Round four of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship wasn’t the homecoming Tarran Mackenzie had hoped for with two crashes in quick succession at Knockhill on Saturday ultimately ruining the reigning champion’s weekend.

Almost back to full fitness, the McAMS Yamaha rider had high hopes coming into the weekend as he looked to get his season up and running but the crashes meant he missed Saturday’s race and could only manage a best of eighth on Sunday.

“I crashed at turn two on Saturday morning but the boys re-built the bike for qualifying and I was feeling good,” Mackenzie said. “I tried something different in qualifying but it didn’t quite pay off and I tucked the front at turn one.

“Unfortunately, the bike suffered quite a bit of damage, so sorry to the team as they worked hard to get it out for qualifying and then had to work even harder to try and make the race. Ultimately though it wasn’t possible and it meant I had to start Sunday’s first race from the back of the grid.”

Undeterred, the 26-year old put in a sterling ride from 29th on the grid to eventually end up tenth and he ended the weekend on a positive note with eighth place the outcome, only 6.3s adrift of race winner and teammate Jason O’Halloran.

Having only competed in two rounds, the results leave him in 15th place overall in the championship standings with half of the main season gone. His target of eighth, the final place for the Showdown, is currently 49 points ahead of him.

“We knew it would be tough starting from so far back on the grid in race two but I felt good on the bike and felt I could get through the pack quite easily so I was pretty happy. As a result of that, I was looking forward to starting further up in race three but the first few laps weren’t great.

“I felt like I didn’t have a lot of grip but then it sort of came to me and I managed to make my way through a bit. I’d have liked to finish a bit higher up but all points count at this stage.”