Mackenzie wins race three as Brookes leads four-way fight to finale
Josh Brookes will head into the final round of the 2020 British Superbike Championship with a 16 point advantage at the head of the standings after scoring another podium finish in a final BSB race of the day at Donington Park won by Tarran Mackenzie.
The Australian enjoyed a strong penultimate weekend of the year relative to his rivals - team-mate Chrstian Iddon, Honda’s Glenn Irwin and McAMS Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran - with one win and two third places lifting him to the summit of the standings with only Brands Hatch remaining.
Victory went the way of Mackenzie for the second time this season after prevailing in a tussle with Irwin to get the edge over the Honda rider with a pass at Fogarty Esses. Having led the way coming into the weekend, an up and down weekend would see Irwin end the weekend in third overall, 18 points adrift of Brookes.
Iddon was fourth across the line to lift him to second in the standings, 16 points behind his VisionTrack Ducati team-mate, while Gino Rea enjoyed his best race weekend of the year as he added to a brace of top six results with a fifth on the Buildbase Suzuki.
Lee Jackson headed up Kawasaki’s challenge on the Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 machine, ahead of Andrew Irwin and Jason O’Halloran - now 19 points off the top spot - after a tangle with Iddon dropped him down the order. Luke Mossey and Joe Francis completed the top ten.
Beyond the top four, Mackenzie is still mathematically in the hunt in fifth overall, albeit 46 points down on Brookes, while Tommy Bridewell’s title hopes are now over after suffering a technical issue in race three.