Brands BSB: Race-two win for Mackenzie

Tarran Mackenzie claimed the honours in Sunday’s opening Bennetts British Superbike Championship with the reigning champion coming home 1.1s clear of McAMS Yamaha team-mate Jason O’Halloran for his first win of the season.

Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Ducati) took third and with Bradley (Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha) in fourth once more, O’Halloran claimed the championship lead for the first time in 2022. Mackenzie got the holeshot from Ray and with O’Halloran and Kyle Ryde close behind it was another Yamaha 1-2-3-4 but Andrew Irwin (Synetiq BMW) touched the side of Peter Hickman on the exit of Graham Hill Bend and crashed out with Hickman, Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) and Danny Buchan (Synetiq BMW) all having to take evasive action. The top six remained the same next time around but at the beginning of lap three, Ray slipped up the inside of Mackenzie at Paddock Hill Bend to take the lead and there was further drama behind when Lee Jackson (Cheshire Mouldings FS-3 Kawasaki) and Christian Iddon (Buildbase Suzuki) crashed almost simultaneously at Stirling’s. Lap four saw Rory Skinner on the second FS-3 Kawasaki overhaul Ryde for fourth and the top eight were separated by only 1.3s, Leon Haslam (VisionTrack Kawasaki) and Josh Brookes (MCE Ducati) running at the rear of the leading pack, whilst Ryan Vickers’s weekend went from bad to worse with a heavy crash on the FHO Racing BMW at Clearways. Mackenzie regained the lead on the sixth lap with Bridewell pushing Ryde back to sixth and behind there was further change as Brookes was another to fall victim to Stirling’s the former double champion having a rare crash. Less than two seconds covered the leading seven riders with Haslam bringing up the rear of the group but he