Tarran Mackenzie Takes His First Win Of The Season At Brands Hatch.

It was cloudy conditions as the Bennetts British Superbike riders lined-up on the grid for Race One, there were a few rain spots in the air but it didn’t seem to be troubling any of the riders.

It was Tarran Mackenzie who led the pack into Paddock Hill Bend, followed by BMW’s Brad Ray. After two laps Rory skinner took second position from Brad Ray. Two laps in and the session was red flagged due to Iforce Lloyd & Jones BMW’s Brad Jones crashing at Clearways. The riders had to re-start the race in their original grid positions.

The session was resumed at 17:38 and the race distance was reduced to 12 laps and it was Tarran Mackenzie took the holeshot into Paddock Hill Bend again with Brad Ray in second and VisionTrack Ducati’s Christian Iddon who was third as they went up into Druids. Takumi Takahashi unfortunately lost the front at Graham Hill Bend on the opening lap.

Tarran led the opening lap with Brad Ray in second, but not for long as the championship leader Iddon made his move into second place at Paddock Hill. FHO BMW’s Peter Hickman fell on the exit of Surtees not the day the rider would have wanted.

Tommy Bridewell executed a replica move on Brad Ray on the third lap into Paddock Hill to get into third position, with SYNETIC BMW’s Danny Buchan looking to make progress inside the top five. By the end of lap three Jason O’Halloran had managed to get himself up to tenth place lapping similar pace to the front runners and Josh Brookes had managed to gain one place from his starting position into 11th.

Bridewell then made a move of Iddon into Surtees for second place on lap four and nearly passed Tarran for the lead into Hawthorns but just wasn’t close enough to make the move. It was a four way battle for the lead with fourth place man Danny Buchan setting the fastest lap of the race on lap five.

Despite a great qualifying, Rory Skinner was struggling to hold on to the pace of the leaders and was overtaken by his experienced team-mate Lee Jackson who signaled to the young Scot to try and hold onto the back of him as Lee tried to catch up to Brady Ray who was having another good run inside the top five onboard the Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW.

Two thirds into the race and the front four remained the same with Tarran Mackenzie in the lead with Bridewell and Iddon in the other two podium positions and Buchan in fourth. Jason O’Halloran had managed to get into the top eight, but then made his move on Rory Skinner at Druids for seventh place, a great recovery ride by the Australian.

As they approached the final two laps of the race, Tarran pulled the pin and Tommy Bridewell was holding on trying to stay with the Scottish rider whilst Iddon and Buchan had been dropped by seven tenths of a second.

Tarran Mackenzie took his first victory of the season and the fourth win of the season for McAMS Yamaha, Tommy Bridewell finished in second place and championship leader Christian Iddon brought his VisionTrack Ducati in third place. Despite showing promising early and mid-race pace, SYNETIC BMW’s Danny Buchan suffered at the end of the race and finished in fourth place, but set the fastest lap of the race so he’ll start from pole position for Race Two. Jason O’Halloran made an incredible recovery from 18th on the grid to take fifth place from Lee Jackson and Brad Ray on the final laps of the race who will have a better starting positions for Race Two tomorrow. Race Two is at 14.10, see revised schedule for Sunday 25th July.

Featured Images: Bennetts British Superbikes, McAMS Yamaha Racing Team.