Billy Mackenzie
Six wins from six for Mackenzie

Signs were apparent early on at a damp Torrington in Devon for the third round of eight in the 2008 Maxxis British Motocross Championship that reigning number one and the UK’s leading off-road motorcycle racing hope, Billy Mackenzie, was prepped to extend his 100% win record.

The factory Honda rider was an astonishing eight seconds faster than any other MX1 competitor during qualification and obtained his third pole position of the season. The 24-year-old Scot then went on to blaze the rest of the field – that included several world championship peers – to claim his sixth victory from six motos; his dominance reflected by an extremely healthy 46 point lead even before the halfway point of the campaign.

Mackenzie, from Edinburgh, currently the only British rider ever to have won a round of the MX1 World Championship and who obtained a fine fourth position in the 2008 season-opener last week through the deep, rough sand of Valkenswaard in Holland, won the first Torrington moto by 41 seconds despite a brief fall and then a mammoth 1 minute and 21 seconds in the second sprint.

“I can’t keep stressing how good I feel on this bike,” said the charismatic motocrosser. “I want to ride it anywhere and everywhere and it is clear to see the amount of fun I am having. We hadn’t been to Torrington for a few years and I got in the groove immediately despite all the mud. I’m staring at a big lead in the championship now and all these wins are really helping my confidence, so that when we arrive to the Grand Prix I can be right on the pace; at the moment I cannot wait for each weekend to come around.”

The second round of fifteen in the FIM World Championship takes place this weekend at the Bellpuig circuit, an hour from the city of Barcelona. The Catalan venue witnessed Mackenzie’s first ever Grand Prix moto victory – in the MX2 class – in 2005. He also took a podium result there in 2006.

Last Friday, before the trip south to Devon, Mackenzie and his CAS Honda team made the trip to Mallory Park to size-up preparations for the 2008 British Grand Prix that takes place in just over six weeks time.

“All I will say is that they have a lot of work to do there for the Grand Prix and I hope it can be successful,” he commented. “Obviously it is a big race for the British riders and I really hope that a permanent home can be established for the GP.”



Team CAS Honda
Awesome MacKenzie in a class of his own

Billy MacKenzie’s domination of MX1 continued at Torrington with an overwhelming performance in the third round of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship.

Yet again the CAS Honda rider was in a class of his own, qualifying on the top spot over 8 seconds faster than any other rider, and going on to win both races by an impressive margin in appalling conditions.

Heavy rain in North Devon during the days leading up to the race nearly saw the event called off. The outcome could so easily have been a lottery, but MacKenzie showed a maturity beyond his years to overcome the muddy track and fight off his rivals.

After qualifying in pole position, MacKenzie claimed the holeshot in his first race and was never in any danger of being overhauled, eventually finishing 1 minute 4 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

That was a hard act to follow, but the talented Scottish rider went one better in race two – this time snatching the holeshot and finishing 1 minute 36 seconds ahead of the runner-up.

In MX2, Mike Brown suffered mixed fortunes. After qualifying in seventh, the American rider fought to third place at the first corner, but crashed soon afterwards and went back to 10th place – the position where he eventually finished the race.

In race two, Brown was in second place at the first corner, but it was a false start. In the re-start, he did even better by grabbing hole shot, but he was soon embroiled in a battle with Stephen Sword, winner of the first race, which ended in disaster for both riders when they attempted to take the same line on a corner and crashed. Both riders had problems getting their machines restarted and ended up at the back of the field, but Brown bravely fought his way through the pack to finish in a very creditable ninth place.

“Billy’s performance was awesome – he was in a class of his own,” said CAS Honda team manager, Neil Prince, ”This is a great loosener for next week’s Grand Prix in Spain.

“Mike had some problems, but he showed real determination and put up a great performance in his second race.”

Billy MacKenzie said, “I am very happy with my results from today, I now have a 46 point lead in the championship, and this gives me more confidence to take it to them in Spain this coming weekend.”

Mike Brown had been disappointed with his first race and stated that “this gave him the determination to go out in the second race and fight at the front.” Mike showed his true grit and claimed the fastest lap of the race.


Molson Kawasaki Racing
Molson Kawasaki in fine form at Torrington

Molson Kawasaki team riders Stephen Sword and Tom Church both finish high on the podium at round three of the British championship There’s rain, mud and ruts once more for the third round of the British motocross championship that takes place in Torrington, Devon. After torrential rain leading into the event the previously perfectly prepped circuit is something of a mud bath for the qualifying sessions and early races but that doesn’t stop Stephen Sword and his full factory KX250F-SR from taking a fine overall win which also helped increase the Scotsman’s lead in the series.

After taking the holeshot in moto one – only to be passed in turn two by an erratic Shaun Simpson who promptly crashed – Swordy ran away from the pack to take his first race victory in two years. “I got the holeshot and I felt really good on the bike, I was using good lines and I was able to pull away from the pack – it was nice to win my first race again after so long.”

While moto one was all Sword, defending champions Mike Brown holeshot the second race with Sword in second. After lining up, passing and then outdragging Brown on a long straight the pair tangled entering a rutty turn. “Me and Brownie were having a bit of a scrap on the first lap,” explained Stephen. “I went around the outside of him and had him along the straight and then I could here him coming up the inside and he just didn’t shut off – it was quite a bit of a takeout and I really hadn’t expected he’d do that.”

After spending an age restarting his Kawasaki Sword got going again in 21st position but soon pulled through the pack finally finishing in third place which was enough for Stephen to take the overall win and increase his lead on the championship. “After I got going again I thought if I could have got back to the top six that would have been good but I got to third which was great and took the overall win and increased my championship lead which was awesome – I’ve got to be happy about that.”

The Molson team’s MX1 rider Tom Church also had plenty to be happy about as he took his first podium of the year with a pair of third place finishes on his KX450F for second overall despite not riding quite as well as he’d have liked.

“The first race was chaos,” explained Tom. “I got into second after the start but then I crashed and dropped back to fifth, then a couple of guys went down and it was just backwards and forwards like that. I was running fourth when I caught the footpeg on a big rock or something and ripped that off the bike so I had to do the last two laps with only one footpeg. Luckily I had a big enough lead on the fifth placed rider and then Anderson went down and so I ended up third.

“In the second race I got another good start. I didn’t ride so good in the early part of the race but then I moved forward into second but came under pressure from Mark Hucklebridge who was all over me, had some good lines and was riding really well today. He managed to get by me so I finished third which was good enough for second overall. I didn’t ride great today but I finished in second on the podium so I’m happy – it’s all going to click soon and I’ll be able to race as hard as I can ride in practice.”

Church now sits in joint second place in the MX1 series with Lyng – one of Tom’s most favourite tracks – the next race on the British championship calendar on May 4.



SUSO MVR-D Suzuki
The third round of the Maxxis British motocross championship took place in Devon at a muddy Waggadon Farm near Torrington but that didn’t deter SUSO MVR-D Suzuki from putting on a super performance with three riders finishing in the top seven overall in the MX2 class.

Jason Dougan was back on top form - in race one Jason put in a solid performance to finish in fifth and in race two Dougan eclipsed his race one performance with a superb second to land him a well deserved third overall on the day his best performance of year thus far.

Marcus Norlen is beginning to look like a class act, after only a few months racing in the UK the  young Swedish rider put in yet another fine performance finishing seventh in moto one and improved by three places to fourth in moto two to secure sixth on the Suso MVR-D Suzuki.

Carl Nunn added the icing on the cake for the team securing seventh overall with an 8-7 scorecard, chasing Marcus for most of the race Nunn was hampered by back-markers and dropped back from fifth to seventh after knocking his ankle in a tight corner.

Team Manager – Mark Chamberlain
“Today was a great day for everyone in the team, Jason, Marcus and Carl were outstanding and for all three to finish within the top seven is a huge achievement for one team.

Our bikes were outstanding in such tough track conditions; we are now looking to take this performance onwards into the rest of the season. The only sour note was a possible injury to our youngest team member James Cottrell in race two.

We now travel to Spain next weekend for the second world championship event of the season and I’m sure better things are to come.”


MacKenzie continues his charge for The Fuchs Silkolene Charity Award
The hunt for the 2008 Maxxis ACU British Motocross Champions continued as the third round of the series took place at a wet and muddy Torrington circuit in Devon. Despite the heavy going, Fuchs Silkolene backed rider Billy MacKenzie – CAS Honda kept his 100% record intact as he took another two race wins to increase his tally to six victories from six starts. In addition to his overall victory, the reigning MX1 British champion once again stole The Fuchs Silkolene Charity Award, for recording the fastest lap of the day under race conditions.

MacKenzie was in devastating form for the third round in a row, with the young Scot topping qualifying by over eight seconds ahead of two gate to flag victories that left his rivals in his wake. Billy won the second and final MX1 moto by the monster margin of one minute and twenty-one seconds to further increase his advantage in the overall standings after three of the eight scheduled events. MacKenzie will take a healthy forty-four point lead to the next round at Lyng, Norfolk on Sunday 4th May, with the Honda rider looking the clear favourite to retain his title even at this early stage in the domestic season.

In the MX2 class it was overall winner Stephen Sword – Molson Kawasaki who claimed The Fuchs Silkolene Charity Award, with his fastest lap time being recorded on the opening lap of race two, as was MacKenzie’s in the MX1 category. Sword now heads the points table by a single point from Shaun Simpson – KTM UK, as this duo continue to scrap it out for top honours on all fronts in the MX2 division of the series. Fuchs Silkolene are the official lubricant partners of the 2008 championship in addition to being sponsors of this charity award.

The award
Using the information provided by the championship’s official timekeepers, the fastest three riders in each class at each round are awarded bonus points on a 5, 3 and 1 basis respectively. In addition to the two class winners being presented with prizes at each round, their cumulative points total will also count towards a very important overall prize that will be concluded at the last round in September. The rider with the highest points tally, irrespective of class, following the final meeting at Hawkstone Park will be presented with “The Fuchs Silkolene Charity Award” and a cheque for one thousand five hundred pounds to donate to a recognised charity of their choice.

The Fuchs Silkolene Charity Award
Results  Round 3 – Torrington – 13th April 2008
MX1
1 - Billy MacKenzie   5 pts
2  - Mark Hucklebridge   3 pts
3  - Tom Church   1 pt

MX2
1 – Stephen Sword   5 pts
2  - Shaun Simpson   3 pts
3  - Jason Dougan   1 pt

Overall MX1 to date
1 – Mackenzie 15, 2- Church 5, 3 – Hucklebridge 3 / Anderson 3, 5 – Gundersen 1, 5 – Jones 1

Overall MX2 to date
1 – Sword 9, 2 – Simpson 8, 3 – Searle 5, 4 – Barr 3, 5 – Dougan 1 / Leuret 1
Next event: Round 4 - Lyng – 4th May 2008

ARB Tuning Kawasaki
Good results continue for ARB Tuning Kawasaki

Muddy conditions greeted ARB Tuning Kawasaki and its competitors at the third round of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship at Waggadon Farm in Devon this past weekend. Delayed on arrival on Saturday to let the paddock area dry out, the team settled in to more rain overnight. As a result the racing was delayed by an hour on Sunday morning as well to allow the track to solidify somewhat, a decision that was once again undone by another heavy shower during MX2 qualifying practice.

The team MXY2 rider, Vytautas Bucas, qualified well in sixth in tough company. Jamie Lewis and Mark Jones in the MX1 class qualified in eleventh and thirteenth respectively, Mark having had trouble with his gearbox throughout the practice session.

Vytautas posted a solid performance in his two races; the first was marred by a crash and some bike trouble that set him back from a very strong position in thirteenth, the second showing much promise with a move to tenth in the second lap and a return to twelfth after another get-off, for a top twenty result on the day and in the championship.

Jamie suffered a puncture in the first race while in tenth, which brought his race to a slippery halt, but the second race more than made up for this with a solid run in eleventh for the majority of the race and an end in the top ten. A top fifteen on the day keeps Jamie in the top fifteen in the championship.

Mark continued his strong performance from Canada Heights with a start in second in the first race, to which he returned in the last lap after a small crash early in the race. The second race was a race for time as another crash left Mark with twisted bars in last. Moving up the pack in leaps and bounds, Mark was able to return to seventh at the chequered flag, ending the day in fourth overall, and continuing to keep his place in second in the championship.

Team owner Mark Bishop declared himself satisfied with the day's results: "Another good day for us, Mark in fourth overall and second in the championship, so I'm very pleased. Jamie unfortunately had a puncture in the first race, but top ten in the second, and Vytautas having bike trouble in the first but a solid twelfth in the second race. So we're all happy."

The team’s next races at Dean Moor in Cumbria this coming weekend as part of the British Masters Motocross series, returning to the fourth round of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship on the Early May Bank Holiday weekend at Lyng in Norfolk.



Mark Jones
Jones fires into second in points at Brit MX1 Round 3

The North Devon circuit of Torrington, soaked by days of heavy rain greeted the ARB Tuning Kawasaki team and the rest of the British championship contenders for round 3 of the series. Mark Jones, entering the event 4th in points following a strong start to the season was looking to consolidate his position at what is one of the more traditional tracks on the elite calendar.

Though the track surface was heavy, the lines appeared and with the timed session following on from the practice, Mark was looking in great shape to set a top 3 time when his machine developed a gearbox problem, locking the bike in 1st gear. With no time available to change bikes, Jones revved the bike hard and into an astonishing 13th place.

Moto 1 got off the line with Mark gaining great drive and rounding the first turn behind the Scot Billy Mackenzie. Settling into a good early pace. Lap 3 saw Mark take a small spill after cross rutting, remounting in 7th, just behind Mark Hucklebridge. Jones set abut the task of a fight back with style, passing Hucklebridge, Jordan Rose, Tom Church and James Noble over the next 3 laps to sit in 3rd. Over the next 6 laps, the green machine hunted down second place man Brad Anderson, forcing a mistake out of the Suzuki man on the final lap to take a well-deserved second place.

A delayed Moto 2 got off the line with Mark taking the first few turns in the top 5, though things took a downturn when he cross rutted and got spat off into the soft mud off line. Remounting, another trip to the south west turf followed immediately as the hand guard had jammed the front brake lever in, causing the spill. Third time lucky, Mark got away, only to stop to straighten the steering which was twisted in the crash a few turns later.

Rounding the end of lap one in 32nd, salvaging as many points as possible was the order. Picking off 8 places on the second lap showed his determination and intent to minimise the damage, the ARB machine got up to 7th position by lap 10, though by that point the gap to 6th was too big to close over the final few laps. With a 2-7 score, 4th overall on the day was good enough to fire Mark to second on the official championship classification, tied with fellow Kawasaki mounted Tom Church.

"I am so happy with the way things are working at the moment. My confidence in the bike and my riding is really showing and to leave here having had a not so great second race with second in the championship is unbelievable. I thought with the early problems in that second moto that I'd blown it for today but I recovered reasonably well and got into a decent pace. Dave (Morgan - Mark's mechanic) and I will just keep developing things and working hard and keep this pace going."

The next stop for Mark will be the British Masters round at Dean Moor, Cumbria this coming weekend.