Mackenzie makes amends to deny Elliott BSB double

Click here for full BSB Silverstone - Race results (2)

Tarran Mackenzie secured a belated maiden victory in race two of the 2019 Bennetts British Superbike Championship opener at Silverstone, just hours after he was penalised from the top spot in race one.

The Scot was first-across-the-line for McAMS Yamaha earlier in he day but would find himself demoted to second place behind Josh Elliott in the aftermath as punishment for the last corner incident that eliminated his team-mate Jason O’Halloran.

Nevertheless, there was to be no question over the legitimacy of Mackenzie’s result in the second outing, the youngster biding his time in an occasionally frantic affair to get the better of the hugely-impressive Elliott and claim a deserved first-ever BSB win.

Even so, Mackenzie – who started from pole position once more – was still made to work hard as he was overtaken by the fast-starting Dan Linfoot in the early stages, before Elliott eased him down to third position on lap two.

However, as the front-runners stretched out, Mackenzie found his rhythm, initially getting the better of Linfoot – who’d lead for four laps on the Santander Salt TAG Yamaha before fading – and then passing Elliott for the lead on lap 14.

Buoyed by his shock win in race one for the OMG Suzuki squad, a feisty Elliott kept up the pressure on his rival when a late safety car bunched the pack up again.

However, Mackenzie was not to be denied this time, holding his nerve in the final laps to bring a positive end to a strong, if controversial first weekend for the factory-backed Yamaha squad.

By contrast, team-mate O’Halloran would go on to have a race day to forget. Indeed, having seen hopes of victory scuppered by his team-mate in race one, the Australian’s hopes of recovering in race two were ruined by technical issues that leave him with a wholly unrepresentative 0 points after round one.

Elliott’s second place leaves him joint top of the BSB standings with Mackenzie, the 45 points he has scored this weekend already matching the entire season total the OMG Suzuki team managed in 2018.

Completing the podium was Danny Buchan, who produced a fine run to third position on the FS-3 Kawasaki. The two-time Superstock 1000 champion started a lowly 14thin race one and even ran off course, but a quick lap time in recovery saw him start seventh for race two. It was a loftier spot he made full use of as he battled for a podium position throughout, finishing just one second off the win.

His efforts were enough to hold off Tommy Bridewell, who nonetheless had the surprise honour of finishing as the top Ducati rider on the Oxford Racing machine in the wake of a terrible afternoon for the factory Be Wiser outfit after Scott Redding came down in a collision with Andrew Irwin – for which the Honda rider was hit with a ‘long lap penalty’ – and Josh Brookes retired with his third mechanical issue of the weekend.

Despite being overshadowed by the customer OMG outfit, the factory Buildbase Suzuki team enjoyed a stronger race two showing with Luke Stapleford scoring a career-best fifth place finish after passing Luke Mossey late on, while Bradley Ray in tenth made it four GSX-R1000s inside the ten positions.

Irwin recovered to seventh place, just ahead of Honda Racing team-mate Xavi Fores and Linfoot, who struggled to get back up to strong pace in the wake of the safety car.

Outside the top ten, Glenn Irwin ended a sobering weekend for the JG Speedfit Kawasaki team in 11thplace, ahead of Keith Farmer, Ben Currie, Peter Hickman and Ryan Vickers.