Mac's Honda case
By TMX Archives on 12th Mar 08
RED Bull KTM's Tommy Searle made his one-off appearance in this years Maxxis British Motocross Championship a winning one with a dominant display and a resounding double MX2 victory at the opening round of 2008 series at a cold and blustery Donington Park on Sunday. Continuing his impressive early season form, Searle was right at home on the jump-infested, highly technical circuit where he won his first ever GP overall last summer and was clearly the class of the field as he notched up two 15-second plus winning margins over twice runner-up Stephen Sword on the Molson Kawasaki and Swift Suzuki's French flier Pascal Leuret to claim the win.
In a day of double wins there was similar dominance in MX1 too as CAS Honda's reigning series champion Billy MacKenzie delivered a dire warning to his would-be rivals with a demolition job on the class.
His two winning margins may not have been as sizeable as Searle's but the Scot looked superb and barely seemed to break a sweat as he cruised to unchallenged wins both times out to mount the top-step of the podium from Utag Yamaha's new signing Kenneth Gundersen, who impressed on his first race back after shoulder surgery, and Swift Suzuki's challenger Brad Anderson in what was to be honest a bit of processional class on the day.
A fairly respectable crowd of around 3,000 turned-out to witness the action inside the famous road-race circuit where a dose of mid-week rain did the hard-packed, slick Donington track a world of good, creating more lines than had been seen at the GP last August which did lead to better passing opportunities in MX2 in particular, but with the track's technicality and abundance of jumps making it visibly difficult to race on rather than just ride, and with spectators spread out along the long top-edge of the track and away from the track, the atmosphere was noticably sterile and lacking for a season opener of a championship that promises so much over the next six months.
After showing his speed at Hawkstone the previous weekend, few would have bet against Billy MacKenzie steering the stealth black CAS Honda to a double-win in the MX1 class, and so it proved to be as he topped everything possible on the day, claiming pole in qualifying, leading every single lap of both moto's and setting fastest lap each time out easily also.
It was a total white-wash, and worryingly MacKenzie didn't even seem to have to push much.
After topping qualifying over Gundersen by almost two seconds , who in turn had nearly a second on KTM UK's James Noble, MacKenzie grabbed the holeshot in the opening 30 minute encounter of the season and never looked back, controlling the pace from the front and doing just enough to maintain a lead that was already over two seconds by the end of the first lap and continued to grow steadily until he held it safely at just over six.
Behind MacKenzie, movement towards the front, and action, was limited with only Brad Anderson making any significant headway as he came from a lowly 18th place on lap one steadily up to fifth at the flag, despite looking far from comfortable all race. The real talking points though were the duel for second place between Tom Church and Gundersen, and the fierce late battle for seventh between Pioneer Yamaha's Wayne Smith and impressive newcomer Michael Phillips on the Nigel Arnold KTM.
Church had grabbed second out of the gate behind MacKenzie and held it lap after lap, looking fit and smooth on the Molson 450cc machine, despite increasing pressure from Gundersen.
Twice Gundersen drew to within a few feet of the rear-wheel of Church, but showing a strong resolve Church rebuffed him to eke out a small advantage again. The third time was lucky for Gundersen though and showing no race rustiness despite this being his first race since shoulder surgery the Norwegian forced through four laps from home to claim runner-up. >>>>
James Noble rode a lonely race for fourth, some 14-seconds adrift of Church, with Anderson fifth, an impressive Mark Jones sixth on his new ARB Kawasaki mount, Smith seventh after besting Phillips late in the moto, Glen Phillips a strong ninth and Mark Hucklebridge rounding out the top-ten.
Moto two saw an even more dominant display from MacKenzie, with not even a ten-minute rain shower that nicely slicked-up the increasingly polished track for a few laps dampening his charge. Again it was a gate to flag number and the defending champ cruised home almost 14-seconds clear of the chasing pack.
The ten-minute downpour did, however, effectively end what could potentially have been a decent fight for second place.
Church initially grabbed the position again out of the gate, but by the time the riders soared over the huge tabletop in the middle of the track he was already down to fourth behind Gundersen and Noble. The man really on the charge though was Anderson.
Fired-up after struggling in the opener, Anderson started in fifth, but as the rain began to fall and the track slicked-up instantly he moved forward impressively, deposing Gundersen from third on lap seven and Noble two laps later after a brief tussle.
From there he put his head down and opened-up a sizeable 11-second gap on Gundersen who forced his way past Noble four laps from home.
Church came home fifth, just two seconds off Noble at the flag, with Jones again a lonely sixth, while Bryan MacKenzie had a much better time of things second time out to claim seventh from Smith, Hucklebridge and Michael Phillips.
It wasn't quite the barn-storming season opener we had been hoping for and given the pace shown by MacKenzie it could be a long season for his rivals and fans hoping to see someone challenge him.
BRITISH MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 1 – Donington Park, nr Derby (ACU Events Ltd)
1 Billy MacKenzie (CAS Honda) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Kenneth Gundersen (Utag Yamaha) 22 + 20 = 42
3 Stuart Anderson (Swift Suzuki) 16 + 22 = 38
4 James Noble (KTM UK) 18 + 18 = 36
5 Tom Church (Molson Kawasaki) 20 + 16 = 36
6 Mark Jones (Kawasaki) 15 + 15 = 30
7 Wayne Smith (Pioneer Yamaha) 14 + 13 = 27
8 Michael Phillips (NA Robinson KTM) 13 + 11 = 24
9 Mark Hucklebridge (Motoxtreme Kawasaki) 11 + 12 = 23
10 Bryan MacKenzie (Twisted7 Kawasaki) 6 + 14 = 20
11 Jamie Lewis (Kawasaki) 10 + 9 = 19
12 Mark Eastwood (Wiseco Honda) 7 + 10 = 17
13 David Willet (Yamaha) 9 + 8 = 17
14 Alex Rach (Eurotek KTM) 8 + 6 = 14
15 Glen Phillips (JSC Commercials KTM) 12 + 0 = 12
16 Jim Murro (STR Honda) 0+7=7, 17 Jordan Rose (PAR Honda) 0+5=5, 18 Danny Smyth (Wiseco Honda) 5+0=5, 19 Richard Lawson (Twisted7 Kawasaki) 0+4=4, 20 Richard McKeown (Brouwer KTM) 4+0=4, 21 Jamie Smith (LPE Kawasaki) 0+3=3, 22 Luke Mellows (Dirtbikestore KTM) 3+0=3, 23 Oliver Sandiford-Smith (CCM UK) 0+2=2, 24 Alex Rockwell (Danger Honda) 2+0=2, 25 Jamie Skuse (Honda) 0+1=1, 26 Aston Bird (SMX Honda) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Billy MacKenzie, 2 Gundersen, 3 Church, 4 Noble, 5 Anderson, 6 Jones, 7 Wayne Smith, 8 Michael Phillips, 9 Glen Phillips, 10 Hucklebridge, 11 Lewis, 12 Willet, 13 Rach, 14 Eastwood, 15 Bryan MacKenzie, 16 Danny Smyth, 17 McKeown, 18 Mellows, 19 Rockwell, 20 Bird.
RACE TWO: 1 Billy MacKenzie, 2 Anderson, 3 Gundersen, 4 Noble, 5 Church, 6 Jones, 7 Bryan MacKenzie, 8 Wayne Smith, 9 Hucklebridge, 10 Michael Phillips, 11 Eastwood, 12 Lewis, 13 Willet, 14 Murro, 15 Rach, 16 Rose, 17 Lawson, 18 Jamie Smith, 19 Sandiford-Smith, 20 Skuse.
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 8) rounds: 1 Billy MacKenzie 50 points, 2 Gundersen 42, 3 Anderson 38, 4 Church 36, 5 Noble 36, 6 Jones 30, 7 Wayne Smith 27, 8 Michael Phillips 24, 9 Hucklebridge 23, 10 Bryan MacKenzie 20, 11 Lewis 19, 12 Eastwood 17, 13 Willet 17, 14 Rach 14, 15 Glen Phillips 12, 16 Murro 7, 17 Rose 5, 18 Danny Smyth 5, 19 Lawson 4, 20 McKeown 4, 21 Jamie Smith 3, 22 Mellows 3, 23 Sandiford-Smith 2, 24 Rockwell 2, 25 Skuse 1,...
NEXT ROUND: Mar 23 – Canada Heights, Swanley, Kent (Sidcup & DMCC).
For full story and pictures, see T+MX NEWS, Friday, March 14, 2008