Tarran Mackenzie claimed his first Bennetts British Superbike Championship win of the season when the McAMS Yamaha runner took Saturday’s race at Brands Hatch from Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Ducati) and series leader Christian iddon (VisionTrack Ducati).
The race was only two laps old when it was red-flagged due to Brad Jones crashing heavily at Clearways and a long delay ensued as the Lloyd & Jones BMW rider was treated before being taken by airmed to King’s College Hospital, London.
The lengthy delay resulted in the race being re-started over 12 laps and it was Mackenzie who led at the end of the opening lap from Bradley Ray (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW), Iddon, Danny Buchan (Synetiq BMW), Bridewell and Rory Skinner (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki).
Iddon immediately moved up to second at the beginning of lap two but Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) was out of luck, crashing on the exit of Surtees.
Back at the head of the field and the top five were separated by less than a second at the end of the third lap, Mackenzie still leading from Iddon but Bridewell now up to third from Ray and Buchan.
Lap four at Surtees saw Bridewell overhaul Iddon for second with Buchan pulling a similar move on Ray for fourth and it was Rory Skinner who was leading the chasing pack ahead of Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) and Danny Kent (Buildbase Suzuki). Meanwhile, Jason O’Halloran had fought his way up to tenth from 18th on the grid.
By half race distance, that had become ninth but it was his team-mate Mackenzie that continued to lead the way although he still had Bridewell, Iddon and Buchan for close company, the quartet covered by just 0.866s.
Lap eight saw Mackenzie eke out a slender advantage of three tenths of a second and, indeed, the gaps were beginning to stretch with Buchan now 1.5s adrift in fourth. Ray still held fifth but Lee Jackson (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki) was now up to sixth with O’Halloran one place further back.
As the race entered its closing stages, Mackenzie and Bridewell had pulled further away from Iddon with Buchan’s podium hopes having all but evaporated.
Bridewell was doing everything he could to get close enough to put a pass on Mackenzie but the Yamaha man had it all under control and he duly took the victory by 0.225s with Iddon’s third place extending his championship lead.
Buchan was more than three seconds adrift in fourth at the chequered flag and a storming ride by O’Halloran gave him fifth with Jackson putting in a solid ride for sixth.
Ray and Skinner followed him home whilst Brookes overtook both Irwin and Kent on the final lap to claim ninth.
