Having never stood on a podium before at Oulton Park in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Tarran Mackenzie not only achieved that at the weekend but also took his first win with the dramatic three races seeing him turn a 30-point deficit to McAMS Yamaha team-mate Jason O’Halloran into a slender two-point advantage.

That didn’t look to be on the cards during practice when he was down in 13th after the two dry sessions but the damp qualifying on Saturday put him fourth on the grid and he was able to form a strategy. It was ultimately successful too as he overhauled Josh Brookes on the final lap after O’Halloran had crashed out of the lead two laps before.
 
“I hadn't done too many laps in practice and the laps I did do everyone had better pace than me, so we decided that I'd try and get a good start and try and hang on in,” the 25-year old said afterwards.
 
“When I started to get into a bit of a rhythm, I saw that they weren't really gapping me and the gap behind was building up and it was four of us at the front. We kept closing back up and when Jason made a mistake and Brookes was leading, I made a mistake at the second chicane but I pushed on and managed to catch Brookes on the last two laps and got the drive and made the pass stick at Hizzy's.”
 
Still suffering with the hand injury sustained at Silverstone two weeks previous, wiping out most of O’Halloran’s championship lead in the opening race certainly helped alleviate the pain.
 
“I'd never had a BSB podium at Oulton before so to get my first win here was unbelievable. My hand hadn't felt good all week, especially riding a superbike round here, but the adrenaline took over!”
 
He couldn’t replicate the victory in either of Sunday’s races, Tommy Bridewell taking both wins in stunning fashion, but was third across the line in both before being hit with a three-second penalty in the final race of the weekend after contact with Lee Jackson.
 
That meant he took third and fifth on the day but with O’Halloran’s weekend going from bad to worse with a second crash, he now leads the title race by two points. And with the series now heading to Donington Park, where he was victorious earlier in the season, he’s the one now in the driving seat.
 
“I didn’t expect to have a weekend like this, honestly I thought I was going to leave here with a big points gap so to come out championship leader is amazing. In the final race of the weekend, I was watching my pit board every lap and was ticking the laps off before making some moves towards the end.”
 
“I’ve had three strong races here which I didn’t expect as my hand is still broken, so to be on the podium twice and have a strong third race I can’t really complain. We go to Donington and Brands now, two tracks which I really love and have won at before, so we’ll look to end the season on a high.”