After a partnership spanning six seasons, McAMS Yamaha and Tarran Mackenzie will bid farewell to one another as the 2021 Bennetts British Superbike Champion heads for pastures new for 2023.
Mackenzie won 16 races in his five years with McAMS Yamaha in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, finishing on the podium 43 times with the Raceways Motorcycles-run effort.
First joining the team in 2017 in the British Supersport class, Mackenzie won the first six races of the season aboard his McAMS Yamaha R6, earning him a shock call-up to the Grand Prix paddock in Moto2 mid-season.
Keen to see the youngster progress, Steve Rodgers’ team released Mackenzie from his contract to allow him to chase his Grand Prix dream. However, when it became clear that his Moto2 journey would end for 2018, Tarran was welcomed back to the Raceways Motorcycles family with a spot in the McAMS Yamaha Superbike team to take on his debut season in the premier class in Britain.
He didn’t take long to get to grips with the R1 Superbike, finishing on the podium twice in his rookie season before clinching his first BSB win in the opening round the following year.
But it was with the arrival of the 2020 R1 that Tarran and the McAMS Yamaha team really began to shine. Mackenzie, alongside long-time team-mate Jason O’Halloran, has contributed to McAMS Yamaha having won more races than any other team over the last three years.
In 2021, with ten victories and 19 podiums, Mackenzie won the British Superbike Championship for the team. Returning in 2022 as defending champion, there were high hopes for Mackenzie but an injury-blighted campaign put pay to any title defence.
However, despite having broken his leg twice before the season started, Mackenzie showed his tenacity by taking three BSB race wins and nine podiums and looked set to fight for the title in the ‘Showdown’ before an unfortunate incident at Oulton Park saw him fall mid-pack and get run over by another rider, resulting in a broken femur, bringing a premature end to what would be his final season in BSB with the McAMS Yamaha team.
With Mackenzie deciding to move on, McAMS Yamaha will have a new-look line-up in 2023 for the first time in four seasons with Jason O’Halloran’s new team-mate to be confirmed shortly.