Motostar British Championship: Taz Taylor battles Scott Deroue at Brands Hatch

Another reason for our local champ Taz Taylor to smile this week!

Taz raced to the top of the HEL Performance Motostar British Championship standings after another successful weekend on the track. Taz made his debut in the competition two weeks ago, locally at Donington Park, where he placed second and third respectively in the two races – could he keep up the pace the second time round or was it a cheeky dose of beginners luck?

It appears that the first round was no fluke and Taz worked tremendously hard for his two podium position wins at Brands Hatch on the 18th/19th April.

Following successful practice and qualifyings atop his KTM with the RS team Taz took his first race starting position in pole. Accelerators were pushed hard at Saturday’s clash, Taz’s still requiring some wearing as this was only his third competition riding a Moto3, though this had no bearing on his performance as he skillfully dominated throughout the whole fifteen laps of the Indy circuit. He successfully fought off the former Moto3 World Championship rider Scott Deroue and finished first by an astounding 5.6 seconds.

Riding on Saturday’s winning high, Taz began the second race with just as much enthusiasm – setting off from pole position and continuing at the front into the first turn. However, Deroue wasn’t keen to have a repeat of his second place performance and proved it by fighting Taz throughout each of the 18 laps.

A small mistake by Taz in the eighth lap saw him run wide, letting Deroue slip through to the front, he held onto this lead for three laps, but Taz was consistently on his tail and pushed his way past in lap eleven. Deroue came through again for lap twelve, then fell back again in the next. Neither of these youngsters were looking to settle for anything less than first place.

A few back markers caused additional obstacles and the boys had to weave around these riders, an additional distraction from each other, as they battled for first place. In the crucial final lap a tiny mistake from Taz where he rode wide at a turn gave Deroue the opportunity for a final push through. Fighting elbow to elbow they were both hungrier than ever for the win. But after all of the anticipation the flag waved Scott across the line first as he squeezed in the win by 1/20th of a second.

Taz graciously accepted his, still magnificent, second place and reflected “it was good and we pushed each other to ride better.” Of course, this has just spurred him on for the races to come “I know it’s a long season and I will continue to work as hard as possible to get some strong results!”

The season is still very fresh and we’re just as excited for the next showdown on 5th May as Taz, “I can’t wait to get to Oulton Park now.”

Who is Taz Taylor?

Taz Taylor is a 17-year-old rider from Mansfield. He has a list of racing successes beginning in 2004 when he first took a YMSA 50cc bike to the track, for more about Taz and his hard work, please click here. Two Wheel Centre is a proud sponsor of Taz and believe he has a bright future in the world of motorbike racing!