Taz bags more points in impressive start
Tarran Mackenzie secured two more points finishes as he continued his impressive start to life in the World Supersport championship.
With his team’s race engines still not available, the Stirlingborn rider dragged his Petronas MIE MS Racing Honda to two 14th place finishes in the draining heat of Mandalika, Indonesia.
Race one ran over a distance of 18 laps and got underway on what was a slightly damp track that soon dried fully.
Mackenzie, known to fans as Taz, was lying 17th through the first turns, followed by his teammate Adam Norrodin.
The Honda duo retained these positions through the opening laps before making up two positions each to move, one behind the other, into 15th and 16th position.
Setting his best time of the race on lap 11, Taz did his best to catch the rider immediately ahead of him, making gradual gains but unable to quite reach him. However, a crash ahead of him allowed Tarran to cross the line a worthy 14th to score two more championship points.
Race two ran in totally dry conditions.
From 16th on grid, Mackenzie was lying 15th by the end of lap one, and battled with fellow Brit Harry Truelove – but struggled to make real inroads during the first half of the race, despite lap times in line with his nearest rivals.
Having exchanged positions at the mid-race point, Norrodin and Mackenzie continued to fight to reach the points zone.
Gaining precious ground through the very last corners, Norrodin ultimately crossed the line 13th, followed by Mackenzie, who secured a second 14th place finish of the weekend.
Reflecting on the action, Taz said: “We’ve finished three races out of four in the points so far, so that’s good as we weren’t sure how we would do in these first rounds.”