Mackenzie, O’Halloran form McAMS Yamaha 2019 BSB line-up

Tarran Mackenzie is joined by Jason O’Halloran at McAMS Yamaha for the 2019 Bennetts British Superbike championship.

The duo were presented to fans at Motorcycle Live ahead of a first winter test at Almeria as the official Yamaha squad in BSB for next season.

While Mackenzie, top rookie in BSB this year, has been retained at the Lancashire-based team Australian O’Halloran moves from Honda for 2019 with Josh Brookes switching to Be Wiser Ducati for next season.

Mackenzie is naturally thrilled for a second consecutive season at McAMS Yamaha in BSB having climbed on the podium on multiple occasions in his rookie year.

“We had a mega first year on the YZF-R1 and I’m just so pleased to be able to continue that progression with the same bike, crew and team for next season, it’s the perfect situation to be honest,” Mackenzie said. “Our target was to get a podium before the year was out and we got four with a couple more near misses, so I’m well happy with that to be honest.

“We hit our stride mid-season and towards the end of the year I felt like my trackcraft and confidence was really high so it will be great starting the year in that way.

“Silverstone was a key round, we had two podiums, it should have been three and we were battling with the Championship contenders all race. The aim for next season is definitely to make the Showdown and get those first race wins. We have a test at Almeria after Motorcycle Live and I just can’t wait to get cracking, I’m not great at sitting around.”

O’Halloran makes the switch to Yamaha after over a decade with Honda and is relishing ‘a new chapter’ in his racing career.

“It’s a new chapter and its really exciting to be joining a new team and manufacturer after a long time in the same place,” O’Halloran said. “I have big aims and know I’ve got loads more to prove, people haven’t seen the best of me yet! The bike is a proven race winner and the team has great pedigree, so I believe we have the ingredients to fight for wins.

“I’ve followed the R1 plenty and it seems like you need to be smooth and hold good corner speed, things I really think I can work with. Taz has some great experience on the bike now, so it will be good to be able to hook into information too.”

“We had a strong year in BSB and learnt a lot about ourselves and the YZF-R1, so we can hit the ground running this season, with two cracking signings,” Grant Bunting, McAMS Yamaha team manager, said. “Tarran exceeded all our expectations this year and we were really keen to keep him. He has good experience now and we want to help him make the next step up to be able to regularly win races, which we passionately believe he can do.

“Jason is a really interesting signing for us and we will give him the tools to get the job done and remind people why he is a BSB winner, after a tough injury hit year.”

Jack Kennedy has been retained by Integro Yamaha to defend his British Supersport title with Brad Jones joining him at the team for 2019.