Last weekend our sponsored rider Taz Taylor was in action at the BSB round at Brands Hatch in the Monster Energy Motostar British Championship series. After a successful first race for his new team FPW racing at Snetterton a fortnight ago, Taz was keen to emulate his performance and continue to show the team just what he’s all about.
Although Taz and his team were at Brands hatch for Friday’s practice session it was limited to practice time only on the Indy circuit which meant that Taz was unable to have a proper ride out on the full GP circuit until the qualifying sessions on Saturday. Therefore apart from having a spin-out on his still relatively-new bike, no testing, data and improvements etc were able to properly happen until the day before the race.
Qualifying session 1 (Q1) was therefore a chance for Taz to try and learn a track where he had never ridden before. He was given strict instructions to keep the bike sunny-side up and build up speed as the practice progressed. This is exactly what Taz did and by lap 13 he recorded a time of 1:41.064 placing him provisionally 15th on the starting grid. The quickest rider during Q1 clocked a lap-time of 1:37.252 meaning that there was still plenty of room for improvement during the 2nd qualifying session (Q2).
Q2 which was 25 minutes long was Taz’s chance to really start pushing himself which he did without much trouble. By lap 5 he was doing laps in the 1.39’s and with a best lap of 1:39.163 he managed to shave nearly 2 seconds off his lap times and move himself a place up the grid to start Sunday’s race in 14th position.
Sunday’s race was held in beautiful conditions and although the race could perhaps have gone slightly better for Taz it was an excellent maiden race at the Kent track none the less. The Paddock Hill and Druids Corner were the tricky sections of the track for many including Taz and after lap one he found himself crossing the line in 17th position.
Taz’s racing ability however really shone through and by the end of lap two he was up 14th position and 13th by the next. The majority of the race was however then spent in the lonely position of 11th place – 8 seconds in front of the rider behind him and 18 seconds behind the rider in front. This clearly shows that Taz has excellent speed over the majority of the field, but there is clearly work to do to push on to catch up with the riders in front.
With much testing and work however being done by the team on the bike over the course of the weekend, particularly on the engine carburation, the team and Taz really are working on ways to get him to the next level which will surely come during the remainder of the season.
I spoke to Taz’s dad on Tuesday and he was still on a high after the weekends race which saw Taz finish in an overall position of 11th and 7th in the 125 GP class. Shane told me that they’d had a superb weekend and that Taz had really enjoyed himself whilst out there.
But as in the world of racing, it is onwards and upwards and sights are now firmly set on the next round at Oulton Park over the weekend of the 10th-11th August. If you’re unable to get up to Cheshire for the race itself, as always it is live on British Eurosport so no excuses not to see this young talent in action and as always we cannot wait!
Photo courtesy of Alan Heal
