KRT’s Billy Mackenzie walked away with the ‘red plate’ signifying his new status as MX1 Championship leader after finishing second overall and winning the second moto – his first chequered flag with the KX450F-SR – at the Cadders Hill circuit in Lyng, Norfolk, for the third round of eight in the 2007 Maxxis British Motocross series last Sunday.
‘Mac’, who turned 23 on Saturday, experienced two contrasting races at the looming and lengthy course situated in East England. Sunny and bright conditions graced the two 30 minute and 2 lap sprints. The Scot led the opening moto after taking the holeshot and pulled out a sizeable gap over his pursuers, but then began to struggle with arm-pump and slipped into a set of physical tussles with eventual winner Brad Anderson and Gordon Crockard. Mackenzie fought to steer the bike past the finish line for fourth but was elevated to third when victor and reigning Champ Ken de Dycker was penalised one minute for a broken exhaust.
Mackenzie regrouped in the interval and came out assured for the second race in which he again hit the initial curve at the front of the pack. From his position as leader the works Kawasaki representative embarked on a fast and steady flight to gather his first domestic win in ‘Team Green’ colours. Although he walked the second step of the overall podium it was a memorable day for Mackenzie in his fledgling MX1 career to date.
“This feels really good and makes me instantly believe that I can do it more often,” he commented. “The first race was terrible; I had a monster of a holeshot and then sprinted away on the first laps but I was making bad lines choices,” Mackenzie added who qualified with 3rd position during the morning. “I reckon I had the worse arm-pump ever and was struggling to get around. I had run-ins with Brad and also Crockard so it was a hectic moto and I was lucky to get third after De Dycker was dropped to 6th.”
“I really studied the track in between motos to see where I was going wrong,” he continued. “Again I had a great start on the Kawasaki and just went away. The lines were easier and I was flowing better. Even when I could see some of the others coming near I put on a spurt and didn’t have any trouble maintaining a gap of around ten seconds. It felt like practice to be honest and was very straightforward. When De Dycker DNF-ed it meant the red plate was mine which made the day even better.”
Mackenzie heads the MX1 standings by six points ahead of Crockard with the next British round due to take place at Langrish on June 3rd. The second round of the FIM World Championship is set to occur next weekend at the Bellpuig circuit in Catalunya for the Grand Prix of Spain.
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