Tarran Mackenzie edged ever closer to becoming this year’s Bennetts British Superbike Champion as he took victory in the first race of the weekend at Brands Hatch, the McAMS Yamaha rider just edging out Tommy Bridewell with Christian Iddon taking third.
However, his lead over teammate Jason O’Halloran is still only 22 points, with Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) two points further back in third and Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) only another two points after that.
Iddon grabbed the holeshot off the line and although Mackenzie briefly nosed ahead, the Ducati rider was quickly back in front and he led at the end of the opening lap from Mackenzie, Rory Skinner (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki), Andrew Irwin (Synetiq BMW), Bridewell and Glenn Irwin. O’Halloran was back in eighth.
Next time around and Andrew Irwin moved up to third at the expense of Skinner with Bridewell following suit a lap later and the leading six riders had opened up a second gap over the chasing pack which was now led by O’Halloran after he passed Gino Rea (Buildbase Suzuki) for seventh.
Lap four saw Bridewell move up to third but the safety car was soon out after Josh Owens crashed at Hawthorn, the Rapid CDH Racing Kawasaki limping away from the high speed spill.
Racing resumed on lap seven once the safety barriers had been re-positioned and a moment for Andrew Irwin coming out of Graham Hill Bend saw him lose fourth to Skinner and it also allowed the front three of Iddon, Mackenzie and Bridewell to break away by 1.5s.
At the beginning of lap eight, Iddon and Bridewell had a coming together at Druids although both stayed on and it was now Mackenzie leading by 0.3s with eight laps to go. O’Halloran, meanwhile, had gained another spot and was up to sixth.
By lap 10, the front three were nose to tail once more with Skinner now two-seconds adrift in fourth but half a second clear of O’Halloran who had dispensed of both the Irwin brothers.
Iddon ran wide at Paddock Hill at the beginning of lap 12 and Bridewell needed no second invitation as he dived up the inside with a subsequent bit of contact between the two but Skinner’s strong ride ended after he crashed at Stirlings.
With Iddon having lost a bit of ground, it now looked to be a two-horse race between Mackenzie and Bridewell with just a tenth of a second covering them with three laps to go. O’Halloran was now fourth with Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) up to fifth and Andrew Irwin still hanging on in sixth.
Mackenzie continued to lead the way despite being under extreme pressure from Bridewell and going into the final lap the gap was just 0.095s.
Try as he might though, Bridewell couldn’t get close enough to make a pass and Mackenzie took the win by an eventual 0.160s with Iddon finishing third some two-seconds further back.
O’Halloran just got the better of Hickman for fifth with Andrew Irwin taking sixth ahead of Josh Brookes, Lee Jackson, Glenn Irwin and Bradley Ray.
