Ben Townley is looking to make his race return at Dubbo next weekend. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

Carlton Dry Honda Thor Racing’s Ben Townley will leave it until the last-minute before opting whether or not to contest the 2012 Terex Australian Supercross Championship.

The New Zealander has been preparing for the season, which commences at Dubbo on 13 October, however final clearance from Suzuki RACESAFE will be the deciding factor in his appearance.

Townley was injured at Coonabarabran’s second round of the MX National in April, working through a long road to recovery since that incident.

And if he does race, the former world champion is adamant that he’ll be placing no pressure on himself to perform in the battle for the championship.

“By next week, but yeah I’d like to race,” he said. “There is a couple of aspects, I’m obviously still getting up to speed and I’m being realistic with what I can achieve this season. There are no massive ambitions to go out there and set the world on fire if I do race.

“Secondly, I’ve got to have doctor clearance. I’m really impressed by the way RACESAFE run the whole system over here, and part of that is I need to get clearance to get back racing.

“I have clearance from my doctor to be back on a bike and practicing, doing what I’ve been doing for the last two months, but I still need to go back and get clearance to race, so that’s all part of it.

“So a couple of things really, I’ve just been chipping away on my bike fitness, but also I need to see the doc next week as well.”

Click here for the complete interview with Townley.