Image: Jeff Crow.

Penrite Oil Honda Racing’s Ben Townley has returned home to New Zealand following back-to-back weekends of racing in Western Australia at the MX Nationals and annual Manjimup 15,000.

The 2004 MX2 World Champion finished seventh in his national return including a third place in race one at Wanneroo, and then continued that form with second overall behind Kirk Gibbs at Manjimup.

Townley stunned with a moto victory at Manjimup on his way to the runner-up, satisfied with his performance despite no sudden plans to make a fulltime comeback.

“This whole week has gone a lot better than I expected,” Townley said. “I originally only planned to come to WA to race the Manjimup 15,000 but ended up racing the Wanneroo MX Nationals event as well.

“The Cosy Creek track got pretty gnarly as the day went on. It is made up of three different soils so I had to remind myself to ride within my limits in those last couple of races.

“Overall It was a fantastic 10 days, but my body is thrashed so I am looking forward to heading home, seeing the family and getting back into my routine.”

Townley’s teammate Josh Cachia finished fifth in the Lites class at Manjimup, coming off a third place finish at Wanneroo the weekend prior.