Tarran Mackenzie completed a dream title victory in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch, claiming the coveted crown for the first time, 25 years after his father Niall achieved the same feat for Yamaha.
Mackenzie has delivered his strongest season to date this year with McAMS Yamaha, going head-to-head with his teammate Jason O'Halloran and the Ducatis of Christian Iddon and Tommy Bridewell, to complete a dream title win, adding to his British Supersport crown of 2016.
Mackenzie scored his first victory of the season on the first visit to Brands Hatch, adding to his tally throughout the season with a total of ten wins and a further nine podiums.
Arriving at the Showdown Mackenzie trailed O’Halloran by 30 points, but a win and podium finish at Oulton Park moved him to within two points of his McAMS Yamaha teammate as O’Halloran scored a double DNF.
A consistent weekend at the penultimate round of Donington Park including a victory, albeit hampered by a single DNF due to a technical problem, was enough for him to secure a ten-point lead heading into the season finale.
A victory in the opening race on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit put him 22 points ahead of the chasing pack with just two races left to run on the final day of the season. Mackenzie followed this up with a double win in the final two races to seal his first hat trick and with it the championship.
Reflecting on the historic day, Mackenzie said: “Honestly, I can’t believe it. It’s been a roller-coaster of a year!
“I’ve visualized coming round and seeing everyone there at Graham Hill Bend. When you watch BSB as a fan, you see Leon Haslam, Brookes and Shakey, and all those heroes over the years, pull up at Graham Hill to get their bib and gold helmet. As a rookie in 2018, that’s what I aspired to and I’ve made it happen!
“All credit to the McAMS Yamaha team and everyone involved. It’s just been an incredible four years for me, five including Supersport. The time, money and effort that’s gone in to try and win this just second to none from Steve Rogers and everyone. The team put in a lot of effort to get the bike where it is and now I’m sure we won’t remember much tonight! The whole team is staying, it is a bit of a party and hopefully we can all celebrate it.
“And to do it 25 years since dad won his title is amazing – it’s a bit of a fairytale. We never really talked about it all year until the Showdown. Going into the last round, a lot of people were talking about it but I just didn’t want to think about it really. I just wanted to get the job done and then we could talk about it. Dad won the first proper BSB championship when I wasn’t even one year old, so to do it 25 years on is great but also to do it on a Yamaha is just incredible.
“It’s nice to have all the fans back too, especially at Brands Hatch so I thank everyone that’s come out to support me over the years. I can’t believe it. It’s happened. And there are too many people to thank.”