Tarran Mackenzie enjoyed his strongest meeting in the 2020 Bennetts British Superbike Championship with three top four finishes, which included his second win of the season.
The McAMS Yamaha rider followed up his third place in the second race with victory in the final encounter of the weekend to move up to fifth in the title standings and give himself an outside shot at the title at the final three rounds at Brands Hatch.
Mackenzie had to start the first race from 19th on the grid, legacy of a technical issue in Friday’s dry practice session, but a gamble with his rear tyre paid off as he came all the way through to fourth.
“The first race was really nice today, coming through from 19th,” said Mackenzie. “It was a calculated gamble to go with the harder wet tyre as I knew the track would dry out and that would leave me with some tyre at the end of the race.
“The aim was to get a good lap for race two, which I did. I didn’t expect to get third in race two though as I went in to it having only done five dry laps all weekend. We bolted in the setting from Silverstone and I had the first few laps of the race to adapt to it so it was a tough race. I got knocked back to seventh or eighth and had to come back through the pack so to get third I was really happy.
Mackenzie saved the best until last though and, after sitting in fifth for the early stages of the last 15-lapper, he started to move forward on the sixth lap, picking off the riders in front of him one by one before eventually taking the lead off Glenn Irwin in the closing stages.
“I knew if I could get a better start in the last race I could maybe have something to show at the end, and that was the case. I didn’t get a good start but I made my way back through and when I got to Glenn I felt quite comfortable sat behind him.
“I knew I could maybe put some time into him if I got past in the last few laps, which I did so I was really happy with that. It’s been a good day for the whole team so we’re looking forward to getting to Brands in a couple of weeks.”
