Will Mac get his just Desert?
By TMX Archives on 14th Jun 07
ROUND five of the 2007 Maxxis ACU British Motocross championship crosses the Irish Sea and takes place next Saturday, June 23, at the fantastic Desertmartin circuit in Northern Ireland, which hosted a Grand Prix less than 12 months ago.
The compact and highly spectacular track has benefited from a wholehost of changes in more recent years, and in doing so has become one ofthe most popular venues for many of the riders.
Billy MacKenzie (De Groot Kawasaki) will lead the MX1 title assault asthe action shifts to the far side of the Irish Sea just at the pointwhere the championship moves past its halfway stage. MacKenzie, alongwith the other many GP runners who contest the British series will beat the busiest point of their season, with Desertmartin being the thirdstop on a four-week consecutive tour that will include no less thanthree Grand Prix and one domestic outing.
Billy is currently Britain's highest placed MX1 runner on the Worldstage, however the feel good factor from his recent GP win in Japan wasshort lived, with the shocking and sad loss of his team boss Jan DeGroot just a week later. Twelve months ago MacKenzie was runner-up toCarl Nunn in the first MX2 race at Desertmartin, but he will be lookingfor a better showing this time around with last year's MX1 winner, JoshCoppins, now out of the picture.
The usual crop of chasing talent is sure to include 2006 champion KenDe Dycker (CAS Honda), Brad Anderson (Pioneer Yamaha, James Noble(Multitek Honda) and local hero Gordon Crockard (PAR Honda). Crockardwill be hoping the luck of the Irish is with him on home soil to makeamends for the cruel luck he suffered at the last round of thechampionship at Langrish when he suffered a broken chain whilst holdinga podium place in the first MX1 moto.
Carl Nunn (Bike It Yamaha) was the dominant force in the MX2 categoryat Desertmartin in 2006, with back to back race wins earning him theoverall victory on the day ahead of Tommy Searle (KTM UK) who placed 3-2 over the two motos. Twelve months on and Nunn is still getting backto form after having suffered a nasty back injury at the pre-seasonHawkstone International meeting. In contrast Searle has become the manto beat in this class, with consistent and mature results for hisdomestic season to date.
The trip to Ireland will see Searle continue his year long battle withGareth Swanepoel (Molson Kawasaki), with the two young riders enjoyingfierce fights with each other both on the British and World stages.Searle's advantage over Swanepoel is only slight in both cases though,leaving the KTM runner in no doubt that this rivalry is set to lastright through to the final moto in the two different championships.
It is far from being a two horse race for the MX2 title either. MikeBrown (CAS Honda) heads up a large team of challengers that includesSean Hamblin (Swift Suzuki), Tom Church (Molson Kawasaki), Jason Dougan(Fork Rent Suzuki) and Elliot Banks-Brown (Swift Suzuki) who just couldmake things difficult for the leading duo at Desertmartin.
The action will get underway at 9.30am with qualifying for the MX2contenders, followed by an autograph session with all the top riders inboth classes at 11.40am. The first support race will be at 12.30pm,whilst the championship races kick off at 1.05pm, with the first MX2clash.
For more information about this round and the rest of the series, please visit the official championship website www.mxgb.co.uk