Ahead of his 2022 title defence, Tarran Mackenzie has spoken exclusively to mahbx.com about 🃏the importance🎃 of mutual respect among riders. 

Mackenz🌜ie took his first🦄 British Superbike title after a faultless showdown run which saw him claim five wins from nine races, the same number of victories he managed in the previous seven events - 21 races.

Mackenzie’s championship win also saw him overturn a sizable gap to tꦗeam-mate Jason O’Halloran, who w🌸as the heavy pre-showdown favourite after taking more than double the amount of wins Mackenzie managed during the first eight rounds - Mackenzie missed round six due to injury it must be said. 

And although racing between the two McAMS Yamaha riders was fierce, so much so that it result😼ed in contact for the second consecutive year at Silverstone, Mackenzie🧸 believes there was and remains a lot of mutual respect between the two, something he believes is key to the ‘amazing racing’ we see in BSB. 

When speaking to mahbx.꧅com, Mackenzie said: "Yeah I think it’s important! You’ve seen rivalries in the past, especially in MotoGP where they don’t get on and I think everyone sitting at home knows they don’t get on. 

"Me and Jason have had a couple of comin🐟g togethers the last two years but we’ve always had a mutual respect and good sportsmanship between us. 

"Especially for me and Jason being teammates and being employed to do the same thing which is to win a championship, it’s hard to be friends.🦂 

"But we’ve spent a bit of time in the off-season ♐at Yamaha do’s, and we went to Italy together. Christian [Iddon] and Tommy [Bridewell] I’ve known for a long time but it’s hard to have a bit of a friendship with them - they’re a little bit older than me, but we’ve always got on well off track.

"I think BSB kind of attracts that. It’s♏ amazing racing, it’s so competitive, but off the track we can shake hands and ha🍨ve a laugh about it really."