WorldSSP – An unlucky Misano race for Norrodin and Mackenzie
The Supersport World Championship round at the Misano World Circuit unfortunately came to a premature end for PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders Tarran Mackenzie and Adam Norrodin, neither of whom were able to complete today’s second and final race.
Keen to improve on yesterday’s performance in today’s second 18-lap Supersport race, Mackenzie lined up in twenty-second place and Norrodin in twenty-eighth on the starting grid. The race ran in warm and sunny conditions, with both PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders optimistic as to their chances. Unfortunately, though, it was simply not their day. Tarran lost both ground and positions off the line, slipping to twenty-seventh. Quickly realising that he had a technical issue, the British rider returned to the garage on lap two. Meanwhile, Adam made up four places through the first turns to place and a further three over the first five laps, lying twenty-first by lap six. But technical problem for the Malaysian on lap six meant that he too was forced to pit and retire from the race. Not the end to the weekend that the team were hoping for after having made good progress during the practice sessions.
The first five rounds of the championship now complete, Mackenzie lies seventeenth in the general standings with fifteen points and Norrodin twenty-second with a tally of nine. The riders will be back on track for round six, which will be staged at the Donington Park circuit in the UK on 30 June-2 July
Tarran Mackenzie
“We’d made some improvement in qualifying yesterday but then the first race didn’t go to plan and I had to stop. In this morning’s warm-up we had an issue that caused us to lose time, but we fixed that ready for this afternoon’s second race. Unfortunately though, race 2 brought a different technical problem and I had to come in after just one lap. It’s a little frustrating as up until this weekend we’d finished every race and have been making gradually improvement, so to have two DNFs this weekend is disappointing. Hopefully we can do more at Donington, my home round.”
Adam Norrodin
“The weekend has gone well in that we’ve improved with each practice, taking steps with our bike setup and lap times. I also have a new crew chief as of this weekend and we’re starting to understand each other. Unfortunately race 2 brought a problem that prevented us from finishing. Up until that point, it had been going well, both our pace and my feeling seeming better compared to yesterday. We’re lacking a little consistency still, but we take the positives from this round anyway and move on to Donington where we will try our best as always.”
