Death or Glory!
Published: 17th April 2007
Author: Words by Billy MacKenzie Photo by Sutty
After his first race ninth at Valkenswaard, Billy abandons the cautious approach and reverts to win-in-or-bin-it mode - can you guess what happens next?
These columns come around so fast. It seems like only a couple of days before another SMS arrives from Mr Lawless nagging for my latest thoughts. Well, the season has started and it would make more sense to chat about my first MX1 GP with Kawasaki at Valkenswaard as that was the big event of the last few weeks in between a couple of British rounds that went okay but nothing special (and I should have won at least one of them).
Anyway, the build up to my debut as a full-time MX1 rider (I had made a couple of races in the class back in 2004 on the Yamaha) started with a trip to Lommel and some testing in the sand. I would be spending a week in the camper so I stocked up and also invented a cheap solution to prevent getting robbed again by strapping some bungees to the inside of the door and then the side of the fridge.
I was testing on Tuesday and then just riding on Wednesday in Belgium and it was the best thing I could have done because I was lacking some time in the sand since I had broken my collarbone. I followed the Motovision team over as they were letting me stay outside their apartment. It was very relaxed because you cannot get out on the tracks until after 1pm over there so each day started off quite chilled.
I was more nervous than I had been for a while at the GP. Everything was affecting me - the new team, new class, new stage of my career. Before the race I was fine but on the day and the hours leading up to it I had butterflies in my stomach and I had to go to the loo 10 times before the race! I had made a plan with myself that I wanted two top-10 finishes to start me off and that was what I was aiming for.
As I'm on the factory team and have been talked about in the media during the pre-season I feel a bit more like I 'belong' in the paddock now, like I was part of the top group. It was different to how I was used to with Steve in the little Yamaha clique. It felt like everything had opened up. Journalists were saying hello and it seemed like I spent the whole weekend acknowledging most of the paddock instead of mainly keeping myself to myself like I had before.
In my first moto as a works Kawasaki rider I felt like the pace was really good and quite easy. I was itching to attack the track but the thing with MX1 is that you have to keep your rhythm and can't go at things in fits and starts like in MX2 so that first moto was all about finding that balance.
I was ninth in the first moto but I wasn't happy with it because I lost a couple of positions on the last lap. I got it in the ear from my dad and my mechanic. "What happened? You died off in the last 25 minutes," they were saying and questioning my fitness and my race pace. I felt like saying "guys, chill out". It made me wanna get out and prove them wrong, like I seem to have to do many times. I suppose it is part and parcel of having your dad there and people behind you and wanting you to do well.
For my part I felt like I was fully prepared. Just because I had slowed down a little bit in the first race there were all these questions so my plan of going for two top 10s and some points on the board went out the window for the next race and I was back to win-it-or-bin-it style and wanting to prove that I could run the pace and stay up there with the others. I was doing it and going for sixth place but inevitably it ended up in a crash! They were all happy then after the second moto, despite the fact that I didn't score points! It was a bit bizarre. I knew I had the speed and ended up showing it in a roundabout way.
Leok and Philippaerts didn't have great days and I took some confidence from running in the top five for long parts of the first moto and then pushing for the top six in the second race. The most frustrating part of the weekend was the crash. It was pretty stupid and the ground gave way as I came out the rut and went for the final double through the whoops. I was tired like everyone but once you crash and break your rhythm you realise just how knackered you are. I picked the bike up and because I was in the middle of the whoops it was hard to get it into position so I could get full leverage on the kick, especially with aching shoulders! I had to move it a couple of times and was really p****d off. I was begging the bike to fire but it seemed to take forever.
I'm definitely looking forward to Bellpuig. I can't wait to get there. After my result in Holland I suppose it is easy to look and think 'typical MacKenzie, a finish and a DNF' but I know with all the training I have done and being around the team that I can be up on the podium in the next couple of races.
My website is now looking quite trick and there is a new video section. We have a good one of us camping out and riding in Scotland. It was made just before Canada Heights. My brother and I, my cousin Bryan and an Aussie kid called Hayden went up to the north of Scotland for a few days to the track where I broke my collarbone. We took all the equipment, including the cameras, made a bonfire and got some training done. Hayden is pretty switched-on when it comes to making videos and he uploaded what he had edited to YouTube. They all found it quite funny that I was working on my own bike because they thought I didn't really know what I was doing - you can judge for yourself!