MacKenzie and Searle lead the charge as the series visits Northern Ireland
June 14, 2007
Round five of the 2007 Maxxis ACU British Motocross championship will take place on Saturday 23rd June at the fantastic Desertmartin circuit in Northern Ireland, which hosted a Grand Prix less than twelve months ago. The compact and highly spectacular track has benefited from a whole host of changes in more recent years, and in doing so has become one of the most popular venues for many of the riders.
Billy MacKenzie – De Groot Kawasaki will lead the MX1 title assault as the action shifts to the far side of the Irish Sea just at the point where the championship moves past its halfway stage. MacKenzie along with the other many GP runners who contest the British series will be at the busiest point of their season, with Desertmartin being the third stop on a four-week consecutive tour that will include no less than three Grand Prix, plus one domestic outing.
Billy is currently Britain’s highest placed MX1 runner on the World stage, however the feel good factor from his recent GP win in Japan was short lived, with the shocking and sad loss of his team boss Jan De Groot just a week later. Twelve months ago MacKenzie was runner up to Carl Nunn in the first MX2 race at Desertmartin, but he will be looking for a better showing this time around with last year’s MX1 winner Josh Coppins now out of the picture.
The usual crop of chasing talent is sure to include 2006 champion Ken De Dycker – CAS Honda, Brad Anderson – Pioneer Yamaha, James Noble – Multitek Honda and local hero Gordon Crockard – PAR Honda. Crockard will be hoping the luck of the Irish is with him on home soil to make amends for the cruel luck he suffered at the last round when his chain broke whilst holding a podium place in the first MX1 moto.
Carl Nunn – Bike It Yamaha was the dominant force in the MX2 category at Desertmartin in June 2006, with back to back race wins earning him the overall victory on the day ahead of Tommy Searle – KTM UK who placed 3 -2 over the two motos. Twelve months on and Nunn is still getting back to form after having suffered a nasty back injury at a pre season international meeting. In contrast Searle has become the man to beat in this class, with consistent and mature results for his domestic season to date.
The trip to Ireland will see Searle continue his year long battle with Gareth Swanepoel – Molson Kawasaki, with the two youngsters enjoying fierce fights with each other both on the British and World stages. Searle’s advantage over Swanepoel is only slight in both cases, leaving the KTM runner in no doubt that rivalry is set to last right through to the final moto in the two different championships.
Far from being a two horse race for the MX2 title, Mike Brown – CAS Honda heads up a large team of challengers, that includes Sean Hamblin – Swift Suzuki, Tom Church – Molson – Kawasaki and Elliot Brown-Banks – Swift Suzuki who just could make things difficult for the leading duo at Desertmartin.
The action will get underway at 9.30am with qualifying for the MX2 contenders, followed by an autograph session with all the top riders in both classes at 11.40am. The first support race will be at 12.30pm, whilst the championship races kick off at 1.05pm, with the first MX2 clash. For more information about this round and the rest of the series, please visit the official championship website www.mxgb.co.uk
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