Tarran Mackenzie on pole for BSB season opener

2019 British Superbike
Round One – Silverstone

Tarran Mackenzie claimed his first pole position in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Silverstone this afternoon, holding off his hard-charging team-mate Jason O’Halloran by 0.054s whilst Scott Redding fired himself onto the front row ahead of his BSB race debut tomorrow (Sunday).

There was a dramatic start to the opening Datatag Qualifying session of the season for Josh Brookes, who suffered a technical problem with his Be Wiser Ducati, causing a brief red flag delay and the 2015 champion will start 18th on the grid for tomorrow’s opening race.

It was a close battle to qualify for Q2 with 24 riders covered by just 0.728s and the first rider to narrowly miss out was Quattro Plant – JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Ben Currie in the closing seconds of the opening session.

In Q2 there was another incredible battle to be inside the top nine to qualify for the final Q3 stage; the Honda Racing pairing narrowly missed out on making the cut, just 0.056s putting Andrew Irwin the first in the drop zone adrift of Christian Iddon, who held ninth for Tyco BMW.

When Q3 got underway Mackenzie was straight out of pitlane and instantly on the attack for a flying lap, setting the benchmark early ahead of O’Halloran and Josh Elliot as OMG Racing Suzuki qualified for the final qualifying stage for the first time.

Redding meanwhile had been building momentum during his first Datatag Qualifying experience and he moved into sixth, before a final attack put him into third and on the front row ahead of his much-anticipated race debut.

Elliot was able to hold off his team-mate Luke Mossey to head the second row as the OMG Racing Suzuki celebrated their strongest qualifying performances to date ahead of Dan Linfoot on the Santander Salt TAG Yamaha.

Tommy Bridewell and the Oxford Racing Ducati team will start in seventh place after their hard work to rebuild the stricken machine after yesterday’s crash with Christian Iddon and Luke Stapleford completing the top nine.

2019 British Superbike
Round One

1. Tarran Mackenzie – Yamaha 53.549 Q3
2. Jason O’Halloran – Yamaha 53.604 Q3
3. Scott Redding – Ducati 53.607 Q3
4. Josh Elliott – Suzuki 53.738 Q3
5. Luke Mossey – Suzuki 53.808 Q3
6. Dan Linfoot – Yamaha 53.874 Q3
7. Tommy Bridewell – Ducati 53.893 Q3
8. Christian Iddon – BMW 54.081 Q3
9. Luke Stapleford – Suzuki 54.223 Q3
10. Andrew Irwin – Honda 54.122 Q2
11. Xavi Fores – Honda 54.181 Q2
12. Claudio Corti – Kawasaki 54.238 Q2
13. Ryan Vickers – Kawasaki 54.274 Q2
14. Danny Buchan – Kawasaki 54.309 Q2
15. Glenn Irwin – Kawasaki 54.325 Q2
16. Bradley Ray – Suzuki 54.381 Q2
17. David Allingham – Yamaha 54.680 Q2
18. Josh Brookes – Ducati 54.213 Q1
19. Ben Currie – Kawasaki 54.380 Q1
20. Keith Farmer – BMW 54.489 Q1
21. Peter Hickman – BMW 54.507 Q1
22. Sylvain Barrier – Ducati 54.656 Q1
23. Matt Truelove – Yamaha 54.711 Q1
24. Joe Francis – BMW 54.730 Q1
25. Shaun Winfield – Yamaha 55.104 Q1
26. James Ellison – BMW 55.288 Q1
27. Dean Harrison – Kawasaki 55.332 Q1
28. Fraser Rogers – Kawasaki 55.341 Q1
29. Dean Hipwell – Kawasaki 55.357 Q1
30. James Hiller – Kawasaki 55.568 Q1
31. Sam Coventry – Kawasaki 55.734 Q1
32. Conor Cummins – Honda 55.744 Q1

Tarran Mackenzie – P1

“It feels really good to be on pole position as I didn’t have the best pre-season really. I felt good on the bike but I just wasn’t that fast, so coming here after the test I was a bit more confident. In Q2 the bike felt perfect so I felt happy going into Q3, I didn’t expect pole position so this is awesome and I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

Scott Redding – P3

“If you are an adrenaline junkie that was exactly what you want to do – for me that was insane! I am used to one qualifying session and then maybe a second one. You don’t want to make a mistake in Q1 but then in Q3 you just close your eyes and go all in. That was so much adrenaline and I am super happy with that. I was a bit nervous to start with but this system is amazing as you can get clear laps at the end. I wanted to go for the pole position, that was my mindset and I think how it was for everyone. Unfortunately it wasn’t me today but it is a good start to my season.”

British Superstock 1000

Richard Cooper enjoyed a perfect start to his Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship with a double win in the two opening races.

In the first 24 lap race, it was Cooper who grabbed the holeshot ahead of Taylor Mackenzie and Alex Olsen. Maintaining positions for the opening half of the race, Olsen made his move into the lead but was unable to break away leaving it a battle until the last lap to decide the victor.

Coming into the final corner in the lead, a problem for Olsen saw Cooper slice his way past to take victory with Mackenzie also taking advantage to claim second place.

The start of the second 24 lap race was almost a replica of the first as again Mackenzie, Cooper and Olsen were able to break away from the rest of the field to fight for the victory amongst themselves.

Trading places throughout the race, it came down to another last corner move as Cooper fought his way past Mackenzie and was able to fend off a late challenge to the line to claim a double win. Olsen was again third whilst behind him Lee Jackson took a brace of fourth place finishes.

South Australia’s Billy McConnell scored 18th and 7th places across the two races while Brayden Elliott finished 26th in the first bout before improving to 16th place in the second race of the weekend.

British Supersport

Jack Kennedy kicked off his title defence with victory in the opening Dickies British Supersport race after an epic battle with Alastair Seeley over the final few laps. Kennedy grabbed the holeshot into the first corner, with team mate Brad Jones in close contention behind and Seeley running third.

The two Colin Appleyard Macadam Yamaha riders were able to pull a gap of one second over the Seeley during the opening third of the race but a string of fast laps from the ‘Wee Wizard’ saw him close up, taking the lead at the start of lap. The trio traded places throughout the closing laps, coming down to the final lap as Kennedy past Seeley coming onto the back straight to take victory.

Lee Johnston was fourth whilst Kyle Ryde was the leading GP2 Cup rider in fifth. Sam Wilford was second in the GP2 class, sixth overall, whilst Jamie Perrin was third in the class (ninth overall).

1. Jack Kennedy (Colin Appleyard Macadam Yamaha)
2. Alastair Seeley (EHA Racing Yamaha) +0.194s
3. Brad Jones (Colin Appleyard Macadam Yamaha) +0.440s
4. Lee Johnston (Ashcourt Racing Yamaha) +7.701s
5. Kyle Ryde (Kovara By RS Racing Kalex GP2) +7.926s
6. Sam Wilford (IDWe RAcinh Honda HP2) +11.398s

1. Jack Kennedy (Colin Appleyard Macadam Yamaha) 25
2. Alastair Seeley (EHA Racing Yamaha) 20
3. Brad Jones (Colin Appleyard Macadam Yamaha) 16
4. Lee Johnston (Ashcourt Racing Yamaha) 13
5. Kyle Ryde (Kovara By RS Racing Kalex GP2) 11
6. Sam Wilford (IDWe RAcinh Honda HP2) 10

Images by Dave Yeomans