Tarran Mackenzie rebounded from Superpole Race “disappointment” to secure his best-ever result in WorldSBK at Phillip Island.

Mackenzie ended up taking fourth, far from the podium but nonetheless a career-best result for the British rider who is now in his third season of WorldSBK.

The result followed on from some disappointment for the MGM Ducati rider in the Superpole Race as he missed the top-nine, but the arrival of rain in the afternoon was quickly recognised as an opportunity for Mackenzie.

“I was a little bit disappointed not to make the top-nine in the Superpole Race, but it was close in a group with Petrucci, Iker [Lecuona], and I can’t remember the other person now [Surra],” Mackenzie said, speaking to WorldSBK.com after Race 2.

“I’ve been struggling from the test, really, and through the weekend with some feeling. 

“We improved a little bit [in Warm Up] but still struggling, so when the rain came I was happy because I thought ‘Now it’s a chance to get a better result’. I feel like my position all weekend has been around 10th, 11th place in the dry, so it would’ve been difficult to improve on that, I think, in the last race. 

“So, with the rain it just gave me an opportunity to get a good result. I was confident on the out-lap and the warm-up lap. 

“I thought ‘This is the first time I’ve ridden this bike in the rain’, and I’d only ridden once in the rain last year with the old bike, so I hadn’t done so many kilometres with it. 

“But I thought ‘Now’s my chance to try and get a good result’. I made some good progress in the first few laps and managed to get my best result.”

Mackenzie’s fourth in Phillip Island triggered some memories of his victory in the Supersport class at Most in 2023. The British rider is developing a reputation for good performances in wet conditions, but he is keen to avoid the ‘wet weather rider’ tag.

“When it was raining before people were telling me ‘It’s raining, you’re going to get a good result’, which I like that people are telling me this but also I don’t like to be this person that’s just fast in the rain,” he said.

“So, I want to try and do this in the dry as well, which would be nice. 

“But I think maybe my riding style is quite smooth and maybe it works in the wet. 

“I have a lot of confidence in the rain, maybe it’s coming from the UK maybe it helps. I think in January this year it rained every day in the UK, so maybe us British people are used to it, especially Scottish people. 

“Anyway, it was great to back it up. I wasn’t expecting fourth, [I thought] a solid top-six would be great, but ended up fourth so happy.”