Click here for full BSB Silversto🦹ne - Race results (1) 

Josh Elliott and OMG Suzuki have been awarded a shock maiden victory in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship after firs🐓t-across-the-line Tarran Mackenzie was penalised for his clash with McAMS Yamaha t꧙eam-mate Jason O'Halloran on the final corner of the final lap.

O’Halloran led from the first corner but was 🃏coming under increasing pressure from Mackenzie in the closing ⛦stages, leading to an attempt by the youngster to slip up the inside at Luffield in sight of the chequered flag.

However, while Mackenzie was able to get directly alongside O’Halloran, the pair made enough cont𝕴act to cause the latter to slide out 🐻into the gravel trap and out of the race.

Initially leaving a shee🦩pish and apologetic Mackenzie to complete his first BSB win, race direction nevertheless instigated the new 'long lap' p🌺unishment in retrospect, resulting in an equivalent three second penalty for the Scot enough to demote him behind Josh Elliot, who in turn claims a maiden victory for both himself and OMG Suzuki.

O’Halloran had ridden a text-book race up to the last corner, getting 𝔍the hole-shot over his pole-sitting counterpart and controlling the pace thereafter in what looked like a lights-to-flag run to his first win since 2016.

Indeed, though Mackenzie ran close O’Halloran close throughout, the Scot spent three-quar🐼ters of the race contending with the close attentions of Elliot as well, the 2015 Superstock 1000 champion putting in an inspired performance to keep the McAMS pair honest.

However, when Elliott faded in the closing stages, it freed Mackenzie up to launch🐼 an assault on O’Halloran, leading to an attempt to pass initially at Brooklands, before the youngster cut back up the inside at Luffield for what would be an ultimately ill-fated move. With Mackenzie on the cusp of the inside kerb and O’Halloran leaning in, contact was inevitable as the front-end of O’Halloran’s machine washed out to send him sliding into the gravel trap.

With Mackenzie surviving the brush, he was le♉ft to complete what was expected to🐽 be a long-awaited – if ignominious – first BSB triumph for the son of former champion Niall Mackenzie.

However, race direction deemed the collision deserving of a penalty, adding three seconds to Mackenzie’s race ﷽time to pile further frustration onto the McAMS Yamaha team, who b𓆉een so close to a 1-2 result.

I✤t🅰 meant Elliott came away as the unexpected winner of the 2019 opener, rewarding OMG Suzuki for promoting him from its Superstock line-up to secure a landmark success at the start of only its second season in BSB.

Behind the demoted Mackenzie, Scott Redding notched up a somewhat fortuitous podium in third, the ex-MotoGP rider seemingly heading for a lonely fourth place finish prior to the final corner skirmish in a solid, if unspectacular debut race outing for the Ducati V4. Even so, he fared better than Josh Brookes who, after starting 18thbecause of t𝔍echnical issues in qualifying, was forced to retire with more greml🍃ins whilst running eighth.

Luke Mossey consolidated OMG Suzuki’s memorable race with a run to fourth, t🤡he team newcomer showing impressive speed after a poor start, while Tommy Bride💮well was another to look strong coming up the order after a slow getaway in fifth.

After a disappointing qualifying performance, Andrew Irwin gave Honda reason to be encouraged with his strong run to sixth position, ahead of Luke Stapleford on the best of the Buildbase Suzukis and Team WD-40’s Claudio 🅠Corti, who was the highest-placed Kawasaki rider in eighth.

Danny Buchan survived an early off to come back into contention in ninth, ahead of Xavi Fores and Christian Iddon, 🐷th🍬e latter fighting doggedly on the all-new under-development BMW S1000RR.

Dan Linfoot struggled to stay with the pace as he slipped from a starting spot of sixth to finish 13th, with Peter Hickman and Keith Farmer completing the points༒’ paying positions.

Elsewhere, defending cha♈mpions Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki endured a dismal opener with Glenn Irwin and Ben Currie crashing at the same corner on the same lap, albeit in two different incidents.