Mackenzie ‘gets stuck in’ for maiden BSB podium

Tarran Mackenzie became a Bennetts British Superbike Showdown surprise in the opening race of the Silverstone triple-header by sealing his maiden podium in the series having led a number of laps for McAMS Yamaha.

Mackenzie carved his way from sixth place to lead at the midway stage before holding his own in exchanging passes with both team-mate Josh Brookes and Be Wiser Ducati’s Glenn Iriwn who were aiming to secure Showdown spots.

Ultimately his charge came up short over the final two laps as he dropped back to third place but held off Brookes to take the final rostrum spot in his rookie BSB campaign.

Despite pushing team-mate Brookes down to fourth place both he and Irwin booked their spots in the BSB Showdown while Mackenzie looks set to take the top rookie honour in 2018.

“I got stuck in and tried to stay in the podium battle, when Josh passed me on the second to last lap I thought it was the last lap so when I came across the line I thought thank goodness for that and made sure I got that podium,” Mackenzie said.

“I didn’t expect to lead at all. I didn’t get the best of starts, dropped back to sixth or seventh and had to come through them all.

“Once I got to third and was behind Jake and Brookes I felt really comfortable, so I made some moves and thought if I could lead one lap I’d be happy. The laps kept coming around and nobody was passing me so I just kept my head down.”