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World MX1 Championship Round 11 – Uddevalla, Sweden
Sunday, 5 July 2009
MACKENZIE STORMS TO 10TH OVERALL IN SWEDEN
World MX1 Championship Round 11 – Uddevalla, Sweden
CAS Honda’s Bryan Mackenzie scorched to another career-best performance today with 10th overall in Uddevalla, Sweden for round 11 of the FIM World MX1 Championship.
In yesterday’s practice and qualifying Mackenzie soon dialled in his CRF450R and scored his highest ever starting gate position at Grand Prix level. The 24-year-old didn’t get the best of starts to the 20-minute plus two lap qualifying race, but worked hard throughout to finish 11th in the blistering heat at the Swedish track.
In the first race of today, Mackenzie impressively stormed out of the start gate to take second position at turn one. The Scottish rider completed the first lap in sixth and soon settled into a rhythm, riding hard and consistent laps in the opening part of the 35-minute plus two lap moto.
By lap seven Mackenzie was in 9th place and under attack from a gaggle of riders, but the CAS Honda pilot kept his cool, despite losing a place to Gregory Aranda on lap 12, to stretch a small lead over the chasing pack. In the closing stages, having had no rest time from the start of the race, Mackenzie fended off Manuel Priem and Carlos Campano by maintaining his advantage to cross the line in a career-best 10th position.
The second moto wasn’t so fruitful for Mackenzie, who once again got another great start into second place before being pushed wide by Max Nagl. The CAS Honda rider struggled to find a good rhythm and lost a lot of time early on in the race aboard his CRF450R.
By lap three Mackenzie was battling to hold onto 14th place, but upped his pace mid-race and lap-by-lap was reeling in Tom Church who was some distance ahead. Despite closing the gap to within fighting distance, a final lap error on Mackenzie’s behalf meant that he was unable to take another position, but crossed the line in 14th place to secure another personal best in 10th position overall.
Bryan Mackenzie #121: Race One: 10th Race Two: 14th
“Yesterday’s practice and qualifying was definitely the best ever for me and this helped a lot for today. In the qualifying race I didn’t get the greatest of starts, but somehow managed to get up with some of the faster guys early on and I just tried every lap. It was very hot and the fitness got me through to the end, which was my best qualifying result in 11th. Today was good too. I got a really good start to race one aboard my CRF450R and settled in with the leaders with a good pace in about sixth position. I found my rhythm early on, and had to battle really hard to the flag, pushing the whole way to finish in 10th. In race two I actually got a better start, but then one of the other riders came right across me and nearly cleaned me out, so I dropped back quite a bit. I just struggled to find my lines, never really settled in and this cost a lot of time in the first few laps. I was trying really hard and mid-race I upped my pace to catch some of the guys ahead but I think I was maybe trying a bit too hard and crashed on the last lap, which was very disappointing. I’m pleased with 10th overall though and the improvements we’ve made in recent races, so I’m really looking forward to Lommel now, particularly as I like tracks that rough up. We’ve got a bit of time off over the next few weeks and I’m going back home to Scotland, which is going to be great, as I’ve not had any time there for nearly two months, which will give me time to look at how we can improve things before the next race.”
Neil Prince: CAS Honda Team Manager
“We’ve seen another improved performance from Bryan this weekend, and he’s upped his game once again. He achieved his best ever results throughout practice and qualifying yesterday, which shows how well he’s come on in the last few weeks. His starts are definitely helping him a lot, and he’s also managed to get to grips with finding a good pace from the beginning of the weekend. In race one he got a good start and fought hard for the whole race. He was riding well and managed to stay strong until the end to finish in 10th. Unfortunately his second race performance let him down a little. He got a good start, but wasn’t riding the same as in the first heat and he seemed to struggle to find any sort of rhythm. 10th overall is good for him and hopefully we can build on this weekend so that he can put in two strong motos on raceday. We have a few weeks off now after a busy race schedule in the last month, which will give us some time to look at how we can improve things further, although I am pleased with the progress we’ve made so far.”
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