It was a tough day at the office for Monster Energy Kawasaki at the eighth round of the Australian Motocross Championship at Moree, NSW, yesterday (Sunday). Although the team were put on the ropes at Moree they are already looking forward to the battle next weekend with both Open riders Billy Mackenzie and Dean Ferris still well and truly in championship winning contention.
Billy finished the day in sixth in the Open class but a DNF and a DNS left Dean in 11th on the day and dropped him from first to third in the series.
Billy’s day got off on the right foot when the Scotsman qualified in third place. A solid fourth in the opening moto got his points haul off to a good start but a crash in the second moto dashed his chances of a podium finish for the day. MacKenzie took away results of 4-20-3-8 for fourth place in the championship, 44 points off the series leader with one weekend of racing to go.
“My main problem was my starts and crashes,” says Billy. “We also took a gamble with a new bike set-up. The engine changes were awesome but I struggled with the suspension changes. We went in a direction that wasn’t right. We took a gamble and it didn’t pay off. I’ll revert back to my previous suspension set-up and come out strong at Coolum. I rode really well at Coolum last year winning four of the six motos. If I can put on a similar show next weekend then I’ll be a serious championship contender at the final round.”
