Tarran Mackenzie may not have been able to add to his list of British Superbike Championship wins at the weekend but another podium at Thruxton kept his title challenge firmly on track

The 25-year old took second in Sunday’s first race at the Hampshire venue to pick up more, valuable credits and play an integral part in the McAMS Yamaha team’s first ever 1-2 in the series.
 
However, he was a victim of circumstance in Saturday’s opener, the Ashby rider taking his long lap penalty just seconds before the race was red flagged due to Glenn Irwin’s crash and ending up with mixed feelings in ninth.
 
“I was happy with my race on Saturday. I got knocked back a bit early on but felt like I had really good pace towards the end. I was coming through nicely only to get into the chicane a bit hot and although I thought I'd slowed enough - even letting another rider past - it wasn't quite enough.
 
“I feel the penalty doesn't fit the crime so that's frustrating as it would have been another top six which would have been valuable championship points.”
 
It brought his run of five successive podiums to an end but he regrouped for Sunday and picked up three more podium credits for second place, his sixth rostrum finish of an already productive season. His choice of full wets for the final race ultimately proved to be the wrong one but he’s still sitting in a comfortable third overall with four rounds of the series gone.
 
“I had a few moments during Sunday’s first race so I was happy to sit in the group and not push too hard to make up places. I sat there and saved my tyre and then used the slipstream in the last two laps to have a go. I had a bit more tyre left than the others and whilst the team’s had a lot of podiums, it was nice to have a 1-2.”
 
“In the second race, I didn't want to take a gamble as I felt I'd done it before and it didn't work for me. I'd rather ride around feeling comfortable on wet tyres than feeling like I could end up not having a result riding on an intermediate. Obviously in the end the intermediate was the better tyre choice. I ended up seventh and all the riders in front of me had intermediate rears on, so I was the best of the rest.  
 
“I was a bit disappointed but when I found out I was a good chunk in front of everyone else with wets I was quite happy. I've been bitten here before, it's a fast track so I'm all in one piece, feeling confident and heading to Donington Park which is a circuit I really enjoy.”