Tarran Mackenzie Finds Positivity Despite Challenging Start at Phillip Island Round 1
Kimura rider Tarran Mackenzie headed to Melbourne, Australia for the first round of the 2024 World Superbike Championship with his new Honda Fireblade CBR1000RR Superbike for the Petronas MEI Honda Team.
Mackenzie, (29) new to the big 1000cc World Superbike machine this year after a season with the team in 2023 on the 600cc World Supersport machine was looking forward to the challenge and season ahead “I’ve competed here at Philip Island twice before but never with a Superbike, so the pre-race test was useful. It’s a fun track, fast and flowing, though you never know what the weather’s going to bring. Australia’s one of my favourite countries too, so I’m looking forward to it. It’s great to be wearing PETRONAS colours and representing such an iconic global brand. The bike livery and my leathers look cool, and I can’t wait to get the kit on and try our best for everyone involved.”
PHOTO CREDIT: PETRONAS MEI HONDA RACING / LZ PHOTO
Race 1 on Saturday saw Mackenzie on the back foot and starting in 21st place due to little time on the bike in qualifying “I struggled this morning, and in yesterday’s Superpole to be honest, and I really wanted to make a more dramatic change to the bike in order to be able to make a comparison, good or bad. So we did that for today’s race and I immediately improved on my lap times when the race got underway. I felt good on new tyres, and the first part of the race went well, but then I had more trouble in the second half. I made a small mistake during the pitstop which caused me to lose a little time, so I’ll try to improve on that tomorrow. Hopefully we can use tomorrow’s warm-up to understand a little more and then we’ll do our best to improve in the two races, of course.” Mackenzie fought hard to bring the underdeveloped bike home against the top riders in the world in 19th place.
PHOTO CREDIT: PETRONAS MEI HONDA RACING / LZ PHOTO
Superpole Race and Race 2 on a hot 25c Sunday afternoon didn’t fair well for Mackenzie with a technical problem in the Superpole race “Unfortunately, when I went out for the morning’s Superpole race I had a technical problem and so had to come back into the pits already on the warm-up lap. Later in the day, when race 2 started for the first time, I was almost on the back of the group but then the race was red-flagged. In the restarted race, I had slightly better feeling on the bike, but it was only a short race of course. I set my best lap of the weekend anyway, and was a little more consistent, feeling the best I had all weekend actually, so that’s a positive sign as we head to Barcelona.”
Mackenzie returns to the first European round at Circuit de Catalunya 22nd – 24th March.