Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Billy Mackenzie says yesterday’s victory in the opening round of the 2011 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals came easy for him despite the treacherous conditions.

Mackenzie finished the round with 1-2-3-2 results in a consistent effort, confident he could have won all four motos, but instead focusing on remaining upright and earning himself an 18-point lead in the nine-round series.

“It was quite an easy race. It wasn’t the easiest of conditions but once you found your position you just basically had to stay upright so that’s what I did,” Mackenzie said.

“I just made sure I tried to get a good start every time. I felt good in the first race and won and felt I could’ve won all the races but it’s better not to go too crazy and take home the points and the overall for the day.”

New teammate Dean Ferris finished sixth overall despite a second moto crash, scoring 2-10-5-5 results in his debut aboard the KX450F.

“I lost a lot of points in one moto. I went down in the mud and finished 10th but in spite of that I still salvaged a lot of points,” Ferris said. “It could’ve been a lot worse. The bike was great and it worked well in the mud. We’ll move on to the next round and be positive.”

American import Phil Nicoletti raced to fifth in his Australian debut, a good lot of points as he attempts to iron of any kinks in his program.

“Today was basically me building a foundation,” he explained. “I had no idea what to do down here as far as what to do behind the gate and with all the back-to-back races so I kinda got a routine now.

“We know what to do to my motorcycle and we’ll get everything situated as far as suspension goes. You know we really didn’t have enough time to get stuff properly organised,but the team did an awesome job for the time that they had to get me comfortable. Another three weeks will do wonders.”

Team manager Troy Carroll was pleased with the final outcome of the round, a great way to welcome aboard Monster Energy as the team’s new title sponsor.

“It was a good day, we’re happy,” Carrol said. “Billy came away with a win and he rode great all day. Dean was very unlucky as was Phil but all in all it was a good day. We came away with great points and I’m just really proud of the whole team.

“It was a great effort and we had to work for it but we’ve done it. First round win and we’re going to try and keep going from here.”

Monster Energy Kawasaki now looks forward to the second round of the 2011 Australian Motocross Championship at Appin in NSW on 3 April.