I have just completed a photo shoot with Ben Townley for the 2009 NZ SX Poster and decided to take along USA Vurb Moto’s David Bulmer who is currently here to see the year out and catch some Kiwi MX/SX action. Below is an interview he has done for Vurb.

Ben, it's been about 18 months since anyone in America has really seen you in action, what have you been doing?Pretty much I've been in New Zealand since the start of this year, having decided to stop riding.

At the end of January I was still riding for Honda, trying to get ready to come back in the middle of the Supercross series and I was just struggling with my shoulder. I'd had an operation and it hadn't really nailed it to be honest so I ended up having another operation done. I went to see a doctor that had operated on me before and he did the operation and since then, I came straight back to New Zealand and have just been at home and I've been really enjoying it actually. I left home when I was 16 to go to Europe and I haven't really spent much more than a couple of months at a time back here since I was 16 years old. It's been really refreshing for me spend some time at home and be with the family.

Was it the shoulder the injury you picked up at the Budds Creek MXdN in 2007?Yes, it all stemmed from the Des Nations really. When I went down, they thought I'd injured my AC joint and all along it was diagnosed as an AC problem, and in the end it wasn't just solely the AC. The way I hit the ground, my upper arm, well basically my whole arm went up into the shoulder capsule and caused a bone spur. And the bone spur was rupturing and tearing a ligament every time I went above 90 degrees so I couldn't really do a lot of gym work, or a lot of anything basically. I was just sick and tired of being injured and trying to ride and trying to train and everything. It wasn't conducive to being an athlete.

You raced the first two Nationals in ‘08, but it was just too much of a problem for you to keep going?Yep, I never got a chance to be ready for the Nationals, I had another injury in between with my heel, and my shoulder just never got to a point where it was healthy. So hence the reason why I stopped, so I could get to this point where I am today and be healthy again.

So when was the first time you got back on the bike?Probably about five weeks ago, I got clearance to start riding and basically they said to go out and do some trail riding and just get back into the swing of things slowly and that's what I did. It was a little bit surreal really because I'd been off the bike for eight/nine months maybe and before that, I'd only been on the bike for December and January. And even before that, I'd been off probably six months. So really it's been since Budds Creek that I could say I've been to a race feeling healthy and ready to go.

You're no longer riding a Honda obviously, how did that end, and how did you come to be on a Kawasaki?The Honda deal basically finished as soon as I didn't want to carry on racing. They supported me all through 2008 and it was the second year of my contract this year, but that finished so I came home and I've ridden Kawasaki in New Zealand from when I was about seven till I was about 16. I've got a good relationship with the Kawasaki guy here and it was just the easiest thing for me to do. I don't want to get tied down with anything at the moment because I don't know what the future holds really. I want to get back to America and there aren't too many options at the moment so I don't want to be tied down to something that I can't get out of. The Kawasaki guy here in New Zealand - Mike Wilkins, he's an old friend of mine and he's always supported me in what I want to do overseas. It was easy to do something with him and he's been able to support me and I'm going to ride Kawasaki this summer (January) in New Zealand. There are probably six or seven major races coming up after Christmas, so I'm looking forward to it. I'm really enjoying the bike actually, I've got stuff from Mitch (Payton) and that's the last time I've really felt comfortable on a bike so it's been good for me to jump back on this with some of their settings.

So the plan is to ride the Supercross series in New Zealand and then hopefully go for the AMA Nationals?Yep, ride a couple of major motocross meetings, one at Christmas and then the Supercross in New Zealand and then Woodville, which is another motocross and I'm sure there will be a few others. Then I'm going to do some cross-country racing in between all of that and whatever else is on in New Zealand. From there, my plan is actually to - if I can pull it off - race the first couple of GPs. The first weekend in April is the first GP (in Bulgaria) and then the second one which is in Italy. Then from there, go back - because I have a place in Florida - and continue preparing for the Nationals. That's my plan in my head, but whether I can pull that or not is yet to be seen but I definitely want to be on the line come the first National, that's the ultimate goal for me.

If there's one word to describe Ben Townley, it's ‘determined' and we definitely won't be betting against him finding a way to be competing in the 2009 Nationals. Keep an eye out for part two, where Ben talks about his battles with RV, his opinion on the Thunder Valley MXDN and his position as mentor to New Zealand's motocross youth.

Click here for part 2

Interview: David Bulmer
Photos: Rice Photography

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