Big Mac of the Manor
By TMX Archives on 8th Jun 07
RIDING the crest of a wave after his recent Japanese GP win, De Groot Kawasaki's Billy MacKenzie extended his lead at the top of the Maxxis British MX1 MX Championship on Sunday with overall victory at Langrish, round four of the championship series, as Kawasaki doubled-up on the day with Molson teamster Gareth Swanepoel claiming his second success Maxxis overall win in another closely contested MX2 class.
Very fast and very hard-packed, the long-standing Langrish track, home to the annual Ken Hall Trophy meeting, was making its first appearance on the British championship schedule and although its old school' nature and extreme speed was not exactly universally liked by the riders, it did produce good racing, especially in MX2, and with the whole venue basking in scorching temperatures the fans came out in droves to witness four different race winners across the championship classes.
MacKenzie was gifted a distant third in the opening moto behind runaway winner Ken De Dycker and crowd favourite Brad Anderson after Gordon Crockard suffered a broken chain, but as he has done numerous times already this season the Scot was sensational in moto two to take the win and the overall from Anderson by a point, while De Dycker trailed home fourth behind James Noble to claim third overall.
Swanepoel followed much a similar path in MX2 as he laboured to fourth in the frantic opener behind race winner Mike Brown, Sean Hamblin and Tommy Searle, before picking up the pace and dominating the second heat over Searle, Tom Church and Hamblin to snatch a narrow one point victory over Searle, with Hamblin mounting the podium for the first time this season in third.
BRITISH MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 4 - Manor Farm, Langrish, near Petersfield, Hants (Langrish MCRC)
1 Billy MacKenzie (450F DeGroot Kawasaki) 25 + 30 = 55
2 Brad Anderson (450F Pioneer Yamaha) 27 + 27 = 54
3 Ken De Dycker (450F CAS Honda) 30 + 23 = 53
4 James Noble (450F Multitek Honda) 23 + 25 = 48
5 Mark Eastwood (250 Wiseco Honda) 21 + 17 = 38
6 Neville Bradshaw (PAR Homes Honda) 17 + 19 = 36
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 (of 8) rounds: 1 Billy MacKenzie 214 points, 2 De Dycker 187, 3 Noble 182, 4 Anderson 180, 5 Crockard 178, 6 Eastwood 126
NEXT ROUND: June 23 - Desertmartin, near Cookstown, NI (Cookstown & DMCC).
BRITISH MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 4 - Manor Farm, Langrish, near Petersfield, Hants (Langrish MCRC)
1 Gareth Swanepoel (250F Molson Kawasaki) 23 + 30 = 53
2 Tommy Searle (250F KTM UK) 25 + 27 = 52
3 Sean Hamblin (250F Swift Suzuki) 27 + 23 = 50
4 Mike Brown (CAS Honda) 30 + 10 = 40
5 Tom Church (250F Molson Kawasaki) 10 + 25 = 35
6 Shaun Simpson (Wulfsport Kawasaki) 15 + 19 = 34
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 (of 8) rounds: 1 Searle 200 points, 2 Swanepoel 192, 3 Mike Brown 176, 4 Simpson 167, 5 Hamblin 159, 6 Church 155
NEXT ROUND: June 23 - Desertmartin, near Cookstown, NI (Cookstown & DMCC).
For full report, results and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, June 8, 2007.