British Superbike: Yamaha: Incidents involving Jason O’Halloran ‘crushing’, season over for Tarran Mackenzie
McAMS Yamaha Team Principal, Steve Rodgers, has called the opening round of the British Superbike Showdown at Oulton Park ‘one of the worst weekends we have had in 30 years of racing’, after Jason O’Halloran was taken out twice and Tarran Mackenzie suffered a season-ending injury.
After contact in race one with Peter Hickman which led to him suffering a very fast fall at turn 14, O’Halloran was involved in a similar collision with Tommy Bridewell in race two of the Oulton Park British Superbike round which saw Bradley Ray, Lee Jackson and Bridewell all take victories.
Both times O’Halloran was sent tumbling through the gravel while the other rider continued on.
An extremely quick corner and one where an overtake is risky to say the least, Hickman and Bridewell made dashes to the inside and although Hickman was further alongside O’Halloran, both incidents left the Yamaha rider with very little time to react and with nowhere to go.
O’Halloran missed out on race three due to the short turnaround between races, which has seen his title chances go up in smoke.
"Oulton Park was one of the worst weekends we have had in 30 years of racing," said Rodgers, Team Principal of the McAMS Yamaha outfit. "It was a hugely testing round for the entire team to see our hard work over the last eight rounds go up in smoke after taking ten race victories and 20 podiums this season.
"Unfortunately, that’s the end of the season for Tarran [Mackenzie] as he focuses on his recovery from a fractured femur. We’re so incredibly proud of everything he has achieved in a very difficult year and we’ll continue to support him all the way.
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"Jason is one of the strongest and most talented riders on the Superbike grid. Over the last two years, he’s won more races than any other rider so for his title hopes to take a hit like that is crushing. Fortunately, he escaped relatively unscathed and can brush himself off, get back up and continue at Donington Park this weekend.
"As a team, we will now draw a line under Oulton Park as our focus turns to moving forward and giving it our all over the remaining two rounds to bounce back in the strongest way possible."
Regarding Mackenzie, the reigning champion suffered a front-end crash in race two before being collected by Hickman, who had nowhere to go as Mackenzie skidded off the circuit before coming back onto the track on the exit of turn 11.
After missing the start of the season due to injury, Mackenzie will unfortunately do the same for the last two rounds and thus relinquish the title of BSB champion at the end of the 2022 campaign.
Mackenzie suffered a broken femur during his accident at Oulton Park - the Yamaha rider has since undergone successful surgery.
