Donington Park: Taylor rides at home
The local Donington Park Superstock 600 race came in support of the World Superbike teams – off the regular BSB calendar. A three-day weekend included the usual free practice, qualifying followed by a race. After the Friday free practice round Taz set himself a fast pace for the weekend. Though he finished in tenth, the time between him and the leader came in at less than a second.
The following day riders advanced from free practice to qualifying. During qualifying Taz’s Pacedayz Trackdays Yamaha suffered some front break issues setting him a little further back at 1.242 seconds behind the top rider. The facts speak for the quality of the competition as this smidge of a gap sat Taz in 21st position on the grid.
Keen to carry on with the competition but aware of the braking problems, Taz’s team spent the night fixing them, including switching the master cylinder. On the track the bike was healthy and ready to sting the competition.
The Black and White Wasp, Ready to Roll
By the end of lap one he’d climbed eight places. A little later he’d reached twelfth, just behind Davey Todd. Before he could catch up with Todd his brakes did the opposite of their job and he was out. Taylor’s bike rode into the gravel – luckily avoiding a crash and further bike damage. Taz Taylor didn’t place for the first time in the Superstock 600 2016.
Taz reflected at the end of the Donington Park weekend
“I can’t deny that I’m disappointed, what with it being my home race. I showed good pace and made up many places during the early laps so that was positive, but then the front brake problem returned. I know the team are working as hard as they can to give me a good bike, it’s just that sometimes these things happen in racing. The next race is at Knockhill and I went well there last year.”
Where else can we keep track of Taz?
We publish regular race reports following Taz’s progress here on the Two Wheel Centre Blog, alongside his personal site.
A big shout out goes to Johnny Wills for his creative capture of Taz on the go. A second thank you to Bike Sport Pics for the interview shot.
