Mackenzie steamrollers onwards
Reigning number one Billy Mackenzie’s relentless assault on the 2008 Maxxis ACU British Championship showed no signs of easing after the CAS Honda rider guided his blackened factory-backed machine to another comprehensive double moto victory at round four of eight. A quick course and warm temperatures greeted the racers at the Lyng circuit in Norfolk where the MX2 class was also swept by former multi-champion Stephen Sword in front of one of the biggest crowds the venue has seen.

Twenty-four year old Mackenzie deservedly gathered the headlines over weekend after yet another pole position and set of chequered flags. The fourth overall win from four also saw the 2007 title-winner register his eighth triumph from eight motos. This devastating streak of form means that he now holds a lead of sixty-five points; an advantage of more than two motos.

The battle for second place on this occasion was won by Swift Suzuki’s Brad Anderson who is still recovering from an injured shoulder and beat KTM UK’s James Noble by four points with second and third positions. Noble was handicapped by an incident in race one when the Whitby-resident hit a fallen Mark Hucklebridge and lost several places before rejoining the fray. The latter would also recover and score fourth in the final classification.

Mark Jones grabbed third spot in moto one, but a hefty crash ruled him out of the second sprint while Molson Kawasaki’s Tom Church finished behind the Welshman in the opening race only to have mechanical trouble in moto two.

“It was our first ‘full-speed’ meeting of the year; where the track was not slow or technical and the weather was not against us,” commented Mackenzie. “After my mistakes at the Portuguese Grand Prix last week I was keen to get myself back on-track and I’m glad I have the British Championship to blow away some frustration. It was almost like training for me today.”

In the MX2 class Molson Kawasaki’s Stephen Sword drilled his works KX250F to deflect the attentions of KTM UK’s Shaun Simpson. The twenty-seven year old overtook his rival in the first moto to win and then capitalised on Simpson missing a gear in race two to reach the line first; his third success from four outings and now he heads the series by twenty-two points. In third place was Relentless Suzuki’s Lewis Gregory, enjoying a personal best, and still missing race fitness due to recovery from a broken wrist.

Round five will take place at Desertmartin in Northern Ireland on June 22nd.


CAS HONDA
MACKENZIE DOES IT AGAIN…

Billy Mackenzie dominated the MX1 British Championship once again at the fourth round of the Maxxis British Championship. After qualifying on pole position he led, more than convincingly, from start to finish in both races. He crossed the chequered flag in the first race an incredible 43 seconds in front of second-placed rider Brad Anderson.

At the halfway stage of this British Championship Billy Mackenzie has led every lap, and won each of the eight races so far this year.

Mike Brown qualified in 4th position and gated well in his first race, sitting comfortably in fourth place until attempting to pass Jason Dougan. This manoeuvre ended with Mike over stretching his shoulder and having to pull out of the race. With the next round of the World Championship this coming weekend, it was decided that Mike should not go out in the second race.

Team Manager Neil Prince once again was more than happy with Billy’s performance and safe in the knowledge that Mike, the true professional that he is, will fully prepare himself for the coming weekend in Bulgaria.

Mike said, “I am obviously disappointed not to have increased my points in the Championship but I now have to focus on this coming weekend.”

Billy was smiling at the end of the day on the podium (and so he should with a 65 point lead!) and said, “A good day without any mistakes, and that has to be the goal, I will carry this through to the GPs.”



Billy Mackenzie
Mackenzie routs British series again before Bulgarian bow

After shining but then failing to obtain his first world championship podium of the season last week in Portugal, CAS Honda’s Billy Mackenzie, the UK’s sole factory rider in the FIM MX1 Grand Prix series, took his frustration out on his rivals at Lyng in Norfolk for the fourth round of the 2008 Maxxis British Championship. The 24 year old Scot guided his works machine to another dominant double success to extend his 100% record, and streak of victories, to eight from eight motos and four overall wins from four.

Mackenzie took pole position across the dry and naturally-set Cadders Hill circuit with a bumper crowd enjoying early streaks of summer weather. The two motos that brought the domestic campaign to a halfway point were convincingly owned by the reigning MX1 champion and gave the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Japanese Grand Prix winner a perfect set of 200 points in the standings; a mammoth 65 more than his closest challenger (a race win counts for 25).

“I felt pretty good once we started practice even if the track was not the best; it was too old-school with off-cambered corners everywhere and too fast,” he said. “However we got the job done; I ended up racing myself, using the pitboard for my lap-times and taking the motos as part of training. Now I can just focus on getting ready for Bulgaria. I should have won and at least had a podium in Portugal so it was good to iron out some chinks to the confidence because I made too many mistakes at Agueda.”

“The points lead is looking pretty good now and, without wanting to tempt fate too much, it would be good to wrap the title up sooner rather than later so that I can get out on the track with a 500cc two-stroke; if they will let me!” he added.

Lyng was perfect preparation for the Edinburgh resident who this week flies to the immaculate Sevlievo circuit in the depths of Bulgaria for round four of the FIM World Championship. The 2007 edition of this event saw arguably the lowest point of Mackenzie’s debut season in the category when he was forced out of both races with a rib and back injury. Thus determined to make amends, ‘Mac’ also knows he is overdue some maiden silverware in the red of Honda after finishing fourth, eighth and sixth (while taking a moto runner-up slot in Holland for the season-opener and leading both races almost a fortnight ago at Agueda) in the last three Grand Prix.



Molson Kawasaki Racing-
Sword extends series lead in British Championship

Molson Kawasaki’s flying Scotsman Stephen Sword completely dominated round four of the Maxxis British motocross championship - held under sunny skies at Lyng - to further extend his
MX2 series lead.

Stephen Sword took another step towards re-winning the British MX2 title by completely dominating round four at Lyng on his factory KX250F-SR. Fastest in qualifying and easily fastest in both races, there was no stopping Sword in Norfolk as he was head and shoulders above the competition with only Shaun Simpson able to nudge ahead for three laps in moto two.

Such was Sword’s speed he won moto one by a massive 20 seconds ahead of Simpson with the third placed rider Jason Dougan over half a lap behind at the finish. The gap between first and second was almost equally as big in moto two with Sword finishing 16 seconds clear of Simpson who charged hard all day.

“In the first race I took the holeshot and put in four or five fast laps in the beginning and managed to stretch out a gap,” said Stephen. “I kept pushing hard and managed to keep on stretching the gap all the way to the finish.

“The second race was a little bit more difficult, I got the holeshot but Simpson was able to pass me going into turn two. I stuck with him and watched his lines and I knew I had the speed to pass him. When I did pass him I was able to pull away again quite easily.

“Overall today has been fantastic and it’s the first time since my injury that I’ve felt really on top of my game. I hope I can continue this form through to the grand prix races and try and get up at the front of those too. At the moment I couldn’t be happier with my riding, the bike is working well and all the team members are working very hard – everything’s going well.”

Molson Kawasaki’s MX1 rider Tom Church qualified well on his KX450F at the Cadders Hill circuit ending the session in fourth position with a time right up there with the leaders. Despite suffering with a little bit of arm pump in moto one, Church charged from eighth to fourth place in the 30-minute plus two lap moto to finish just off the podium. Unfortunately for Church moto two wasn’t as successful as gearbox gremlins ended his race early.

“It’s been another one of those days,” said Church. “Qualifying and race one didn’t go as well as I hoped they would but fourth place in both was still okay. I suffered with arm pump in race one which really slowed my pace so I was all set to improve in moto two but my gearbox broke. I’ve got to look forward to Sevlievo now for the next GP where I’ll turn my luck around.”

Molson Kawasaki’s next outing is at Sevlievo in Bulgaria for round four of the FIM Motocross World Championship on May 11 where Frenchman Gautier Paulin will rejoin his team-mates Sword and Church.



Mackenzie unstoppable in charge for Fuchs Silkolene Charity Award
The fourth round of eight in the 2008 Maxxis ACU British Championship at a warm Lyng in Norfolk was an all-Scottish affair once again as CAS Honda’s Billy Mackenzie extended his unbeaten MX1 run to eight motos from eight and four overall consecutive successes, and Molson Kawasaki’s Stephen Sword swept the board in the MX2 division. Reigning MX1 British Champion Mackenzie, a Fuchs Silkolene backed rider, marked the quickest circulation of the dry and fast course at Cadders Hill on the first lap of the opening moto and broke free to claim the chequered flag by over forty seconds. Unsurprisingly Sword was the fastest racer on a 250cc four-stroke machine and registered his flying attempt on lap three of the first sprint. The Fuchs Silkolene Charity Award is given to the individual recording the fastest lap of the day under race conditions.

Japanese Grand Prix winner for the past three years and Britain’s top rider in the MX1 World Championship, Billy Mackenzie, twenty-four years old from Edinburgh, left the British Championship field to squabble over the lower steps of the podium for the fourth meeting in a row and now holds a hefty sixty-five point lead over James Noble who was third at Lyng.  Brad Anderson is next, and was second in Norfolk despite still recovering from a dislocated shoulder. Mackenzie’s margin means that he can miss two of the remaining eight races and still retain his crown.

Former multi-champion Stephen Sword, who is only one of two Brits to walk a Grand Prix rostrum this season, scaled the top step of the podium for the second consecutive meeting, but was followed by main title threat Shaun Simpson. Sword, on his works KX250F, pursued and overtook the KTM UK rider in both motos while clearly enjoying a speed-advantage across the terrain compared to the rest of the pack. As a consequence Sword was able to extend the gap in the series standings to twenty-two points over his rival. Relentless Suzuki’s Lewis Gregory gained an impressive third place overall.

Round five will take place at Desertmartin in Northern Ireland on June 22nd. 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 4 – Lyng – 4th May 2008
MX1
1 - Billy MacKenzie 5 pts
2  - Brad Anderson 3 pts
3  - Mark Jones 1 pt
MX2
1 – Stephen Sword 5 pts
2  - Shaun Simpson 3 pts
3  - Lewis Gregory 1 pt

Overall MX1 to date
1 – Mackenzie 20, 2- Anderson 6, 3- Church 5, 4- Hucklebridge 3, 4 – Jones 2, 5 – Gundersen 1
Overall MX2 to date
1 – Sword 14, 2 – Simpson 11, 3 – Searle 5, 4 – Barr 3, 5 – Dougan 2
Next event: Round 5 - Desertmartin – 22nd June 2008



SUSO MVR-D Suzuki
It was back to British race action this weekend for the SUSO MVR-D Suzuki team.

The venue was Lyng and all four senior squad members were on show on a warm and busy Bank Holiday weekend.

Timed qualifying went very well with all four riders making the main event with three out of the four, Jason Dougan, Carl Nunn and Marcus Norlen qualifying within the top ten.

In race one it was Dougan who was setting the pace for the team to follow with a superb third position finish, Nunn having crashed on the start came from last to twelfth in a very strong ride but Norlen suffered an after market part problem on the bike and had to retire. Youngest squad member James Cottrell suffered an agonising knock on his back and also had to retire from moto one.

Moto two was just as exciting with Nunn leading the charge and showing that the fight is still there with a solid third place finish, Norlen did the same with a confident seventh but Dougan had a wheel issue and had to make a pit stop mid-race after battling into fifteenth after a disappointing start.

Team Manager – Mark Chamberlain:
“It wasn’t our best weekend but it showed lots of positives for the rest of the year, both Jason and Carl are capable of winning races and Marcus is growing in confidence at every event, Jason is suffering from a blood infection so he needs to rest before this weekend. This week we travel to Bulgaria where the team are hoping to pick up some useful world championship points”.

**NATALIE KANE LATEST**
Natalie has just had the first of two shoulder operations which will keep her out of this year’s women’s world motocross championship. After consultation with specialists it was made clear that Natalie needs to have this operation and rest for the injury to completely recover.

The aim for Natalie is next year’s championship where she will be back to full fitness and race speed.



ARB Tuning Kawasaki
Mixed weekend marks Maxxis mid-season for ARB Tuning Kawasaki

Positively summery weather greeted ARB Tuning Kawasaki on the Early May Bank Holiday for the fourth round of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship at Lyng in Norfolk. This pleasant change after several cold and wet rounds in the championship was welcomed with open arms. Although this round does not feature the MXY2 class, all three team riders were present at the event with youth rider Vytautas Bucas switching to the MX2 class.

Vytautas failed to qualify in the MX2 class, suffering from a case of nerves ahead of his first ever MX2 event, less than one second outside thirty-fifth place. Both Jamie Lewis and Mark Jones qualified in the top fifteen in the MX1 class, Jamie in fourteenth and Mark in sixth.

Vytautas suffered a crash in the first corner of the first mixed-class support race, leaving him last and working hard to catch up, while the second race was much improved with a start in the top ten and a steady ascent to fourth at the checkered flag. The day ended just outside the top ten in the support class in twelfth.

The MX1 class looked to be another corker for Mark after a top five start and a cruise in third with just over five seconds behind the runner-up, Brad Anderson. The second race started off just as well as the first, but while in fourth position, Mark clipped a tyre track marker, sending him over the bars and bending gear and other levers. Mark was not able to restart the bike until several laps later, and he was forced to pull into the pits. The day end result was a tenth overall on the day, and a slip to fourth in the championship.

Jamie's first race was disastrous as a footpeg snapped in half in the first lap, causing Jamie to crash and restart in last position. From there it was difficult for Jamie to continue at full strength and he had to end where he restarted. The second race was much improved. A top fifteen start saw Jamie start his ascent in the pack, but blisters put an end to his efforts and he had to bite down through the pain to keep his position first in eleventh, and then, with just two laps to go, in tenth. A position just outside the top fifteen was the day's end result.

Mark Bishop, team owner, noted dryly: "We were a bit unlucky this weekend. Vytautas just got nervous in his first qualifier out of the schoolboys. Jamie got done in by blisters just like in Dean Moor, and Mark, after a nice third in the first one, got in a fight with the tyres in the second, and the tyres won."

The team next decamps to Landrake in Cornwall for the third round of the British Masters Motocross series with the fourth round a month later at Pontrilas in Herefordshire. The next round of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship will be at Desertmartin in Northern Ireland on Saturday, June 22.


NA Robinsons KTM
Some much awaited sunny, warm weather welcomed team NA Robinsons KTM to the fourth round of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship at Lyng in Norfolk.

The fine weather, along with the bank holiday weekend attracted one of the largest crowds to the Norfolk circuit for many years. Team riders Michael Phillips, Carl Brogden and Kristian Whatley were all in good form prior to the meeting.

MX1:
Both Michael Phillips and Carl Brogden had a steady start to their day in qualifying, where Mike qualified in 17th and Carl in 30th place.

Michael didn't have a very good start in his first race, and after a poor first lap he came round in 20th place. Michael had his work cut out to secure some more points but with some hard riding he did exactly that and brought his KTM 450 SXS-F to the chequered flag in a fine 12th place.  The second race saw Michael get a much better start, and he reached the first corner in the top 10. He settled into a good rhythm in 9th place, and with consistent fast riding kept this place to the chequered flag thus securing 8th overall for the day. These good race results moved Michael back to 10th place overall in the British Championship.

Carl started his first race in mid-pack, and was looking to score some good points in the race. Much to everybody's disappointment, Carl was forced to pull out the first race due to problem with his clutch. In the second race he also got off to a promising start, but yet another technical problem forced him to retire on the last lap of the race, giving him a 30th place finish.

He was a lumberjack but now he's OK - Kiwi flyer Phillips ponders what to break next!

MX2:
Kristian Whatley started the day on his KTM 250 SXS-F with confidence, and qualified in his now customary lowly place, only managing 21st this is an area that the Team need to work on. However Kristian had an awesome start in his first race and reached the first corner in 3rd place. He then rode aggressively throughout the race, and after losing a couple of places towards the end, he finished in a fantastic 7th place. Kristian also had another blinding start in the second race, and battled for 6th place throughout the race, only losing a couple of places at the end, finishing in 10th place. With his great race results Kristian secured his best ever overall finish in 7th place, moving up to 9th place in the Championship.

Having two of the team riders in the Top 10 of one of the World’s toughest domestic championships, has given the whole team a great boost and encouragement to keep working hard to improve results. The Team is hoping to continue their good form in the next race outing this weekend, at the third round of British Masters MX Championships in Landrake, Cornwall. Hope to see you there!