Happy Tarran ready for Silverstone trip
Stirling superbike racer Tarran Mackenzie is feeling confident, after battling at the front all weekend in the second round of the British Superbike Championship at Snetterton.
The Mcams Yamaha rider, and son of former grand-prix ace Niall, was at the sharp end in all three races in Norfolk, scoring two seventh place finishes and in sixth in a tightly packed field.
And after showing that his Yamaha had the pace to challenge the leading Hondas and Ducatis, Taz is already excited for the next round - at the venue where he scored his maiden BSB win.
Reflecting on the weekend the 24-year-old said:“we made a big step forward this weekend. Qualifying was an improvement and that gave me a bit of confidence going into the races.
“It was nice to be in the front group for the first time this year. I’m really happy with how the weekend went, it was tough at times but we came into the weekend with a very different set-up to what we ran at Donington.
“It was a bit of a gamble and it took me a bit of time to get used to it as the weekend went on and fine tune things a little bit.
“In each race we got a bit closer and starting from the second row in the last race we were in the front group for the whole race.
“At one point I had a little go at trying to make some moves and go forwards but I nearly crashed so I settled back into my rhythm and stayed with them and tried to see if I could get back past but the opportunity wasn’t there.”
The championship heads to the home of British motorsport between September 4 and 6, and with the circuit clearly suiting the Yamaha last year - Mackenzie is already counting down the days.
He added:“i’m really happy I could stay with the sharp end which is really nice because that puts us in good stead for Silverstone. I have a good feeling with the bike now so I can’t wait.”
Brother Taylor meanwhile endured a nightmare weekend on his Synetiq Racing BMW.
The 27-year-old former 125cc grand-prix rider finished outwith the points in Saturday’s first race of the weekend, before reliability gremlins ruled him out of both of Sunday’s races.
Team principal Philip Neill said:“taylor is making a steady improvement in his recovery from his knee injury and it was extremely unfortunate for him to have a technical issue in both races.”