Mackenzie: 'Highs and lows' a part of racing, timing of injury 'on our side'
Although Tarran Mackenzie would have much preferred an off-season without injury, that wasn’t to be for the defending BSB champion following his accident at Cartagena.
Mackenzie suffered a training accident whilst testing at the Spanish circuit last month, which left the McAMS Yamaha rider with a broken tibia and dislocated right shoulder.
To no surprise, Mackenzie has been out of on-bike action since and he instead is coming towards the end of five weeks rehabilitation as opposed to five weeks of training.
Even so, Mackenzie has already stated he expects to be fit for next month’s first of three pre-season tests at Snetterton, ahead of the BSB season opener at Silverstone on Easter holiday weekend (April 15-17).
In his most recent blog update, Mackenzie alluded to his injury being part of the 'highs and lows' of racing, with the high being his BSB championship win 25 years after his father Niall achieved the feat.
"This is bike racing at the end of the day; you get the highs and you get the lows,” said the Scottish rider. “I’ve come off one of the biggest highs of my career, winning the British Championship and I felt so good coming into the year, so I can’t lie it was frustrating to have a silly little crash at Cartagena and I’m paying the price for that!"
If there’s to be a consolation for Mackenzie, it’s the fact that his injury has occurred prior to the 2022 campaign getting underway, as opposed to the last two years where he suffered injuries during the season.
Mackenzie continued: "There’s never an ideal time to have an injury, but as far as timing goes, that is something that has been on our side with this situation in the sense I’ve got plenty of time to be fit before the season starts.
"When I’ve been injured before it’s been during the season and I’m rushing to get fit, riding with broken bones etc, so to have almost nine weeks between getting injured and when I'm supposed to be back on a bike means I can do this properly and be in the strongest possible way for the start of the year."
