As the 2016 British Superbike Championship drew to a close this weekend at Brands Hatch, Taylor Mackenzie was presented with the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship title trophy.

Supporting a custom made 24 carat gold leaf helmet, Taylor Mackenzie took his seventh pole position of the year, following his fastest ever lap around Brands Hatch the Ashby youngster managed to go half a second (1:27.5) under the lap record during qualifying on Saturday. Conditions for the final race on Sunday were tricky, having had rain throughout the morning, and the weather looking to dry up as the afternoon progressed the team made decision to run with a dry tyre. In hindsight this proved costly for the current title holder, with the race shortened the decision didn't quite pay off, with all other riders running on wet tyres, Mackenzie had to work tremendously hard to make up the difference. In fighting form the Stirling born rider succeeded in his efforts to get back to the sharp end of the pack, crossing the chequered flag in 6th place. Having wrapped up the Championship title one race meeting previous, Mackenzie was presented with his Championship title trophy.

Damp weather conditions made the weekends racing one of the most incident prone to date, following a series collision race one was red flagged on the third lap, a further two calls to stop the race were made as heavy rain affected the circuit. Richard Cooper suffered a crash, whilst Lee Jackson took a top ten finish. Race two started with a drying circuit and the Lincolnshire rider had a strong race crossing the line in 13th, team mate Cooper retired from the race.
The final race of the season saw yet another red flag, due to an incident which left oil on the circuit. A ten lap restart saw a frantic rush for the front, however it wasn't to be for the red and white BMW team mates as Lee retired and Richard took the last point scoring place.

Taylor Mackenzie: "It was a tough race, and not quite the way I wanted to end the Championship. I could have done with a few more laps for the track to dry, but, it was good to finish in one piece and to collect the Championship title trophy. A big big thank you to all sponsors, both my personal sponsors and those of the team. It's a big effort from all parties and I couldn't have done it without them. Thanks also, to all of the fans who have supported me this year too, it means a lot."

Lee Jackson: " Overall, 2016 has been a good year and I've learnt a lot working with the Buildbase BMW team. I was looking forward to final round this weekend as I've had good fortune at the Brands Hatch circuit in the past. Following a red flag in the first race, I made a good re-start, battling for 7th place and finally ending up in 8th place. I was feeling good ahead of Sunday, having made a few changes for the two races. I had a solid first race and managed to finish in P13. Finally it was down to the last race and having once again been red flagged 5 laps in (where I up to P8) we had slight delay to an oil spill, at the re-start I didn't make the best of starts and unfortunately dropped to 12th and on the last lap my bike unfortunately had a technical issue which caused me not to finish the race.  I'd just like to say a huge thank you to all at Buildbase BMW for the opportunity they have given me over the last 3 season, it's been a great learning curve and I can't thank them enough."

Richard Cooper: "Massively disappointed to end such a strong season the way we did. The team have worked so hard all year and deserved to be in the showdown firstly but that wasn't possible so to then try and win the rider's cup and be the top BMW team was next on our list but it wasn't to be unfortunately, we just didn't have luck on our side at the weekend and that's how racing goes sometimes. It's true what they say, we win together and we lose together. I would like to thank all the team for their efforts and all the sponsors that make it happen and especially Stuart & Steve for believing in me and giving me the opportunity this year."

Steve Hicken, Team Manager: “With Taylor we chose a full dry tyre which proved to be the right choice, it was just a shame the race was shortened, or it would have paid off. Overall we had a good season in the superbike class, unfortunately it's not quite how we wanted to end the year - but we have one more race at Mallory Park Circuit this coming weekend, the Race of the Year event where the full team will be riding - we are all looking forward to it. Thank you to our three riders, Lee, Richard and Taylor for their efforts this year, and finally may I take this opportunity to say a big thank you to our sponsors for their continued help and support throughout the season, we wouldn't be able to do what we do without them. We are already looking forward to the 2017 season."