Bryan Mackenzie Joins CAS Honda

21st May 2009

CAS Honda would like to announce that Bryan Mackenzie is joining the team in replacement of Cedric Melotte for the next few races in both the FIM MX1 World Championship and the Maxxis British MX1 Championship.

CAS Honda has spoken to a number of riders since the Catalan Grand Prix last weekend, at which it was decided that Cedric Melotte would step away from racing to concentrate on making a full recovery from the back injury that has seen him miss races in the last five out of six events.

CAS Honda has been looking for a second rider to partner Billy Mackenzie in the World Series, who would be able to step straight into its current set-up without a conflict of interest with the team's sponsors. The team also felt it important not to employ a racer out of the already reduced MX1 field, and ideally wanted to support a British rider as a British-based outfit.

Bryan Mackenzie, who is the cousin of CAS Honda's Billy Mackenzie, has plenty of experience of the new-for-2009 CRF450R, having contested it in the British Championship for the Moto Twisted 7 Honda squad since the beginning of this year.

The 24-year-old Scot, who has recently shown some good form following a broken wrist injury early on in the season, is excited at the prospect of joining a factory Grand Prix race team and it is hoped he will be able to widen his experience with the CAS Honda squad.

Bryan will be boarding the CAS Honda CRF450R for the first time today at the Mallory Park press day in the build up to the Grand Prix of Great Britain, which marks round seven of the 15-event World Championship series. The Scottish rider is expected to take some time to settle into the team, and he will definitely be representing the factory squad for the next few Grand Prix races.

Bryan is certainly a highly motivated individual, and CAS Honda is looking forward to working with him alongside the unlikely pairing of his cousin, Billy. The team's next outing is its all-important home race next weekend at Mallory Park where Bryan will make his official race debut for the CAS Honda outfit.

Bryan Mackenzie #121

"Earlier this week I was offered an opportunity of a lifetime to represent CAS Honda in the World and British Championship. I am nervous but very excited about the prospect of riding for such a high profile team at Grand Prix level. All riders work exceptionally hard with the aim of reaching a standard where they can compete in the World Championship and for me this chance comes as a reward for all of that hard work. On the other hand I am also sad to be leaving the Moto Twisted 7 Honda team and my long-term mechanic, BC mid season. I feel that is was the efforts of myself, the team and my mechanic that have helped me improve and shaped me into the rider I am today, which has led to the opportunity from CAS Honda. I cannot thank them, and all the sponsors that have supported Twisted 7 throughout the last five years enough to help me get to this point in my career. I really hope they can be open minded enough to appreciate the extent of the opportunity that I have been given and understand my decision to give this a shot. Obviously the Moto Twisted 7 team has been growing in stature each year with the aim to even become a GP team in their own right and who knows, maybe one day I’ll be racing GP with them, but this is an opportunity that doesn’t come along very often and it’s one I’ve always worked towards. I am really looking forward to working with CAS Honda and I will be training incredibly hard both on and off the track to reward them and Twisted 7 for giving me this chance."

Neil Prince: CAS Honda Team Manager

"While Bryan may not be the obvious choice for us to bring into the team, there are many reasons for our decision. We have approached a few different riders in the last week, and due to many conflicts of interests with contracts already in place, it has been difficult to find someone suitable to step into Cedric's shoes to race with us in the World Championship. We are also conscious of taking a rider from the already reduced rider line-up in the MX1 field and Bryan is a Honda rider with experience of the CRF450R, which makes him an ideal candidate to join CAS Honda. Bryan is a very motivated individual and this opportunity will give him the chance to have the full backing of an established race set-up in the World Championship. He will definitely be competing in the next few Grand Prix's, and I am sure he will be able to widen his experience with our support. I would also like to thank the Moto Twisted 7 Honda team  for allowing Bryan the opportunity to race with us."

CAS Honda would like to thank Moto Twisted 7 Honda and its associates for allowing this agreement to go ahead.