HOLESHOT KING MACKENZIE SEVENTH OVERALL IN LYNG

Posted by Ray | 14 July 2009 | Comment

CAS Honda’s Bryan Mackenzie made further steps forward at Lyng today after achieving his best ever qualifying result and holeshotting both British MX1 Championship races to finish in seventh place overall.

Following a career-best top-ten finish at Grand Prix level in Sweden last weekend, Mackenzie was eager to continue his run of good form at round five of the domestic series today in Lyng, Norwich.

The 24-year-old soon found a good rhythm aboard his CRF450R by heading the field in the timed session until the dying moments, when he was just pipped for pole by Tom Church, although second place on the gate certainly left him in good stead ahead of this afternoon’s races.

Image by Ray Chuss

In race one Mackenzie didn’t get the best of starts and was lying fifth in the opening stages before a rider crashed at the narrow first turn of the track, causing the race to be red flagged.

Mackenzie certainly took advantage of the restart by gating well and putting the hammer down aboard his CRF450R to take the holeshot and the race lead for the first few laps of the moto.

With pressure from the chasing pack, a mistake cost Mackenzie dearly on lap six of the 30-minute plus two-lap race, when he crashed at the first turn and remounted in fifth position, before colliding with another rider and restarting in ninth place, where he remained until the chequered flag.

In race two a frustrated Mackenzie was looking to make amends and shot off the start to the front of the pack again, clinching the holeshot award ahead of championship leader, Brad Anderson.

Anderson managed to push his way past the CAS Honda pilot to take the race lead before the end of the first lap with Mackenzie holding onto a strong second place in the opening part of the race.

Mackenzie slipped back to fourth place mid-race at the sandy Norwich track, but despite stalling the bike in the closing stages, the CAS Honda pilot managed to cross the line in eighth place to finish in a solid seventh position overall.

Bryan Mackenzie #121: Race One: 9th Race Two: 8th
“I was feeling confident coming here because things have been going so well for us recently. In qualifying I was pole right until the end of the session, but second is definitely the best I’ve ever qualified, so I was pumped with that. I got a great start in the first race and I led for six laps, but then I started to get a bit of pump up and it was the first time I’ve been leading a race in a long time, as well as the first time I’ve led a British Championship race, so I tightened up and made a bit of a mistake. I got back on in fifth, then came together with another rider, lost a few places and finished ninth after battling with really bad arm pump until the end. In race two I got the holeshot again before Brad came by with an interesting move. I was comfortable in second, then made one little mistake, dropped back to fourth and was in there for a bit, before I stalled the bike and lost a few more places. I guess I’m frustrated as I made a lot of silly mistakes today but there are definitely more positives from today, and I just need it to come together a bit better for these races. Hopefully we can improve this for Foxhill’s as I had high expectations coming here, so I can’t help feeling a bit disappointed. We’ve had some good results at the GP’s and the bike is working well so I’m really determined for more strong finishes.”

Neil Prince: CAS Honda Team Manager
“Overall Bryan did a good job today. I think that’s his best ever qualifying result and over the last few weeks we’ve seen a huge improvement in his one-off fast laps. He has obviously mastered the starts aboard our bike, although he did panic a little when leading the race today, which is a little to be expected. I know he will be hard on himself about the results, and he needs to concentrate on not making silly mistakes, as he obviously has the speed to run further up the field in these races. The progression Bryan has made in the last month has been huge at both Grand Prix and British Championship level and we all need to look at just how big his learning curve has been. I hope we can continue with this development, and although it takes time, I can see we’re making further steps forward at every race – I can’t ask for any more than that.”

Tags: anderson, british, cas, church, gp, honda, king, lyng, mackenzie, sweden