CAS boys fight for their fans at their home GP

This was the biggest event of the year so far for the CAS race team, our home GP at the newly built track at Mallory Park. A crowd of around 40,000 were reported to be at this event and conditions were perfect.

Billy MacKenzie and Mike Brown with hopes high rode out for qualification on Saturday afternoon. This proved to be slightly disappointing with Billy qualifying in 13th and Mike in 17th, however as we all know it is race day that counts!

As the gate dropped for the first race Billy got a cracking start inside the top 6, but Mike was further back. A second corner crash wiped out a couple of riders temporarily, and by the end of lap 1 Billy had got himself into 2nd position, with Barragan leading. All was good until the third lap when Billy got crossed up in a rut and hit the deck, while he was remounting the leading pack passed and he found himself down in 11th place with much work to do. Mike was now right behind him in 12th. With the top competitors running very similar lap times it was difficult for Billy to make any progress and he finally passed the finishing flag in 10th spot. Mike finished in 16th.

Billy got yet another great start in Race 2 sitting comfortably for the first few laps in 5th place, Mike started mid pack and fought his way to 10th. The home crowd pushed both riders on all race, and helped Billy through to 4th where he passed the chequered flag after a fantastic ride. Mike completed the race in 9th, an improvement on his first race.

Overall on the day Billy was 6th and had also closed the gap on Josh Coppins in the Championship to date.

Billy MacKenzie said “the first race was not great for me, I was more than comfortable behind Barragan but maybe I was a little too relaxed and crashed. It took me a while to get going and then I had to push so hard after that I went down again. The second race was much better, I had studied the track and was well prepared, the bike was perfect and the fans really made a difference”.

A slightly disappointed Mike Brown said “my start in the first race was not so good but I managed to pass quite a few riders. I couldn’t find a way past Aigar Leok and started to suffer with arm pump. The second race I got a decent start and rode a much better race, we made some alterations on the suspension and I think it made a difference”.

Team Manager Neil Prince was lifted by the performance of both riders in their second race and is positive that results can improve. Billy was the strongest Honda rider in MX1 at this event which is great.

By: Cas Honda PR