Mackenzie closes the gap while Booth-Amos claims victory in a fourth different championship

The series and its support classes moved to Donington Park over the weekend with Bridgnorth's Rutter hoping for a big improvement after seeing his rider, Taylor Mackenzie, fall down the rankings after a round to forget at Thruxton.

And the team did just that in Leicestershire as Mackenzie took two fourth places to move within a point of the leader – with just a single point now separating the top four riders.

The fifth round marked the halfway point of the season and it was also a double-header of races for Mackenzie, who began the weekend 20 points adrift of the championship leader.

After a hectic qualifying session, Mackenzie qualified for race one in fifth and in tricky conditions rode a controlled race to finish in fourth, closing the gap to 13 points.

During Sunday's race two, Mackenzie was able to break the circuit lap record in the early stages of the race but could not take full advantage of his pace as grip started to drop away towards the end of the race.

He missed out on a podium finish by just 0.10 seconds but still managed to close the gap on the championship leader to one point.

Rutter said: "What a difference a weekend makes. After the disappointment of Thruxton, and slipping back in the championship standings, we're right back in the race for the title.

"There's still a long way to go and if the first half of the season has taught us anything – it's that anything can happen!

"We're getting to grips with the BMW M1000RR now and for Taylor to break the lap record on it, and for us to finish as top BMW in both races, says a lot about the bikes potential and our understanding of it.

"It's off to Cadwell now for round six, but it might as well be round one again.

"We're effectively in a six round championship now that there's four riders all within one point of the lead.

"I reckon I'm going to be getting even more grey hairs over the next few weeks."

Newport's Harry Rowlings, 21, was also back in action, in the GP2 class of the British Supersport series, and continued his fine form picking up an eighth and ninth place finish – having had to take a long-lap penalty in the second race for cutting the course short – to sit ninth in the GP2 standings, just one point off eighth.

Fellow Newport racer Tom Booth-Amos was also back in action racing as wildcard in the Dutch IDM championship with his RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki team.

And the Assen circuit once again proved to be a very happy hunting ground for 24-year-old, who has kept himself busy in between fighting for the World Supersport 300 championship, as he claimed two wins.

The results meant Booth-Amos, who also won last time out at Assen in the WorldSP300 series, had claimed three-straight victories at the Dutch circuit.

And thanks to his double IDM win, he has also won races in four different championships in 2021, having now claimed victories in Junior British Supersport and the CIV SSP300 round at Misano, Italy, as well as the IDM and WorldSP300 series.

Team manager Rob Vennegoor: "Three wins out of two races is something we have never seen before and makes me really proud.

"We are still fighting for the Supersport 300 World Championship with Tom.

"Before the season started, this was our goal and I’m happy to see everything is still possible.

"I would like to thank all our riders, team members and sponsors for a great race weekend at Assen."

The British Superbike series and all its support classes now move to Cadwell Park this weekend, while Booth-Amos will be back in WorldSP300 action at Magny-Cours, in France, September 3-5.