BSB Silverstone Race 2: Mackenzie makes amends with race win

Tarran Mackenzie made up for the disappointment of race one by securing victory in the second Bennetts British Superbike race at Silverstone. Onboard the McAMS Yamaha R1 the 23 year old controlled the pace to secure victory to move to joint first in the championship standings.

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Speaking after race two, Mackenzie said: “I just had to forget about what happened in race one. I got penalised and I had to take that on the chin. It gave me a lot of motivation for race two, I never get angry, but I so wanted to win. I saw Jason (O’Halloran) broke down which was unfortunate for him and Reading was out so I knew I had to win this one. To get my first proper win – well I’m definitely smiling.”

His Yamaha team-mate Jason O’Halloran, who looked like the man to beat all weekend, left round one with zero points following his collision with Mackenzie and subsequent crash in race one and then an engine problem in race two.

OMG Racing Suzuki rider Josh Elliott stunned the paddock once again by backing up his brilliant race one win with another race spent fighting for top honours alongside Mackenzie. Absolutely no one expected the 24 year old to be running at the sharp end, except Elliott himself who looked composed and like he truly belonged.

He said: “It’s incredible. It was tough as the tyre was going off. When Tarran came past I tried to hang on to him and make a move in the last laps, but his pace was just too strong. It’s been an unbelievable weekend, I have no words.”

Another man who impressed was FS-3 Kawasaki rider Danny Buchan who after a tough race one bounced back into contention with a fine third place ahead of top Ducati man Tommy Bridewell in fourth.

Buchan said: “It’s been a hard weekend. We’ve worked through a lot this winter and the team have thrown so much money at it. We’ve got a bike that can win races. In race one I made some mistakes so to do this in race two is good. We couldn’t get in the top ten at this track last year so to start the championship like this is good. It feels like a win.”

With Bridewell fourth, Luke Stapleford showed his credentials with a brilliant fifth place finish onboard his Buildbase Suzuki. Luke Mossey claimed sixth making it three Suzuki’s in the top six.

It was a disastrous race for the Be Wiser Ducati team with Scott Redding crashing out of the race after a collision with Honda’s Andrew Irwin. Irwin was penalised for his part in the clash and had to ride through the long lap penalty lane, but he recovered to finish seventh.

Josh Brookes suffered his second DNF of the day and his second engine failure of the weekend to go with his race one electrical fault.

Silverstone Race 2 results:

 

1. Tarran Mackenzie       McAMS Yamaha                     30:43.837
2. Josh Elliott                  OMG Racing Suzuki                 +0.635
3. Danny Buchan             FS-3 Racing Kawasaki             +1.004
4. Tommy Bridewell       Oxford Racing Ducati              +2.257
5. Luke Stapleford           Buildbase Suzuki                     +3.944
6. Luke Mossey               OMG Racing Suzuki                 +4.813
7. Andrew Irwin              Honda Racing                         +7.368
8. Xavi Fores                   Honda Racing                         +7.587
9. Dan Linfoot                 Santander Salt TAG Yamaha  +7.815

10.  Bradley Ray                 Buildbase Suzuki                     +7.987