Six in the mix: Mackenzie and McAMS Yamaha the next new winners in 2020
Tarran Mackenzie claimed a spectacular victory in the seventh round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Silverstone this afternoon, becoming the sixth different race winner of the season to give McAMS Yamaha their first win in 2020.
At the start of the race, Danny Buchan launched off the pole position to lead the pack for the Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki team, however it was short lived as Andrew Irwin was instantly on the attack and stormed ahead before they crossed the line for the first time.
Buchan was under fire from the opposition and soon it was the Honda Racing pairing at the front of the field, with Andrew leading Glenn and soon Jason O’Halloran was also in the fight for the lead, with Buchan then in fourth.
On the fifth lap, Glenn Irwin grabbed the lead from his brother and the pair looked like they would try and break the pack, however O’Halloran was in close contention, and Kyle Ryde was into fourth and proving to be a threat on the Buildbase Suzuki.
By lap eight Ryde had moved ahead of O’Halloran for third with the Australian also having his teammate for company, as Mackenzie sliced his way through the field from his fourth row start position.
Mackenzie wasted no time in getting ahead of O’Halloran and by lap 12 he was into third place, before passing Andrew Irwin a lap later. The Honda Racing rider was trying to fight back, but a mistake into Brooklands meant he lost serious ground and then would have to do the work all over again.
At the front Mackenzie was soon putting the pressure on Glenn Irwin and a decisive move on lap 16 put him into the lead for McAMS Yamaha, with Glenn Irwin then having Ryde for company in the tussle for second place.
Ryde wasn’t able to make a move stick until lap 22 when he was able to move into second and then a lap later O’Halloran also carved ahead of Glenn Irwin to push him out of a podium position. On the final lap Mackenzie had the margin he needed to claim an emotional victory and his first of the season.
Ryde meanwhile celebrated his first ever Bennetts BSB podium finish, making him the eighth different finisher in the top three in 2020, with Buildbase Suzuki the fifth different team to celebrate a podium result.
Glenn Irwin and Andrew Irwin finished in fourth and fifth ahead of a huge contest for sixth place with Josh Brookes holding off Lee Jackson, Christian Iddon, Danny Buchan and Tommy Bridewell, who started last on the grid, completing the top ten.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Silverstone, Round 7 result:
- Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha)
- Kyle Ryde (Buildbase Suzuki) +0.105s
- Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) +0.446s
- Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) +1.855s
- Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) +4.362s
- Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) +4.944s
- Lee Jackson (Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki) +6.293s
- Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) +7.585s
- Danny Buchan (Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki) +7.661s
- Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) +7.797s
Bennetts British Superbike Championship standings after Round 7:
- Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) 131
- Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) 101
- Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) 94
- Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) 92
- Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) 81
- Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 81
- Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) 69
- Kyle Ryde (Buildbase Suzuki) 64
- Lee Jackson (Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki) 61
- Danny Buchan (Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki) 34
For more information on the Bennetts British Superbike Championship visit www.britishsuperbike.com
Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha)
Round 7 race winner
“My last podium was at Snetterton at round five last year so I was pretty emotional. I had a really strong start to last year and then broke my wrist at Thruxton, and after that it just became difficult with injuries and not having the confidence and I reset in the off season.
“During lockdown I worked really hard, and then thought ‘when I get to round one I will be strong and back up the front where I know I can be, and it didn’t happen. Then it didn’t happen at Snetterton and in the last race at Snetterton I had good pace, for a podium if not a win, so that gave me a lot of confidence.
“For me and probably the team as well, we didn’t understand the front tyre maybe as much as some other people did, and that was really hard. It was understanding it and getting the feeling and the confidence, and once I got that back, I knew coming in to this weekend I could be strong.
“I have been strong here since I started riding a Superbike, so I was really annoyed in qualifying to be starting 12th. I didn’t expect to be getting a win – maybe a podium, because of my pace I had in practice, but I got a really good first couple of laps. I came through to fifth or sixth, then picked them off and pulled a gap.
“I was really surprised to see I had a gap. I had to use my tyre a lot at the start and the middle of the race to make some ground on the leaders, so starting on the front row tomorrow should help that. I can maybe conserve it a little bit. The last couple of laps I just backed off slightly as I didn’t want to make any mistakes. It felt like a long nine laps when I was in front, but I am really happy so a big thank you to the McAMS Yamaha team, I am over the moon and can’t wait for tomorrow.”
Kyle Ryde (Buildbase Suzuki)
First podium finish in Bennetts BSB
“It’s been quite a few practices I have topped now and not really had a decent race, but that was the perfect race. The strategy we had was pretty good.
“I was really pleased when Taz came past me halfway through the race because it gave me an understanding of what I could do and gave me the same braking markers as qualifying.
“I was struggling at the start of the race being stuck behind a couple of people and I really lost my rhythm. Then when Taz set the pace, that got me a podium. It nearly got me a win but he was that fast!
“I would just like to thank the Buildbase Suzuki team, they deserve this just as much as me. We have had a bit of bad luck but they have fixed it and I can’t wait for tomorrows races.”
More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing UK:
Another win for Tom Neave and Honda Racing at Silverstone
It’s been a successful day in the Silverstone office for the Honda Racing team as Tom Neave added another race win to his 2020 tally aboard the all-new CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP, further extending his lead in the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship.
With near-perfect conditions at the 1.6-mile circuit, Tom has been on the pace throughout practice sessions and qualified fourth for today’s opening race. Getting a good start off the line, Tom remained in the leading group and set about tracking down a podium spot.
Eventually taking the lead, Tom’s race wasn’t made easy as championship rival Chrissy Rouse was hot on his heels and the pair enjoyed a good battle to the chequered flag. Tom finished 0.650s ahead of Chrissy, to take his third win of the season and increasing his championship lead by 10 points. He also set a new Superstock 1000 lap record on the second lap, and will start tomorrow’s race from pole.
Teammate Davey Todd rode a heroic race after a technical issue off the start line pushed him back to 23rd place. Pushing lap by lap, Davey made his way though the pack to finish 11th, just missing out on a place in the top-10 by only 0.130s.
Andrew and Glenn Irwin enjoyed a solid first race, where they finished fourth and fifth respectively in the opening Bennetts British Superbike Championship race. At the start of the 25-lap race, the brothers launched off the line and it was Andrew leading with Glenn in second. By the fourth lap, Glenn had snatched the lead from Andrew and the Honda duo had some work to do holding off the chasing pack.
On the eighth lap Andrew ran wide and dropped back into eighth place, but dug deep and set about making up the lost places to eventually cross the line fifth. Glenn fought hard to protect his lead, but during the closing stages of the race dropped back due to tyre degradation, to cross the line fourth and further extended his championship lead by 30 points.
Tomorrow (Sunday 6 September) see’s two more Superbike races at 12.15 and 16.30 at Silverstone’s national circuit, with one more Superstock race at 10.45.
#18 Andrew Irwin: I have to take today’s race as a positive, the past three races we’ve had, the results weren’t fantastic so it’s better than those. I led a race again which was a nice feeling after a difficult period, unfortunately I made a mistake around lap ten, which lost me a couple of seconds and I lost touch with the leaders. I think all in all it was a good race and we can take the positives from it and come back stronger for tomorrow’s two longer races.
#2 Glenn Irwin: Today in terms of the championship it was a really good race, I’m happy with that side of things and also happy with the fourth. I’m a little disappointed having led the race, but we have something to work on for tomorrow’s longer races. It’s a positive day, no trophy for this one but we extend our championship lead by 30 points and as I keep saying, if we take it race by race and can extend the points lead each time we’re doing a good job. So 30 is good and we’ll try and increase it more tomorrow.
#68 Tom Neave: I’ve not found myself in this position before so it’s all a bit surreal! We’ve got some really good momentum going now and I’m really enjoying riding the new Fireblade, the whole team is working together really well and we’re just going to keep our head down, feet on the floor and keep doing what we’re doing. We have another race tomorrow, but I’m just treating each race as a fresh start and thinking race by race, and trying not to think about the championship too much and just keep enjoying it.
#74 Davey Todd: It was a real shame we had a small issue at the start, I was so far back in the pack and it just made the job pretty hard from 23rd. I made a strong charge back through and showed we have the race-long pace to be running at the front. Tomorrow we still have our work cut out starting 11th, trying to do a lap in traffic also isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but it’ll be easier than today! We’ll see what we can do tomorrow, we’ll be stronger, we don’t need to do a huge amount of changes to the bike so we’ll be ready to go and try again.
Team Manager Havier Beltran: We had another win with Tom in the Superstock championship today, I’m really pleased with him as he used his head and came though from fourth to take the win and won comfortably, and in control which is a real testament to the effort and work he’s putting in. Davey had an issue off the start, which we’re looking into and will get resolved for the morning, it was difficult for him coming through the field in the traffic, but we’ll move on for tomorrow. Andrew and Glenn had a great result, it was good to see Andrew finish a race, pushing and making moves on people with confidence and drive, and it’s going to start to come back together for him. Glenn still leads the series, but we do have some work to do and improve the settings ahead of tomorrow’s two races.
More, from a press release issued by VisionTrack Ducati:
Important Points For Brookes And Iddon At Silverstone
Defending Bennetts British Superbike champions VisionTrack Ducati had a challenging opening race at Silverstone this afternoon with Josh Brookes and Christian Iddon battling to sixth and eighth place finishes respectively.
Australian Brookes had qualified in second place aboard Paul Bird’s factory-supported VisionTrack Ducati Panigale V4R with Tyneside-based teammate Iddon down in 13th following the Datatag Qualifying session, which was twice interrupted due to red flags.
Timing a fast lap was of the essence and it was Josh who fared better with a time of 53.406s putting him second on the grid whilst luck went against Christian, the second red flag coming out just as he was on a quick lap which meant he had work to do from the fifth row.
The 25-lap race saw good conditions all around the 1.64-mile National circuit but Brookes found himself shuffled back to sixth at the conclusion of the opening lap although Iddon had moved up to 11th for the Cumbrian-based team.
By lap four, Brookes had slipped further back to ninth with Iddon moving in the opposite direction to seventh and the duo soon found themselves circulating in each other’s wheel tracks. The pair were soon battling with Andrew Irwin and although Josh was able to stay with the Honda man as he moved ahead, Christian slipped back into the clutches of the following pack which consisted of no less than five riders.
Josh eventually took sixth place to maintain fourth place in the championship with Christian keeping the big group of riders behind him for eighth and eight hard-earned points. That was enough for him to hold on to third overall with seven of the 18 races now having taken place.
Josh Brookes: “That was a tough race and definitely not where we wanted to be. I didn’t have the confidence early on to push like I needed to so lost a few places which compounded the situation. I’m just lacking confidence in the bike in the early laps which leaves me vulnerable but that gives me lots of work to do later in the race when I get into a rhythm. But that’s no good in a race and we need to improve early on. I need to find speed in the last sector as the rest of the lap is ok but, in this series, you can’t give the opposition a head start. We plan some changes in warm-up to hopefully give us that tiny bit of what we are missing.”
Christian Iddon: “I felt pretty good from my poor grid position and for the first part of the race I was running with the front bunch and was in a good position. It’s where I felt I should have been and then we encountered some issues which we’d not had all weekend, but they decided to rear their ugly head and I struggled massively. I was hoping to get a fifth place at worst but had one or two other issues in the final stages and I was lucky to finish. I’m still up there in the championship but eighth place is a bit of a kick in the teeth. Hopefully, we can learn from today and do better tomorrow.”
Sunday’s two 30-lap races are scheduled to take place at 12:15 and 16:30 respectively.
