CDR Yamaha team owner Craig Dack is positive new recruit Billy Mackenzie will shine in his GP return. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

CDR Yamaha’s Craig Dack has top 10 expectations for Billy Mackenzie as he prepares to make a return to the FIM Motocross World Championship this weekend.

With the Monster Energy MX Nationals series on hold for six weeks, Mackenzie will take the opportunity to fill-in for injured Monster Energy Yamaha MX1 contender Steven Frossard at the Italian Maggiora circuit.

Having a long-standing and healthy relationship with the European factory Yamaha crew, Dack received the call for help and feels that this is the perfect opportunity for the CDR Yamaha rider.

“We’ve had a long and respectful relationship with Rinaldi, the Yamaha factory team in Europe,” Dack told MotoOnline.com.au. “We got a call from them just around the Conondale round time because of Frossard’s injury.

“Over there they have the amount of riders they enter for the championship and they have to make sure they have that amount of riders at each race, otherwise there are penalties.

“So the timing sort of worked well with Billy, because they needed a rider and we have this six-week break now.”

Currently sitting third overall in the MX Nationals MX1 standings, Dack is certain this GP trip will allow him to continue building confidence aboard the YZ450F in race trim.

“I feel that Billy is still not in his stride yet, it’s taken him a little bit longer than expected to gel with the team and everybody,” Dack explained.

“So I think that the best thing for Billy at the moment is to keep riding and keep trying to work through and get to his best. So it sort of worked in well for us.”

Due to minimal testing time, it is expected that Mackenzie will run a similar setup to his Australian YZ450F with hopes that he will land a solid top 10 finish.

“Expectation wise, it’s going to be tough for him. He’s been out of the grand prix at that high level for around four years now,” he added. “They’re halfway into their championship, so they’re all really on the pace now.

“I think a top 10 finish would be great, but whether we can achieve that I’m not sure. With all things being equal I believe he could be a top 10 guy, but anywhere around there I’d be happy with.”