Tanel Leok steered the works KX450F-SR to sixth position overall today at a bright and busy Donington Park for the British Grand Prix and the last-but-one round of the FIM Motocross World Championship. Billy Mackenzie was unable to please his many supporters among the 28,000 crowd and finished twelfth.
The new motocross track at Donington Park was located in the infield section behind the final corner of the MotoGP course and alongside the Dunlop straight. The off-road layout was long and narrow and offered a track with more jumps than any other this season. The soil was hard but rough and rutted in some sections. The Grand Prix overall benefited from the excellent infrastructure and facilities that one of Britain’s premier Motorsport venues can offer.
Mackenzie was beaten in the last minute of Timed Practice on Saturday by Leok, who recorded his fourth pole position of the season. The 23 year old Scot had the public cheering when he led for almost the first half of the opening moto but then stalled his motorcycle on a slow right hand corner, picked up some arm-pump and dropped to sixth and then to eighth where he finally finished.
Leok had not started so brightly and did not figure among the leaders but made his way up to fifth from the lower top ten. The Estonian – who was struggling with some pain to his knee and his stomach - had one of his better first laps of the season after the lunch break in Moto2. He moved up to fourth briefly but then became part of a group of riders constantly changing positions as he sealed his second top five result of the day with fifth again.
“Not a bad result but I can do better,” he said. “I tweaked my knee a little bit in the first race but I should have really finished fourth. My start was good in the second and I’m happy with that but I had some stomach cramps and I don’t know the reason why. My riding was a bit soft. The track was very good, rough and with bumps, like a track should be.”
Mackenzie had a tough second sprint. The Japanese Grand Prix winner hit a neutral coming out of the gate and then clipped the back wheel of a rider in the first corner and crashed. He went down a further three times in the space of two laps as he pushed to gain ground from the rear of the pack. Despite being far behind he continued to lap and picked up several points for seventeenth.
“In the first race I was controlling my arm-pump,” he commented. “I landed off the soft jump and my left hand came away from the bars and I could not get the clutch in time. I had to restart and when I got going again my arms went completely. In the second race I got a good jump and went for third gear and hit neutral. The bike was sat there whining before I could hook again. In the first turn I hit someone’s back wheel and went down and then crashed three times on the first lap trying to pass people. After that I just had to relax and try and pick off riders one by one. I don’t where I got up to and didn’t really care by then; what a bad weekend.”
Leok is ninth in the world championship standings but only 6 points off a possible seventh place. Mackenzie is tenth and 22 points from his team-mate.
KRT’s home event at Lierop for the Grand Prix of The Netherlands will end the season next week. Mackenzie will then have two weeks to wait until he attempts to win his first British Championship at the Pontrilas circuit.
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