Mackenzie and Brown spend time in Bonny Scotland
March 30, 2008
CAS Honda is ready to race at the inaugural 2008 World Motocross Grand Prix at Valkenswaard, Holland next weekend following the completion of a series of successful tests.
Riders Billy Mackenzie and Mike Brown have visited various Scottish tracks in the last week to refine the set-up of their CRF450R's and they carried out evaluations of different KYB suspension options and engine components supplied by Honda.
23-year-old Scottish rider Mackenzie embarks on his first year with the Honda-backed squad and is hungry for success, particularly after winning the opening four moto's in the '08 British MX1 Championship. His pace and comfort aboard the machine are obvious and over the past week his focus has been on optimising his suspension set-up in order to prepare for the first of fifteen Grand Prix races this year.
Teammate Brown had a superb start to the season, taking victory in the UK winter Supercross series, but so far this success has not been transferred to the outdoors aboard his CRF250R. Brown has been plagued with problems in the opening two rounds of the British MX2 Championship, which he won last year, but is determined to not let this dampen his spirits. The 35-year-old American is looking forward to boarding the MX1 machine for the World Series and remains optimistic ahead of the season opener.
Billy Mackenzie - #211
"The initial package that CAS Honda had to race with at the beginning of the season was very strong and quite honestly I didn't think it was possible to make the CRF450R any better. However, testing last week near my home in Scotland has proved that we can go even faster and the parts supplied by Honda have given us many positive results. We've done a lot of moto's over race distance to improve the suspension set-up and the machine is feeling superb. The team work incredibly hard and their motivation for success on the World Stage is unquestionable; I want to repay their efforts and I am confident that we can gain good results right from the word go."
Mike Brown – #3
"Testing went well for us last week and it's been good to get some laps in on the big bike. We've found some areas of improvement and we’ve had the chance to evaluate some new parts to refine our set-up for the race. The opening two rounds of the British Championship haven't been as good as I expected but I'm very focused and determined to put that behind me. My fitness is very good and we've done some race simulations during the test sessions, which went very well, so I hope we can achieve some good results in Holland."
CAS Honda Team Manager – Neil Prince
"We have spent the last week evaluating engine components on the CRF450R's as supplied by Honda as well as trying some different suspension options at various tracks in Scotland. We have found areas of improvement and the riders have had track time to optimise their machine set-up ahead of the first World Championship race next weekend. Both riders are incredibly fit and the whole of the CAS Honda team are extremely determined to make a good start in Holland. Billy has made a flying start to the season winning four out of four moto's in the British Championship and his motivation is incredibly high. I am confident that he can continue with this form in the World Series, especially now we have had some dry test time. Mike has suffered with some problems in the opening two British races, but he is very experienced and with a bit of better luck he is more than capable of gaining the results he deserves."
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