CDR Yamaha’s Craig Dack is an icon of Australian Motocross, and in 2013, the legendary Victorian-based team is using its 20 years of Motocross and Supercross experience to form an Off-Road arm.

Already that success has been clear, with Daniel Milner winning the recent Australian Four-Day Enduro and currently leading the Australian Off-Road Championship Outright and in E1.

Coupled with that, the defending five-time MX Nationals champion team won last month’s Hervey Bay round of the series in a breakthrough performance for new signing Billy Mackenzie.

MotoOnline.com.au recently debriefed the first six months of the season with Dack in today’s Industry Insight.

Craig Dack’s CDR Yamaha team celebrates the A4DE win on debut with Daniel Milner. Image: FourOhFour.

It’s the first year running both the Motocross and Off-Road teams. Half-way through the year, how is it all panning out for you?

It’s been an extremely busy year for us. Particularly the Off-Road team, and getting that up and running so quickly in such short notice. We didn’t pull that trigger until late last year so we had to do a lot of stuff to get ready for that. We also had to move workshops. We had two new riders coming on for Off-Road, and then another with [Billy] Mackenzie coming on for Motocross, so there was a lot to do in getting our testing and everything done.

The good thing was we had to do a lot with the WR450F, which we hadn’t done before, and then the YZ250F, we had to do a bit with that and we haven’t done a lot of that for a while. At least with the YZ450F it is the fourth year we’ve had that bike so we know it quite well. We’ve had to bring on a couple of extra staff and it’s been an extremely busy eight or nine months, but at the same time it has been quite successful too.

We know you’re at each of the Motocross rounds, have you travelled to the Off-Road events personally as well?

Yes, I’ve been to every Off-Road round, and the reason I’m doing that is, one, I’m enjoying it, and two, I want to get as much information and learn as much as I can. There’s actually a lot more to Off-Road than I ever realised. In terms of logistics and tactics you have to be right on the ball with it all. It’s been pretty hectic!

In terms of Motocross, what is your assessment of Billy Mackenzie and Lawson Bopping, so far?

So far I’m actually disappointed in Lawson’s progress, at the moment. Lawson seems like he has flat-lined a bit this year. Last year we didn’t expect a lot from him but he won the Hervey Bay round and he was on the podium a couple of times and showed some real flashes of brilliance. For his first year in, as a young guy, you couldn’t have asked for a better year.

We’re not expecting him to come out and dominate this year but we’re expecting the progress to continue upwards a little bit and this year, across the first half, hasn’t really reached the point we want it to. In saying that, we’re not writing him off. There’s some way to go and the tracks that are coming up we know he likes. We want to try and help him go to that next level, which we want him to.

Billy’s been great to work with. He’s been a little bit up and down with his results, and it’s probably taken a little bit longer than we, and he, would have liked to settle into the team. He’s certainly got the potential there, but it’s just taken a while for that to happen. We hope we can have a good strong run home.

Billy Mackenzie broke through for CDR Yamaha’s first MX Nationals win of 2013 in Hervey Bay. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

The 2014 YZ450F was recently launched. Is there any chance we could see that bike being raced before the season is out?

Now that we’ve done the launch we’re starting to really test and assess the bike. Because it’s a new model, there’s so many things to think of to bring onto the race program. We’ve had the current bike for four years, and it’s been very highly developed. We’ll assess it and evaluate it more and make our decision from there.

As a result of the MX Nationals’ recent success, we’ve seen lately the likes of Dean Ferris, Todd Waters and even Luke Styke all having an interest in Europe. It seems like these younger guys are all excelling at Motocross and all eyeing the world championships. It’s going to be an interesting progression to watch.

I’m personally really happy to see those guys do it. I’ve been wanting and wishing for years that this would happen. Jeff Leisk did it, I did it, Chad Reed left our team and went there – I think a lot of these guys are setting their targets unrealistically by wanting to to go America first. I really respect those that are thinking of going to Europe first and doing the world championship, and I think they’re very smart. It’s a smart career move.

I’ve said it for a few years, the speed that our guys have got in Motocross is very very fast. You had Brad Anderson come out here, who was a genuine British champion and a top grand prix rider, you had Billy Mackenzie come out here from grand prix three years ago, and was able to qualify fastest there all day long, and he hasn’t won a championship yet. Our guys, in Motocross here, are very very quick. I’m glad to see it, and a lot of it is due to the stability in Motocross. Personally, I’m rapt to see that happening.