champion hit a false neutral going up a hill, the sudden drop in acceleration throwing him forward and his abdomen slamming into the handlebars. He didn’t crash in the incident, however a trip to the hospital revealed a small perforation in his bowel. The injury was surgically repaired on Monday evening and given a four to six week timetable for healing.

“This is definitely a bummer for me,” said a disappointed Townley from his hospital bed. “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 GPs again someday.”

Townley will now forego his European trip and return straight to California next month to begin preparation for the opening round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship that kick off in Sacramento

Townley will be completely ready to race on 22 May at Hangtown, the season opener of the 2010 AMA Pro Motocross National Championship.

“The good news is that Ben was finally back to where he needed to be,” explains TLD team manager David Pingree. “I spoke with him over the weekend and he was truly ready to race. He said he finally found the speed and level of riding that he had several years ago and he was excited about it. That is what he needed. This is a small, unfortunate hiccup but you have to look at this big-picture: he’s going to be ready to race at Hangtown.”

If you would like to send Ben a get-well message or just say hello visit www.bentownley.com.