2021 Bennetts British Superbike Championship
Round 7 – Snetterton

The battle for the Title Fighter position intensified in Norfolk as the pack concertinaed in the standings. Christian Iddon’s fifth place in race three made him the fourth rider to be confirmed for the final three-round Showdown, with Peter Hickman just missing out by a single point and ranking fifth in the championship standings as he prepares to cement his Showdown position at Silverstone next weekend.

Defending champion Josh Brookes scored his best results of the season but still has his work cut-out for him next weekend in order to sneak into that Showdown Eight.

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Superbike Race One

Tarran Mackenzie celebrated his third victory of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship season, claiming Yamaha their first win at Snetterton since 2012, following an intense final lap in the opening BikeSocial Race 1. Just 0.866s covered an incredibly close top five after the 12-lap encounter.

At the start of the race, Glenn Irwin pulled an impressive move around the outside of Tarran Mackenzie to lead the pack out of Riches with Andrew Irwin holding third.

Christian Iddon crashed out of the action at Oggies on the opening lap unhurt, which now means he has lost two positions in the overall standings, dropping to fourth in the fight for the top-eight.

At the front, Glenn Irwin was desperately trying to break the pack as Jason O’Halloran carved his way through into second place by lap four. A lap later though and Glenn Irwin crashed out at Oggies as the Honda Fireblade cartwheeled out of contention.

That left O’Halloran leading the pack ahead of his McAMS Yamaha team-mate Mackenzie with Tommy Bridewell, Lee Jackson and Josh Brookes in the leading five positions.

On the eighth lap, Mackenzie made his move at Agostini to push his Australian rival back into second with Bridewell in close contention.

Brookes meanwhile was embroiled in a fierce battle with Jackson as the pair traded positions throughout the closing stages.

Tarran Mackenzie – Race One winner

“I am definitely happy with that! I was happy following Glenn at the start with Jason behind, because I knew we had good pace in practice, but the tyre was wearing a lot. When Jason came by, we had a gap to fourth place, so I sat behind him. Then when Glenn crashed, I was happy following Jason, but when the gap started to come down I wanted to take the lead in case something happened. There are a lot of passing opportunities here and I didn’t want to get involved in that. I got to the front and rode my own race, I didn’t set an outstanding pace, I was just comfortable and managing the tyre. On the last lap I wanted to push harder and bridged maybe one or two bike lengths, which was enough for them not to be able to come back on me. I made a mistake on the last corner, running wide on the entry and then had a big wheelie on the exit. I shut my eyes and got to the line to take another win, another double McAMS Yamaha podium. It’ll be tricky starting on the third row here tomorrow, but I’m quite strong in some areas, so if we can do some passing on the first few laps and then try not to use too much tyre. I prefer the longer races, so we’ll do some homework tonight and come out swinging tomorrow.”

As the pack continued to close, Mackenzie was able to defend hard, but it was disappointment for O’Halloran as he got drafted to the chequered flag by Bridewell with just 0.026s separating them in second and third.

Brookes equalled his best result of the season in fourth, but was just 0.559s adrift of the win – the closest he has been this season on the VisionTrack Ducati, with Jackson completing the top five for FS-3 Racing Kawasaki.

Josh Brookes – Race One P4

“We had the pace to be better than fourth, but I got caught up in the incident of Andrew Irwin and Gino Rea and that lost me time to the leaders. I clawed it back but then lost the front going onto the back straight and ran wide although I was still only half a second adrift at the end. The most important thing about the weekend so far is that I’ve got my pace back and the longer races tomorrow should suit me better. I’m on the front row for the first race which is obviously good so the aim will be to make a good start to put me in a better situation and hopefully get back on the podium.”

Ryan Vickers held on to sixth place at his home round for the RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki team ahead of Peter Hickman as the pair broke away from Rory Skinner.

Bradley Ray and Danny Buchan completed the top ten with five races now remaining to decide the eight Title Fighters in the Showdown.

Superbike Race One Results

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Superbike Race Two

The second race of the weekend was another three-way scrap at the front between the McAMS Yamaha pairing of Jason O’Halloran and Mackenzie, as Oxford Products Racing Ducati’s Bridewell again locked horns with the boys in blue.

O’Halloran upped the stakes after losing out to the pair yesterday, emerging ahead following an intense last lap battle with his two closest rivals.

Bridewell had managed to split the teammates by half race distance after O’Halloran ran wide at Wilson, but the championship leader was soon attacking the Oxford Products Racing Ducati contender to regain the position.

In the closing stages, O’Halloran had taken the lead on lap 13 with a decisive move at Wilson on Mackenzie, but the pair had Bridewell pushing them both until he had a moment at Coram when he caught his knee slider on the grass. He saved a crash, but just lost a few hundredths of a second to the leading pair ahead of the final two laps.

On the penultimate lap, Mackenzie held the lead, but O’Halloran fought back at Brundle to take the position. However, it wasn’t over and on the final lap, Mackenzie regained the advantage on the brakes into Agostini.

O’Halloran was piling on the pressure and made his move at the end of the Bentley Straight, then defended hard to take the chequered flag by 0.305s from Mackenzie, as Bridewell claimed a consistent third place.

Superbike Race Two Results

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Superbike Race Three

A dramatic race three eventually featured the same trio tussling for the podium positions, as Mackenzie dealt his rivals a winning blow in an intense five-lap dash following an earlier red flag, to secure the Pirelli Race of Aces trophy.

When the race got underway, Mackenzie launched to the front of the pack with a lightening start from pole position to lead Gino Rea and O’Halloran into Riches for the first time.

However, championship leader O’Halloran was back ahead of the pack by the end of the opening lap as Bridewell had also pushed Mackenzie down the order into third.

By lap five, Bridewell had seized the advantage at Riches with a decisive move on his McAMS Yamaha rival and he was able to fend off the teammates over the following laps before the race was red flagged on lap nine.

Danny Buchan’s SYNETIQ BMW suffered a technical problem at the end of the Bentley Straight and as a result of losing fluid, he crashed heavily with Lee Jackson and Andrew Irwin also caught up in the incident. Jackson was unable to make the five lap restart due to damage to his FS-3 Racing Kawasaki, which puts him in a precarious position as he remains in eighth overall in the standings.

The race restarted with a five-lap sprint to the chequered flag, but Mackenzie again got the lead off the start ahead of Rea, but the Buildbase Suzuki rider was soon under attack as Bridewell and O’Halloran both moved ahead.

On the second lap, Bridewell launched his bid for the win, taking the lead into Brundle to hold the McAMS Yamaha riders behind him.

Mackenzie was not defeated though; he made a move on Bridewell at Agostini on the penultimate lap to reclaim the lead with the pair going head-to-head on the final lap for the victory.

A mistake from Mackenzie at Nelson wasn’t enough to give Bridewell the opportunity he needed to take the win and just 0.048s separated the pair at the chequered flag with O’Halloran completing the podium line up.

Defending champion Josh Brookes equalled his best result of the season with a fourth and sixth place finish today as he bids to claw back the advantage, with 13-points now separating him from eighth in the standings.

Peter Hickman and Buchan hold fifth and sixth place in the standings after the pair both had a challenging weekend in Norfolk. ‘Hicky’ bounced back from tenth in race two and having to start from the back row of the grid following an issue on the grid in race three, to secure seventh for FHO Racing BMW.

Honda Racing’s Glenn Irwin also endured a difficult weekend, meaning he now has just a seven-point margin over Lee Jackson, with the pair holding the final two positions inside the top eight ahead of next weekend’s crucial three races at Silverstone.

Bradley Ray, Brookes, Ryan Vickers, Rory Skinner, Andrew Irwin and Gino Rea are all outside the coveted top eight, as the focus moves to Silverstone, where the final four riders who will fight for the 2021 crown will be decided next Sunday.

Tarran Mackenzie

“It’s been an amazing weekend and I didn’t expect it after crashing at Cadwell Park. We started really strong in first free practice and the bike felt really nice all weekend and allowed me to ride it how I wanted. It was great to win yesterday, I felt like I could have done it again this morning but Jason just got the better of me and then I bounced back with another win in a five lap sprint. It was important to get a lot of podium points and to have a successful weekend with one round to go before the Showdown is key. We move on to Silverstone now which is a great track for me, I love it there and the way the bike is working at the moment I’m sure we’ll be up the sharp end and battling for wins and podiums.”

Christian Iddon

“I was a bit disappointed with 11th in the first race today but, at the same time, I needed a finish after the run we’ve been on. I felt pretty racy up until about mid-race and I lost a bit of front end feel in the latter stages whilst the harder tyre didn’t quite work as I’d hoped. I switched to the softer tyre for the second race and refined both the electronics and chassis and that enabled me to be more aggressive in the first few laps. After the red flag, it was a five-lap dash which is always a bit hairy but the little changes we’d made helped the bike be better again and although a podium may have been possible, it wasn’t to be, and we took the fifth. It’s obviously not where I want to be finishing or need to be, but we’ll take what we can, and it’s stopped the rot a little bit, so we’ll build on this.”

Josh Brookes

“It’s been a hectic weekend and I seem to be around all the on-track drama that’s happening at the moment. All the moments and crashes other riders are having seem to be happening all around me, so I’d like to be away from all that at the next round. Looking at the positives, I’ve been able to fight a lot more this weekend and am more at ease with the bike which is translating into good race pace so two fourths and a sixth is another step in the right direction. We had the potential to do better this weekend, but the results at least mean I’ve put myself in with a shout of the Showdown and having been in it every year, it would be nice to do so again.”

Superbike Race Three Results

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Bennetts British Superbike  Championship Standings

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Source: MCNews.com.au