Mackenzie ‘surprised’ at fitness level on WorldSSP debut

Tarran Mackenzie had his first taste of working with the MIE Honda WorldSSP team at Portimao on Tuesday morning.

While the CBR600RR the 2021 BSB Champion has access to during this week’s WorldSBK test is in stock form, the two days on track at the rollercoaster Algarve International Circuit have certainly allowed him to reacquaint with the smaller class after five years on the BSB-Spec Yamaha R1.

“It was first time on the bike this morning,” Mackenzie told bikesportnews.com trackside at Portimao on Tuesday. “So the bike’s still quite standard at the moment, at one point we weren’t even due to come to the test just because they wanted to bring a proper supersport bike. So it’s still in kind of like a stock version at the moment but for Australia, it will be a full spec supersport bike.

“The important thing for me was just riding the 600 again after having a few years off, and also the injury from September. I hadn’t been on track since then so it’s nice just to kind of blow the cobwebs off and get back into this style of riding again. The chassis is going to be the same from now to Australia so you can get some kind of base setting going. And also for my teammate, Adam [Norrodin], he’s also been on the Superbike, so it’s just important to come here, meet everyone and blow the cobwebs off really. There was no pressure to do anything spectacular because it’s just in the still quite standard form.

“I think Phillip Island will make a big step and hopefully be competitive.”

2023 sees Mackenzie swap bike, class, team and championship as he takes on the Supersport World Championship, so what is he expecting regarding the switch.

“I think, on a Superbike, especially in BSB-spec because there’s no electronics or anything like