New blood leads the hunt to Oulton Park as Elliott and Mackenzie head the pack

Young guns Josh Elliott and Tarran Mackenzie lead the pack in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship title standings ahead of Britain’s biggest motorsport battle reaching Cheshire’s Oulton Park this May Bank Holiday weekend (May 4/5/6) after the pair both secured debut race wins at the Silverstone opener.

Elliott and OMG Racing Suzuki celebrated the first victory in the series after drama between the McAMS Yamaha teammates as Mackenzie and Jason O’Halloran clashed in their battle for victory, whilst Scott Redding was a podium finisher on his first appearance after the switch from MotoGP to the Be Wiser Ducati team.

In the second race, Mackenzie bounced back to score his first race win in the Superbike class and now jointly leads the standings with Elliott ahead of the next two races of the season in Cheshire.

Tommy Bridewell proved he was a force to be reckoned with on board the Oxford Racing Ducati. He arrives at Oulton Park third in the standings and confident following last week’s official test, just one point ahead of Luke Mossey on the second OMG Racing Suzuki.

Danny Buchan is joint fourth overall following his impressive opening round podium and Luke Stapleford and the Buildbase Suzuki team currently make it five teams inside the top six ahead of the second round.

Honda Racing’s Andrew Irwin and Xavi Forés had a strong start to the season but the former World Superbike contender has to rapidly get to grips with the undulations of the challenging Cheshire circuit, as will Redding after the pair had their initial taste of the track at the official test.

Dan Linfoot had a promising start to his season at Silverstone with the Santander Salt TAG Yamaha team and he is looking for another strong performance at Oulton, whilst the title-winning Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki team will be eager to fight back at the front with Glenn Irwin and new recruit Ben Currie.

However at last week’s official test 2015 champion Josh Brookes fired his Be Wiser Ducati to the top of the times as the Australian bids to make amends for a double non-point score at the opening round after being hampered with technical issues.

For more information on the Bennetts British Superbike Championship visit www.britishsuperbike.com

Tarran Mackenzie – McAMS Yamaha

“I think Silverstone probably went better than expected to be honest; to fight for both wins and then take my first BSB win was more than I had expected from the weekend and it was a bit of a dream come true. I think because pre-season testing hadn’t been the best for me and even the official test at Silverstone I was eighth.

“I wanted to get the first BSB win that weekend, I wanted to get that monkey off my back and that was my goal so to do it felt really good. Now that I have done it though I want to do it again! I want to be in the Showdown for the first time this season.

“At the test I think we found a good base setting that just needs refining, because we didn’t quite get the chance with the conditions changing but we are not far away it just needs some fine tuning. I had a good round when we went to Oulton Park for the second time last year so hopefully we can keep this momentum going! I’m looking forward to it!”

Josh Elliott – OMG Racing Suzuki

“It has been crazy since Silverstone; the phone hasn’t stopped! I am still on a high with the results we had but at the same time I have to stay level headed. The win was big; it was the first for me and the first for the team and it has been a real buzz in the garage.

“I wasn’t expecting the result at Silverstone; if someone had said before the weekend that would have been the result I would have said they were a bit crazy! I knew we had been working hard as a team and had a good pace but to win was an amazing feeling.

“I think the result hasn’t changed how we will look at the weekend; our aim still has to be the top six for the Showdown and to be up the front when it counts. We intend on taking the opportunities as they come and you can’t rest as it will only get tougher.

“Nobody expected us to be joint championship leaders after the first round so we want to come out fighting again next weekend and I think we can work hard and be there or thereabouts in the races again.”