Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Waters continued his rise into becoming a British Superbike Championship top-six regular with solid finishes in today’s races during the penultimate round of the series at Silverstone as Taylor Mackenzie scored his first-ever podium in yesterday’s opening Supersport race aboard the GSX-R600.

Waters took seventh place from a fourth-row grid spot in the opening race and fought bravely aboard his GSX-R1000 for fifth in race two. His team-mate John Hopkins, unfortunately, had a weekend to forget, crashing out of the opening race and was later forced to sit-out race two, after a crack was discovered on his machine’s oil cooler on the sighting lap, which was the result of his crash in race one.

Mackenzie took his debut British Supersport podium during Saturday’s sprint race, finishing in second place after a nail-biting last-lap battle with American James Rispoli.

The 21-year-old Scottish rider made the most of his second-row grid position, immediately slotting into fourth place in the opening exchanges, but his battle with Rispoli was a race-long affair during the nine-lap encounter.

The American did lead on the final lap and the easy option for Mackenzie would have been to settle for third place, but a strong pass just a few corners from home offered up a deserved second place.

In Sunday’s second Supersport race, Mackenzie followed-up his debut British Supersport podium with a fighting 10th-place in the 12-lap feature race.

Josh Waters:

“If you had offered me a top-five finish in the dry at the start of the season I would have been peaking, but where we are now I want podiums and I could see it right in front of me in that second race. I can’t fault the team or the GSX-R1000 as it was superb today; the boys did a great job and my lap times were more consistent in race two. I’m pleased with top-five but I want to keep making progress and we can hopefully push on again at Brands Hatch for the final round.”

John Hopkins:

“Going into race one we knew we had our work cut-out for us due to making the wrong tyre choice in qualifying, leaving us to start from 16th on the grid . Either way, I was determined to get the best start possible and make my way to the front in the early laps before the leaders cleared off, which was going to plan up until I lost the front under hard-braking passing Westmoreland. Sadly that ended up being the end to yet another disappointing weekend after a mechanical issue left us unable to start race two. No one was at fault, it was just a very unlucky issue that couldn’t have happened at a worse time. Regardless, I’ve got to say a big thanks to the team and my mechanics for all the hard work and I honestly couldn’t be more determined to finishing-out the year on a high at Brands in just under two weeks’ time.”

Taylor Mackenzie:

“I don’t know what to say really but thanks to everyone at Tyco Suzuki for such a big effort. I’m delighted to get my first British Supersport podium and I had no ‘nose bleeds’ being in a podium position for most of the race.

“I just kept banging-in consistent lap times and even on that last lap I could have settled for third, but I wanted second for both myself and the team and I’m just delighted for everyone involved. The Tyco Suzuki GSX-R600 was brilliant throughout and it was great to finally get a bottle of champagne and a podium at such a top class venue.”

Philip Neill - Team Manager:

“That was another very satisfying pair of races from Josh Waters and he has now established himself as a consistent top-six challenger. For us as a team it is very satisfying to have brought him to this point after a disappointing introduction to the British Superbike Championship last year. His recent performances have also proved the strength of Suzuki’s GSX-R1000 package.

“For John it was another weekend where the potential promised so much and unfortunately we came away with nothing to show from the races.

“Taylor’s podium on Saturday was superb for everyone in the team and testament to the hard work both he and his family put into the sport, and his 10th place today doesn’t reflect the effort from the lad.”

British Superbike Championship, Silverstone, race one result:

1. Shane Byrne (Kawasaki)
2. Ryuichi Kiyonari (BMW) +0.084s
3. Josh Brookes (Yamaha) +0.368s
4. Dan Linfoot (Kawasaki) +17.952s
5. Stuart Easton (Kawasaki) +18.524s
6. Julien Da Costa (Honda) +18.572s
7. Josh Waters (Tyco Suzuki) +18.924s
8. James Westmoreland (BMW) +19.454s
9. Peter Hickman (Honda) +19.490s
10. Tommy Bridewell (Yamaha) +20.387s

British Superbike Championship, Silverstone, race two result:

1. Ryuichi Kiyonari (BMW)
2. Shane Byrne (Kawasaki) +0.074s
3. James Ellison (Kawasaki) +10.008s
4. Tommy Bridewell (Yamaha) +10.101s
5. Josh Waters (Tyco Suzuki) +13.766s
6. Stuart Easton (Kawasaki) +15.719s
7. Dan Linfoot (Kawasaki) +15.765s
8. Julien Da Costa (Honda) +15.967s
9. Peter Hickman (Honda) +18.278s
10. James Westmoreland (BMW) +21.791s

British Supersport Championship, Silverstone, Sprint race:

1: Alastair Seeley (Yamaha) 19m 53.944s
2: Taylor Mackenzie (Tyco Suzuki) +9.286s
3: James Rispoli (Yamaha) +9.683s
4: Luke Mossey (Triumph) +16.980s
5: Sam Hornsey (Triumph) +18.127s

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