Taking old posts into account...
Have you set "Select highlights track" checkbox in the "Options" section of MackieControl plug-in? Without this option set, while the Track is selected for future operations from the surface, it is not focused in Sonar (it does not try to ask Sonar to focus it).
2 notes:
1) Select button "focus" track, so you see Track Inspector for it and it's name is highlighted in the track/console view. But that does not "select" the content of this track (recognized by highlighted strip number box in the track view). "Select focused track" operation (different button) can select wrong track under some conditions, that is Sonar bug (with track view window focused for keyboard, current "focused" track is keyboard/mouse internal. The effect is near the same as with MCU with "Select highlights track" unset, keyboard simply ignore focus changes in Sonar which are produces by Control Surfaces and use what it think was the last one focused with keyboard or mouse).
2) these buttons do not work with Buses (by design).
PS. Everyone can "scrub MCU control surface processing", it is Open Source now. There are not many users (at least known) who can understand/compile/fix that staff, but I am one of them