Tarran Mackenzie became the fourth different race winner of the 2021 Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch this afternoon as the McAMS Yamaha rider held off the challenge from his rivals in the opening race of the weekend.
Mackenzie fired the McAMS Yamaha off the pole position to take the lead in the 12-lap restarted race, ahead of Bradley Ray and Christian Iddon with Danny Buchan fourth, ahead of Tommy Bridewell, who didn’t get the launch he wanted off the line, in fifth.
Iddon was pushing hard in his quest to extend his advantage at the top of the times and by the end of lap two, he had moved into second. Bridewell was also cutting his way through the pack after his poor start and he was shadowing Iddon by the fourth before making a decisive move at Surtees to move into second position.
Bridewell then chased Mackenzie, but the McAMS Yamaha rider just had the edge to the chequered flag with the Oxford Products Racing Ducati rider forced to settle for second. Iddon was able to claim the final podium position though to extend his advantage over Jason O’Halloran in the standings.
Buchan was in the fight for the podium positions but he just missed out for SYNETIQ BMW in fourth place, however just behind him, O’Halloran had delivered a heroic effort to move up the order from his sixth row grid start to finish in the top five.
Lee Jackson led the FS-3 Kawasaki team charge in sixth place, pushing Ray back into seventh on the Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW. Rory Skinner held on to eighth place after a tough race from his front row starting position to finish ahead of defending champion Josh Brookes.
Danny Kent completed the top ten for Buildbase Suzuki, nudging Glenn Irwin into eleventh for Honda Racing.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch, BikeSocial Race 1 result:
- Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha)
- Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) +0.225s
- Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) +1.802s
- Danny Buchan (SYNETIQ BMW) +3.589s
- Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) +6.838s
- Lee Jackson (FS-3 Kawasaki) +7.036s
- Bradley Ray (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) +8.664s
- Rory Skinner (FS-3 Kawasaki) +10.447s
- Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) +13.494s
- Danny Kent (Buildbase Suzuki) +13.856s
Bennetts British Superbike Championship standings after Brands Hatch Race 1:
- Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) 127
- Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 116
- Danny Buchan (SYNETIQ BMW) 104
- Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) 101
- Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) 80
- Rory Skinner (FS-3 Kawasaki) 69
- Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) 57
- Lee Jackson (FS-3 Kawasaki) 56
Tarran Mackenzie – McAMS Yamaha
BikeSocial Race 1 winner
“I felt strong from the previous run so I knew if I could get a good start and ride my own race I could set my own pace. In the first start I kind of gapped them a little bit so I don’t know why but I had in my head that I was going to do that again.
“I kept coming ’round and my board was ‘plus zero, plus zero, plus zero’, and at one point it was plus .3 with Tommy, but then it came straight back down again. It was a strange race because it was so short, you just kind of think ‘I’m going to go balls out for 12 laps’.
“It was intense, the gap didn’t increase at all so I had to keep my concentration as high as possible and make sure I was as consistent as possible, which I think I was. I got a little bit of breathing room on the last couple of laps there, but I didn’t let up – came across the line to get my first win of the year.
“I’m really happy – flag to flag from pole position, I couldn’t ask for much more. I hope we can get two more podiums tomorrow.”
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