R7
Cadwell Park
England
27 - 29 Aug
2022
McAMS Yamaha returned to full force with a commanding 1-2 in the opening race at Brands Hatch with Jason O’Halloran taking his third consecutive victory ahead of team-mate Tarran Mackenzie, who took his first podium of 2022 in dramatic style.
There were good omens for the opening race of the fifth round of the championship when O’Halloran and Mackenzie locked out the sharp end of the grid in qualifying. It had looked as though pole would go the way of the reigning champion, but a last gasp lap from O’Halloran saw him steal the top spot from his team-mate. O’Halloran’s time of 1’24.433 – nearly half a second under the lap record – bettered Mackenzie’s 1’24.645.
O’Halloran got a strong launch off the line and established an early lead while things weren’t as simple for Mackenzie. Dropping back to fourth, he fought back up to second place before a moment for both O’Halloran and Mackenzie out of Stirlings gave Brad Ray the drive. O’Halloran re-took the lead at the next turn, and it wasn’t long until Mackenzie was back in second until a frightening moment on the Cooper Straight saw him back down to fourth again.
As Mackenzie, Ray and Tommy Bridewell fought for second, this gave O’Halloran breathing space at the front allowing him to take the win by 0.6 of a second. Mackenzie managed to get past Bridewell on the final lap to make it a McAMS Yamaha 1-2, marking his first trip to the podium with the #1 plate having started the year plagued with injury.
O’Halloran’s victory sees him close the gap to series leader Bradley Ray to four points, but crucially the Australian now leads in podium points, while Mackenzie moved closer to a Showdown position, now sitting 13th with 55 points in total.
Sunday will host two further races, with Mackenzie’s 1’24.954 enough to secure pole in the first of the two with O’Halloran starting on the second row in fourth.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch, eBay Sprint Race result:
*1. Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha)
2. Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) +0.665s*
3. Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) +1.056s
4. Bradley Ray (Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha) +1.353s
5. Kyle Ryde (Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha) +4.411s
6. Josh Brookes (MCE Ducati) +5.502s
7. Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings FS-3 Kawasaki) +6.140s
8. Leon Haslam (VisionTrack Kawasaki) +6.761s
9. Lee Jackson (Cheshire Mouldings FS-3 Kawasaki) +6.969s
10. Christian Iddon (Buildbase Suzuki) +10.355s