Press Release

Joint Fourth Overall for Mackenzie and Team Great Britain at MXoN Season Finale

Press Release


4th October 2009 – Motocross of Nations – Franciacorta, Italy


CAS Honda’s Billy Mackenzie concluded the 2009 season at the prestigious Motocross of Nations held in Franciacorta, Italy today with two solid results to assist team Great Britain in achieving joint fourth position overall.


In yesterday’s qualifying heat race Mackenzie rocketed out of the gate and shot to the head of the pack aboard his CRF450R. The CAS Honda pilot began to pull away and was looking incredibly strong as he led the ultra-competitive field, just ahead of Australia’s Chad Reed and Belgium’s Clement Desalle.


Mackenzie settled into a rhythm but began to come under attack from newly crowned World MX1 Champion, Antonio Cairoli, who had edged into second place by lap four of the 20-minute plus two-lap moto. The Scottish rider lost out to Cairoli a lap later, before crashing hard on lap 10, which cost him valuable time and forced the 25-year-old to settle for 13th place at the chequered flag. Team Great Britain, which comprised of Mackenzie, Tommy Searle and Shaun Simpson, qualified in fourth position on the gate for today’s races.


In the opening moto of today Mackenzie got a steady start from his outside gate pick to settle into a rhythm just inside the top ten in the MX1 and MX2 joint class. Mackenzie rode a sensible race to bring his CAS Honda home in 11th at the end of the 35-minute plus two-lap moto.


Following the MX2 and Open race, Team Great Britain was lying in fourth position and looking capable of achieving the podium finish.


However, for Mackenzie, along with many other riders, the final race of the day for the MX1 and Open class was certainly an eventful one. Mackenzie got a superb gate and was aiming to clinch the holeshot, when he went down with a plethora of determined riders including Chad Reed and Clement Desalle at the first turn.


Mackenzie remounted into 29th position and fought his way from the back into the top 20 places within the first five laps. The Honda rider found the going tough around the Italian track, but worked through the pack and made a pass for 14th place in the final stages to secure joint fourth position for Great Britain with Germany.


Billy Mackenzie #211 Team Great Britain: Fourth Overall

“Qualifying started off amazingly. I got into my groove, got to the lead and pulled away. Unfortunately I burnt myself out too early because I got a bit excited as it’s the Nations and it’s such a big race. Towards the end I got a bit of arm-pump, made a mistake and had a big crash, so I was way back by the finish. My result wasn’t so great, but Tommy and Shaun put in some good results to get us fourth on the gate. I was pretty steady the whole of the first race today as I didn’t want to do what I did in qualifying and so I brought home an 11th place. It was kind of a non-eventful race for me, I wanted to push harder at times but I knew it was important to be sensible as I wasn’t racing for myself, I was racing for the team. In the second race I was really up for it because I knew there was a chance of a podium. I went for it at the start and I was with a few riders including Desalle and Reed going for the holeshot. It was a case of whoever let off the gas first, which none of us did and we all went down. I had to come from the back of the field, I couldn’t pick my lines and there were a lot of choppy bumps so it was really hard work. I came back to the top 20 and got a couple of riders in the last few laps, as this secured the team joint fourth place with Germany. This event concludes an emotional couple of years for me and it’s been an incredibly tough decision to decide what to do next. I gelled real well with the team from the start and the bike has been amazing throughout both years. We’ve had good results and bad results, we won a British Championship and we’ve led GP’s so it’s sad to be leaving and believe me it’s been a difficult decision. Harry (Ainsworth) and Neil (Prince) have been great all along and my mechanic Teasy (Paul Teasdale) has always worked really hard, so it’s a bit gutting to be going, but I feel I need to go away and regroup, and who knows what may happen. I’d like to thank everyone for their support and if there was any team I wanted to come back and work with in the future it would certainly for CAS.”


Neil Prince: CAS Honda Team Manager

“Today concludes 2009 for CAS Honda as well as working with Billy over the last two years in which we’ve achieved a British Championship win, led races at Grand Prix level and I’m sure he would agree we’ve had many challenging times together. In qualifying he was trying hard; he led the race for quite a few laps but had a huge crash towards the end, which left him a bit battered and bruised. In race one today he rode sensibly after a steady gate to achieve 11th, but with the chance of a podium with a good race two result, he was keen to do well. He got a good gate, but following a big crash involving a lot of riders on the start-line, he went down with a few other riders at the first turn leaving him almost last. Billy rode through the pack, and realised he needed a few more places in the last few laps to help the team move up to a very credible fourth place. Although the racing season is now over, there is still an awful lot of work for CAS Honda in the next few weeks. Our focus will be very much on next year and we have almost confirmed our plans, which are exciting and a new start for us in 2010. This has taken a little longer than expected, but we look forward to announcing exactly what CAS Honda will be doing in the near future. Finally, I’d like to thank all of our sponsors, especially Honda, Monster Energy and Fox Racing, for all of their support this season.”

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