RACING fans witnessed a little bit of history at the Scottish round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championships.
Tarran Mackenzie, riding a Kawasaki ZX-R 600 for Stauff Connect Academy, joined the select list of Scottish riders who have won at Knockhill in the British championships when he triumphed in the Pirelli Superstock 600cc.
Mackenzie is the youngest son of triple BSB champion and former GP star Niall Mackenzie. His dad, the honorary club president of Knockhill, admitted his 20-year-old son's victory was an emotional moment.
In the first headline race of the day, Hawick's Stuart Easton was chasing his first win at Knockhill. Despite it being his home circuit the diminutive Scot, who rides for Paul Bird Motorsport, has never won at the Fife circuit. He had even more motivation as the mother of his friend and mentor, Steve Hislop, the TT legend who died in a helicopter crash in the Borders in 2003, was there to present the Flying Haggis trophy for the fastest lap.
Easton, who rode with a special helmet which paid tribute to Hizzy, led the first lap before being muscled out of the lead by his team-mate, and championship leader, Shane Byrne at the hairpin. He had to settle for 3rd after Tyco BMW's Michael Laverty stole second, with Byrne taking the win in an incident-packed race that saw four riders crash out at Clarks in separate incidents.
The weather, it was typical four-seasons-in-a-day Knockhill stuff, played a big part in the second headline race, which was red-flagged due to rain on lap 19. After a 25-minute delay, it restarted as an 11-lap dash.
Easton got the perfect start - going from fourth on the grid to second by the first corner but he couldn't get past Byrne, who completed the double, with Easton second and Milwaukee Yamaha's Australian rider Josh Brookes in third.
Despite failing to get that elusive first win, Easton moves into third in the championships, ahead of Milwaukee Yamaha's James Ellison who crashed in race one, and retired in race two with a technical fault.
The Motorpoint British Supersport race was won by Kyle Ryde, of CG Motorsport, with East Kilbride's Matthew Paulo, riding for Colin Appleyard, taking third place in the Evo class.
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