Kawasaki Racing Team finished an emotional and turbulent 2007 FIM MX1 World Championship year with Billy Mackenzie taking fifth position and Tanel Leok twelfth on the sandy terrain at Lierop for the Grand Prix of the Netherlands, the fifteenth and final round of the series.
The team’s home event was a grey one with cloud cover and occasional light showers dampening the 36,000 attendance. The action through the MX1 motos was gripping however; especially with a close finale in the second outing between eventual overall winner Kevin Strijbos and Marc de Reuver. The soft and shifting sand at the venue close to the city of Eindhoven and less than 50km from the German border was a hard physical test for the riders as well as being a demanding technical surface.
Mackenzie successfully buried memories of a disappointing MX2 2006 outing by taking two fifth positions and looking quick and comfortable through the sand despite the fact the 23 year old had little opportunity in previous weeks to get any effective testing done in the terrain. Only a second moto crash while fourth that dropped him to seventh and saw him react immediately to reach fifth, blighted an otherwise positive day of work.
“I did not expect the Grand Prix to go half as well as it did,” he said. “I haven’t ridden sand all year and went to Lommel during the week and I struggled. Even Nico, our suspension guy, said he was surprised to see me make eighth in qualification. I was not looking forward to the races. I ‘grew’ with the track though and kept learning how to go faster with every lap. I was happy with how I came through in the last race. I was out of breath but thought ‘this is the last race, just go for it’. “
“I am sad to leave Kawasaki to be honest,” he added. “After Japan everything started happening and they are a really good group of people. It is a personal feeling with the bike and the team not really a ‘work’ feeling. I cannot thank them enough. I would especially like to thank Luka for the hard work he has done on the bike this year. It has worked perfectly.”
Tanel Leok, who had taken his fifth pole position this season by one tenth of a second from Strijbos on Saturday, did not finish the first race after crashing when he lost control and freakishly got the underside of his helmet caught on his front brake lever that put him on the ground. The impact jarred his shoulder and the Estonian found the second outing hard-going as he took seventh.
“It was very tough. In the first race I crashed and hurt my shoulder,” he said. “I was riding alright before that but I went into a dip and it forced me a little bit over the bars. I trapped my helmet on the brake. In the second race I was pulling on the bike and I had shockwaves of pain so it was not fun to ride. It is nice to finally finish this season.”
Leok has climbed the rostrum three times during his third term with the team and on the KX. He has also set two lap records on his way to eighth position in the final championship standings. Mackenzie signed off his rookie MX1 campaign having gained one podium but also granting the KX450F-SR its first moto and Grand Prix win with his dominant speed at Sugo for the Japanese round of the calendar in May. He was ninth in the MX1 classification and just four points from Leok.
Mackenzie will now head to the Pontrilas circuit on the English-Welsh border in two weeks time for the last round of the Maxxis British Championship that he leads by eight points.
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