WorldSSP – Round 1 in the books for the PETRONAS MIE MS Racing Honda Team
The PETRONAS MIE MS Racing Honda Team has now completed round one of the 2023 Supersport World Championship in Australia and can be pleased with the performance of riders’ Adam Norrodin and Tarran Mackenzie, particularly in Saturday’s race one.
The two riders were unfortunately unable to make the most of the short warm-up session as it took place in very wet conditions with only two riders risking to go out before the session was ultimately red flagged.
The second and final Supersport race ran according to schedule at 2.30 pm local time (CET +10). Eighteenth and nineteenth through the early stages, Norrodin and Mackenzie did their best to follow up their race 1 performance and make a similar impression in today’s dry conditions. Mid-way through and both had made up two positions but their lap times prevented them from being able to reach and battle with the group ahead. On lap thirteen the race was red-flagged and declared finished when geese came onto the track. Norrodin concluded in the points, in fifteenth place, followed immediately by team-mate Mackenzie, sixteenth.
Mackenzie lies tenth in the general standings as this first round concludes, having collected eleven points this weekend, with team-mate Norrodin lying eighteenth, with five points. The PETRONAS MIE MS Racing Honda team will be back on track already next weekend, when round two will play out at the Mandalika International Circuit in Indonesia.
Adam Norrodin P15
“All in all, a not so bad second race. I didn’t expect I could collect points to be honest, in dry conditions, as we know we have new updates coming soon but don’t have them yet. I didn’t make a good start either, and found myself last through the first corner. But I stayed motivated and looked to see in which areas of the track I could gain something. I tried to reach and stick with the rider ahead, Sarmoon, and I think I had the pace to try and attack him on the last lap but they red-flagged the race 5 laps from the end. Anyway, as I said, I’m happy to collect one point, and even if we know it will be challenging in Indonesia in a week’s time, we remain motivated and positive.”
Tarran Mackenzie P16
“Race 2 was OK. On the first lap somebody crashed in front of me and I ran wide and lost the slipstream to the guys in front so it was a long race on my own. That said, it was the first time since starting to ride this bike that we were able to complete many laps in a row because we missed out on some of the testing and yesterday it was raining. So it was nice to gain information and for sure I would have liked to be further up but that’s OK; we know we must be patient and keep smiling, so we will do just that as we head to Mandalika.”
