CAS Honda - Motocross of Nations

Donington Park – 27/28 September 2008

MacKenzie & Team Great Britain miss podium by 1 point

Qualification on Saturday saw Team Great Britain consisting of Billy MacKenzie, Tommy Searle and Shaun Simpson ride well to ensure their country qualified for the 62nd Motocross of Nations at Donington Park.

Billy was in the first heat of the day and came home in 7th place. With Tommy finishing 5th and Shaun 7th in their heats, this took the Team through to the main event the following day.

The hard terrain from a glorious Saturday, was soft and rough for Sunday’s racing.

Billy was out for race 1 (MX1 & MX2) with Tommy Searle and neither rider got the start they had hoped for. Mid race Billy suffered with arm pump and had to take it a little easier to get the Monster Energy backed Honda home, and did just that passing the finishing flag in 6th place with Tommy not far behind in 9th.

Race 2 (MX2 & Open) proved to be another great race and Tommy secured a fantastic 3rd place and Shaun 15th after having to remove his goggles. This put Team Great Britain in a good position going into the 3rd and final race of the day.

Race 3 (MX1 & Open), Billy and Shaun were mid pack on the first lap and both needed to gain places for the Team to have any chance of a top three overall position. Billy took the bull by the horns and with the crowd behind him, went from around 20th position up to 5th by lap 8, an incredible ride from the Scotsman. He even picked off another rider to take him to 4th place. Three laps from the end of the race Billy got into trouble, crashed and couldn’t start the bike, clearly frustrated he finally fired it up but had dropped back to 12th place, with only a short time until the end of the race Billy finished in 11th and Shaun in 13th, 1 point behind the Belgians who took 3rd spot on the podium.

The Americans took the title for the 19th time, with France 2nd and Belgium 3rd.

Billy was absolutely gutted to have not made the podium along with Team Great Britain as they had been so very close.

Results – Race 1 (MX1 & MX2)

1st J Stewart (USA), 2nd S Pourcel (FRA), 3rd D Philippearts (ITA), 4th J Barragan (SPA), 5th J Bill (SUI), 6th B MacKenzie (GB)

Results – Race 2 (MX2 & Open)

1st R Villapoto (USA), 2nd S Ramon (BEL), 3rd T Searle (GB), 4th C Cooper (NZL), 5th A Salvini (ITA), 6th Z Osborne (PUR)

Results – Race 3 (MX1 & Open)

1st S Pourcel (FRA), 2nd T Leok (EST), 3rd M Nagl (GER), 4th K DeDycker (BEL), 5th T Ferry (USA), 6th J Coppins (NZL)

Overall on the Day:

1st USA 26 points, 2nd France 31 points, 3rd Belgium 41 points, 4th Great Britain 42 points

Pictures of Billy from Saturday and Sunday: