Points for Mackenzie in WorldSBK race 1 at Assen
The weather conditions continued to challenge PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders Tarran Mackenzie and Adam Norrodin today, as they took on Superpole and the first race of this Dutch WorldSBK round.
Following on from yesterday’s mixed conditions, this morning’s third and final practice ran in the rain on a full wet track. Mackenzie and Norrodin took the opportunity to build confidence with the CBR1000RR-R in the challenging conditions so as to be prepared in case of any wet races this weekend. British rider Tarran in particular, a SSP race winner in mixed conditions last season, demonstrated strong potential during this final practice. Conditions were much the same for the subsequent Superpole session, in which the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders pushed as hard as they dared in the wet to secure a strong grid position for race 1. Despite the phase lasting just 15 minutes, the track was quickly drying and times tumbling as a result. An impressive 1’44.112 for Tarran meant that the Brit qualified fourteenth for race 1, earning a place on row five of the grid. Adam unfortunately had a tougher time, with a best of 1’47.083 putting the Malaysian twenty-first at the end of the session.
The 21-lap race ran according to schedule but got underway in full wet conditions. From fourteenth, Mackenzie was lying sixteenth by the end of lap one, followed by Norrodin, seventeenth, both riders having elected to go out on slick tyres. By lap five, Tarran was up to thirteenth, but the track was quickly drying out, with lap times dropping rapidly throughout the first half of the race. Gaps began to open up, but Tarran and Adam were able to maintain a pace that allowed them to hold fourteenth and seventeenth place. A red flag brought the race to a premature conclusion on lap fourteen, after another competitor left oil on the track. This meant that Mackenzie and Norrodin classified fourteenth and seventeenth respectively, with Tarran scoring his first two championship points of the 2024 season with this result.
This Dutch WorldSBK round will conclude tomorrow with the Superpole race and second 21-lap Superbike race.
Tarran Mackenzie P14
“In qualifying I felt like I might have been able to do a little more. We’d changed the setting which gave me good feeling but towards the end maybe I needed to go a little stiffer; we were quite close to the guys in front though, so I was happy with that. In the race, it was quite strange to have a full wet first sector and then the rest of the track in either mixed or dry conditions, so it was a matter of figuring that out. I think we took the right decision anyway and have scored a few points. I felt pretty good overall and can hopefully improve tomorrow in the dry, and have another good day if it turns out to be wet.”
Adam Norrodin P17
“I’m really disappointed with today’s race. The weather was strange, with some section of the track fully wet and others completely dry, so it was very hard to decide which tyre to use. We went with dry in the end, but already after two laps some rain returned. I decided to stay out because this track tends to dry out fast, but even when that happened, I found I couldn’t really exploit the fact I was on slicks and was struggling to ride. I finished seventeenth, but too far off the pace, so we need to try and find a way to improve already tomorrow.”
Full Results * Courtesy of DWO
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