Race three red flag ‘a get out of jail free card’ for King of Brands Mackenzie
Tarran Mackenzie’ British Superbike championship challenge took another step-forward thanks to a podium clean-sweep - including victory in race one at Brands Hatch.
It looked like a good weekend through two races was going to end with race three disappointment after damp conditions left the Scot struggling with the intermediate rear in 13th position.
But just as the track dried out, a red flag was deployed due to Gino Rea’s Buildbase Suzuki catching fire and leaking oil.
It meant a revised seven lap dash was in order, and a free choice of tyres. While Mackenzie still had work to do from 13th, it didn’t take the Yamaha rider long to move forward; in fact, Mackenzie was already into the top five by turn two.
From that point forward Mackenzie charged through to second which included a move on Danny Buchan with one lap to go.
"I got a get out of jail free card in the third race with the stop because I was nowhere, 13th or 14th before that, way behind everyone! I was lucky with that," added Mackenzie.
"I knew I was starting 12th and slicks was the way forward and whether it was a good or bad thing I had the mentality just to go for it.
"I had a really good first lap and good start and just picked off pretty much one rider a lap then got behind Danny and Christian with a couple laps to go.
"I couldn't quite get past Danny but on the last lap I got a really good run onto the back straight and I just didn't shut off until he did.
"I got it stopped then chased Christian to the last few corners, it's hard to pass on the last part of the circuit and Christian rode a great last lap so it was always going to be tough to pass him.
Mackenzie was crowned Monster Energy King of Brands after the final race - an award for scoring the most points over the weekend, which he called ‘really cool’.
"So to turn it around from almost not even scoring points to a podium and getting the Bennetts Rider of the Weekend Award and the Monster Energy King of Brands - that is really cool. I turned my day around this last race so I'm looking forward to Thruxton now," he said.
