After his huge crash in the second race at the British GP we caught up with former British champ – and DBR columnist – Billy MacKenzie to see how he’s getting on. Over to you Billiam…
“The crash was very unfortunate. I had already put myself in that position by having a bad start, I had problems over the gate and was at the very tail end going into the first corner. I had a lot of work to do but I was really up for making it happen after having a solid result in the first race. I felt I was riding awesome – I passed a lot of people and was up to eighth place by the first 10 minutes.
“I had passed Leok and was working on seventh place. Leok snuck round the inside of me before the quadruple up the hill – it was an easy jump to clear and on the run up I fully expected Tanel would clear it. I think he must have decided at the last second to jump the triple and I had already committed to the quad.
“I was in the air when I realised Tanel had tripled and I was just hoping he would have sprinted out from under me as I was coming down to land! But he over-jumped the triple a little which killed his speed it seems and I landed right on the rear of his bike. We both went down hard and I hit my head and was knocked unconscious. I had no other injuries which was incredibly lucky, not even a scratch on me apart from a black eye! I hope Tanel is okay.
“I feel it was just one of those racing incidents – looking back at the tape there was not much either of us could have done. I don’t like to hesitate on the track so once I had committed I couldn’t pull out.
“It was great to see everyone again, there were so many faces I hadn’t seen for years – it was great to be back, the atmosphere was electric, the track was brilliant and the racing was close. The fans were awesome – it was great to feel so important again! I really missed the British fans and it seems they missed me a little!
“I wanna say thanks to everyone who made that race possible from the organisers right down to the last toddler fan – without everyone in a combined effort it wouldn’t have been as special as it was. I also wanna say thanks to all my crew who helped me get over there and to everyone who supported me.
“So thanks to Monster Australia Kawasaki for supporting my efforts, Steve James and the LPE Kawasaki team for providing such a great relaxed set-up at the track, Steve Guttridge for micro managing everything, my dad, my girlfriend Harriet, all my friends and family, Stevie, Bryan, Dean, Calum.
“Then there’s my old mechanic Paul Teasdale for doing a fantastic job on the bike and Jason Dougan and his father Dave for the training build up. And not forgetting Keith Amor, Craig Elwell, Ash Kane, Jamie Dobb, BC and Jeff Perrett – all those names together helped me get prepared and organised at the race and I couldn’t have done it without any of them. And to all the fans and all my old friends who I had the chance to catch up with – they made my trip a fun time.”
