BSB: O’Halloran strikes back against Mackenzie in Snetterton race 2

Round seven of the 2021 British Superbike Championship continued on Sunday at Snetterton. Tommy Bridewell started from pole position for the second race of the weekend. 

It was Gino Rea, from the second row, who made the holeshot into turn one, and the #44 went on to lead the opening stages. 

It took a mistake from the Buildbase Suzuki rider at turn two on lap four for him to lose the lead. It was Tarran Mackenzie who took point, ahead of his McAms Yamaha teammate, Jason O’Halloran and Tommy Bridewell. 

That trio eventually managed to establish themselves an advantage over Gino Rea from lap 10 onwards. While Rea fell backwards towards Josh Brookes, Bridewell in third place found himself in the perfect position to watch what turned out to be a superb battle between the two Yamaha teammates. 

O’Halloran made the first move at turn two on lap 13, but Mackenzie responded at the Bombhole. Two laps later, O’Halloran made a block pass in turn nine, to which Mackenzie was unable to immediately respond, and so the Australian led onto the final lap. 

Mackenzie was strong into turn four, and he made the move stick there to lead onto the back straight. Since O’Halloran had passed on the outside of the left-hander at the end of the straight on the previous lap, giving him the inside for the right-hander at turn nine, Mackenzie left the inside at turn eight open. O’Halloran took that opportunity to pass Mackenzie on the brakes into turn eight, and a failed attempt to strike back immediately from Mackenzie in turn nine cost him crucial meters, and allowed O’Halloran to escape with the win. 

Behind the two Yamahas, Tommy Bridewell held onto third place, while Josh Brookes equalled his best finish of the year in fourth. Gino Rea had his best performance of the season as he rounded out the top five, ahead of Lee Jackson, Ryan Vickers, Andrew Irwin, Rory Skinner and Peter Hickman who completed the top 10. 

Christian Iddon finished 11th, ahead of Brad Ray, Danny Buchan, a struggling Glenn Irwin after his crash at turn six on Saturday, and Kyle Ryde who finished 15th to take the final point.

Xavi Fores finished 16th after running wide at turn two on the opening lap, ahead of Dean Harrison, Storm Stacey, Luke Stapleford and Bjorn Estment who completed the top 20; while Takumi Takahashi was 21st from Brian McCormack who was last of the 22 finishers.