WorldSBK rider aiming to break free of unwanted tag: “I don’t like this feeling”

A fourth place at the Australian WorldSBK for Tarran Mackenzie marked his best result in the championship, but it also brought up an unwanted tag for the former BSB champion.

Wet weather arrived before Race 2 and stayed more or less throughout the 22 laps. Mackenzie already has decent pedigree in the rain, winning in Most in World Supersport back in 2023, and taking World Superbike top-10s in the wet Superpole Races at both Assen and Balaton Park last year.

These results bring up the kind of ‘wet weather rider’ tag that has previously been associated with riders like Anthony West in the 250cc and Moto2 grand prix classes, but it’s one that Mackenzie is keen to shake off this year by proving his capabilities in dry weather.

“I don’t like this feeling, like when it was raining before people were telling me ‘It’s raining, you’re going to get a good result’, which I like that people are telling me this but also I don’t like to be this person that’s just fast in the rain,” Tarran Mackenzie told WorldSBK.com after Race 2 at Phillip Island.

“So, I want to try and do this in the dry as well, which would be nice. 

“But I think maybe my riding style is quite smooth and maybe it works in the wet. 

“I have a lot of confidence in the rain, maybe it’s coming from the UK, maybe it helps. I think in January this year it rained every day in the UK, so maybe us British people are used to it, especially Scottish people!

“Anyway, it was great to back it up. I wasn’t expecting fourth, [I thought] a solid top-six would be great, but ended up fourth so happy.”

“Disappointed” with Superpole Race

Mackenzie’s fourth in Race 2 came after a Superpole Race that left him “disappointed” as he missed the top-nine even though he and the MGM Ducati team found some performance overnight.

“I was a little bit disappointed not to make the top-nine in the Superpole Race, but it was close in a group with Petrucci, Iker [Lecuona], and I can’t remember the other person now [Surra],” he said.

“I’ve been struggling from the test, really, and through the weekend with some feeling. 

“So, we improved a little bit this morning but still struggling, so when the rain came I was happy because I thought ‘Now it’s a chance to get a better result’. I feel like my position all weekend has been around 10th, 11th place in the dry, so it would’ve been difficult to improve on that, I think, in the last race.”