Ricky Carmichael and Ben Townley will go head-to-head on New Zealand soil at this year’s Monster Energy S-X Open Auckland.
The Greatest Of All Time (GOAT) and 5-Time World Supercross Champion – Carmichael, will go up against the Greatest Kiwi Of All Time and World Motocross Champion – Townley, at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium, and will be the first time the pair have raced side-by-side since 2007. With even more rider announcements to come, these 2 incredible riders joining defending S-X Open champ Chad Reed and current World Champ Jason Anderson, will make this year’s line-up truly spectacular.
Carmichael, who won an astonishing 12 World Championships in the premier 450cc class across his hall-of-fame Supercross and Motocross career, will head to New Zealand for the first time ever to take on his old training partner Townley, on his home turf, and claims he is pumped to be racing in front of the passionate Kiwi fans for the first time.
“I couldn’t be more excited to be racing in Auckland this November 16, it will be my first time ever racing there, and I’m excited to put on an epic show for the fans at Mt Smart Stadium,” said Carmichael.
Carmichael defeated Townley back at the 2005 Motocross des Nations in Ernée, France, and then spent two years training together at Carmichael’s GOAT Farm in 2006 and 2007, where Carmichael says the two had plenty of epic battles on his race track.
“BT and I have raced together many times before, and he’s always been a tough guy to beat, and it’s been a long time since we’ve gone bar-to-bar,” said Carmichael. “We raced plenty back in the day at the GOAT Farm, he was easy to beat then, and I reckon he’s gonna be easy to beat now, so I think I’m going to have to beat him in front of his home crowd in Auckland on November 16,”
Townley put in a fantastic showing at last year’s inaugural S-X Open Auckland, after taking down rival Ronnie Mac and his Internationals Team, to win the International Showdown feature race, capping off a huge win for Team ANZACs over the Internationals and plans to back it up again in 2019.
“I’ve had plenty of battles with RC back in the day when I based myself out of his training facility in the US in 2006 and ‘07,” says Townley. “Ricky never let any cameras in the ‘GOAT Farm’ back then and was always so secretive about the place, truth be told he just didn’t want anyone to know how much I was beating him by in his own backyard!. It’s going to be awesome to battle head-to-head against Ricky again and it’s a massive win for Kiwi sports fans that the GOAT is coming to New Zealand to put on a show for us at Mt Smart Stadium on November 16. He might be an old boy now but Ricky still has plenty of tricks in the bag so I’ll be training hard to ensure I take home the trophy for the ANZACs again!”
The 34-year-old New Zealand native is proud to be a part of the S-X Open Auckland for the second year in a row, and believes the high standard of last year’s event is the reason why the best international calibre riders in the world, are heading there to compete for the S-X Open FIM Oceania Supercross crown in 2019.
The announcement of Carmichael and Townley comes as pre-sale to this year’s S-X Open Auckland kicks off today at 12pm NZST exclusively for S-X Open database and Ticketmaster NZ subscribers pres-sale starts at 12pm Friday 21st, with tickets officially on-sale to the public at 12pm NZST Wednesday, June 26 via Ticketmaster, with tickets starting from $39.00*.
The record-breaking success of the 2018 event was unprecedented, with a crowd of over 22,500 attending Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium, making it the biggest international Supercross event to ever take place on Kiwi soil. The Monster Energy S-X Open Auckland features the world’s best riders going head-to-head on a full-sized World Championship style Supercross track and the greatest Freestyle Motocross (FMX) riders on the planet, live music and entertainment, stunning pyrotechnics, junior and celebrity races, plus FMX best-trick and best-whip competitions and is an incredible entertainment spectacle for all ages.
Featuring the very best international athletes as well as New Zealand and Australia’s best for the second year running in New Zealand and Australia, the S-X Open FIM Oceania Supercross Championship is the most unique international Supercross Championship outside of the USA, and will be sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme with FIM Oceania status and sanctioning.
S-X Open Auckland will also form the fourth round of the Australian Supercross Championship, the first time an event in New Zealand will be a part of the Australian series, and will feature the Triple-Crown Final race format, with non-stop, high-intensity action that will have fans on the edge of their seats, for the entire duration of the event.
Sign up for pre-sale at www.sxopen.com