Young, local racer Taz Taylor was in action at Snetterton last weekend racing in the Monster Energy Motostar Championship – a support series of this year’s BSB Championship. It was Taz’s first race for new team FPW Racing in the 125GP class and after a fantastic testing session a few weeks prior, hopes for Taz were high!
Taz’s weekend started with Free Practice 1 (FP1) and as Taz was out on his new bike – a Luyten Honda RS 125cc, it was understandable that he was taking things a little bit steady. Finishing FP1 in 16th position with a best time of 2:14.094, FP2 really saw Taz come alive and the all important data and feedback from the team really helped Taz to push on and go a fantastic 7 seconds quicker (2:07.085) finishing FP2 in 9th.
Sweltering conditions during qualifying were unable to halt Taz’s process and after two fantastic qualifying sessions, Taz finished with a best time of 2:06.229 and look set to start Sunday’s big race from 12th position on the grid.
Sunday morning’s warm up session gave the team a chance to test some changes to the carburation of the bike. Sadly an off from Taz during a chicane section of the track saw him unable to participate in the remainder of the session, but with no major damage to the bike or thankfully to Taz, all that was left to do was to look forward to the race itself – and what a race it was!
Lined up against 29 other riders, Taz soon found himself in a battle for tenth place alongside experienced riders Brad Hughes and Stephanie Waddelow, but with some excellent pace and growing confidence, Taz was more than able to hold his own and finished his first race with FPW Racing in an awesome ninth place (sixth overall in the 125GP class) – his best finish of the season so far!
I spoke to Taz’s dad Shane on Tuesday and he was highly delighted with how Taz had got on over the weekend. So too was team manager Adrian Mason who expressed how pleased he is to have Taz on-board with the team commenting:
“Taz has gone out there and done everything I’ve asked of him. Other than the spill in morning warm up it was a faultless weekend. We have built a solid base that we can take forward for the remainder of the season.”
It is once again this kind of support and backing that is going to help Taz move his racing career forward and I’m sure Taz and all the team are counting down the days to the next round at Brands Hatch over the weekend of the 19th-21st July.
And all the team here at Two Wheel Centre cannot wait to see what the next weekend brings and as always we wish young Taz all the very best of luck!
(Image courtesy of Steve Hutchings)
