Mackenzie charge “backfires” in Assen WorldSBK rain, “Moto3 chaos” at the end

Tarran MacKenzie delivered one of his best dry WorldSBK performances as he fought from 14th on the grid at Assen on Saturday.

The MGM Ducati rider passed the likes of MotoGP race winner Miguel Oliveira to reach sixth place just as rain began falling.

Such conditions would normally have played into Mackenzie’s hands, but this time it “backfired” when he suffered a scare on a white line.

That moment pitched MacKenzie back into battle with the likes of factory BMW rider Oliveira and Yamaha’s Andrea Locatelli.

The group exchanged places “like a Moto3 race” in a frantic finale, with Mackenzie "annoyed" to also lose out to Lorenzo Baldassarri for eighth place on the final lap.

“Yeah, I would say so,” Mackenzie told the official WorldSBK website, when asked if it was one of his best races. “It was just nice to be in the fight.

“I was really annoyed after qualifying because I did a bit of a longer run on Friday and I knew kind of where my pace was, but starting 14th made my life hard.

“Anyway, I had a good start, good first corner and managed to come around in  10th and that just made my race a lot easier.

“To be in that group was good. I felt strong and just a bit chaos towards the end but still happy with the result.”

Explaining the scare in the rain, Mackenzie said: “Normally in situation like that, I would be okay, so I thought ‘this is good for me’ - but actually it backfired a bit.

“I was at the front of the group, but I had a moment on a white line and I was like, ‘wow, it's more wet than I thought’.

“It just allowed the others to join. Then I made a pass on Locatelli into the last chicane, ran wide and it gave him a gap.

“Then it felt like a Moto3 race at the end, with a lot of passes.

“It's always annoying when you just get pipped at the end, but still top 10 is good. 

"And to be fighting with that calibre of riders, I was happy.”