Kawasaki Racing Team have completed their motocross line-up for 2007

Billy MacKenzie will ride for the Dutch based factory team of Jan De Groot. © Massimo Zanzani. Kawasaki Racing Team have completed their motocross line-up for the 2007 FIM MX1 World Championships with the signing of twenty year old Billy MacKenzie who has agreed terms for a one year deal, riding for the Dutch based factory team of Jan De Groot.

Mackenzie - a double Japanese Grand Prix winner and podium contender this year in MX2 World Championship - will race along side his new team mate, the experienced Kawasaki rider Tanel Leok in the MX1 Class onboard a KX450F-SR machine. The likeable young Scot has produced some memorable races earlier in the year and climbed onto the podium on several occasions, as he did in Japan he has set his sights high for the forthcoming seasons where he sees himself benefiting from the wealth of experience on offer from new Team Manager Jan De Groot.

Jan De Groot: “There are a lot of riders wanting to move up to the MX1 class where we have a very strong commitment. Billy MacKenzie is a talented rider who as a double Japanese Grand Prix winner and been on the podium several times this year and one who I see rides with his heart. He is strong and confident but knows himself that he needs to improve on consistency, he is maturing and with a past reputation with Kawasaki I am confident that we can work very well together. Both Tanel and Billy are self motivating people that MX1 Championship has lost some familiar faces for 2007 and it is basically anyone's championship, from our riders, our technical staff and myself we will be working very hard to ensure that we have the best possibility of winning the world championship title for Kawasaki.”

The MX1 class for 2007 will be one of the most open competitions on record with the retirement announcement of Stefan Everts. Young and motivated riders like Tanel Leok and Billy MacKenzie hope that they too can carry off the top world honours like Everts who was once groomed by their team manager.

Billy MacKenzie: “I'm so excited about joining the Kawasaki Racing Team! Being a factory rider is something I have thought about a lot and it was Kawasaki's commitment to motocross and its development that was a huge part of making this decision. I think most MX2 riders' thoughts about the MX1 class are that it's a little easier in some ways because you don't have to push the bike so hard but with the amount of new riders going to the class for 2007 it is absolutely going to be the premium class and one of the best World Championships in a while. I know my weaknesses but I am confident in my size, strength and ability that I can make a good shout for the top three of the Championship on the KX450F-SR. My consistency has let me down in the past but I am sure that Jan can start to bring out the best in me once we start working together."

MacKenzie has represented his country at the Motocross of Nations and has been reselected for the forthcoming event to be staged in England at the end of September. Stepping up for the MX1 challenge, ‘Mac' as he is known will replace Stephen Sword in the KRT squad, but twenty six year old Stephen Sword, a regular in the Kawasaki Racing Team for the past three seasons will continue to ride under the Kawasaki banner switching teams and classes for 2007.

Stephen Sword: “All my confidence and achievements have been in MX2. I am immediately quite confident in myself moving back to the 250 class where I know I have the speed and if I can get myself up to 100% and prepare myself well then I can win. I will have good people around to push me in that direction I am pleased to be in the Molson line up, I was with the team back when it was MJ Church Kawasaki at the start, it was good then and they took me up a level as a rider. I think they have improved to the point where they are now one of the best teams in the paddock, their structure and way to work is very professional and I believe they have all the attributes to be able to win a World Championship.”

Sword a former multi national British Champion won the Dutch Championship in 2005 for De Groot, and he will now complete in the MX2 FIM World and domestic British Championships next season for Molson Kawasaki Racing.

Kawasaki have also concluded an impressive deal which will again strengthen their presence in World Motocross with the re-signing of two of France's leading talents. In the MX2 class, current championship leader Christophe Pourcel of the GPKR Team has agreed a three year deal which will see the sensational French teenager racing in both Europe and America, firstly in the grand prix series for one year before moving to the USA for an assault at the AMA Supercross and Outdoor National Series. Elder brother Sébastien Pourcel will also continue to compete for Kawasaki through the GPKR Team but with a new challenge switching categories and moving up into the MX1 class aboard a KX450F ride, while sixteen year old Gregory Aranda will round of the team's efforts in the MX2 and French domestic championship.

Riding under the livery of the GPKR Team in 2007 will also be Women's World Cup motocross star Livia Lancelot, runner up and third in this years World Cup Championship the eighteen year old is relocated to Belgium to be near to the team and help her prepare and improve by riding and training with the Pourcel brothers.
The Women's World Cup has attracted a lot of media attention and continues to grow in popularity; Kawasaki's Katherine Prumm is the current ladies champion.
(Kawasaki Racing)

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