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Mackenzie Taylor drove into the history books after taking a
superbly judged victory in the opening round of the Winter Series at PFi (4
November).
Competing in the KF3 class – which attracted a large grid and
produced some great racing – Mackenzie’s day didn’t quite start according to
plan. A mistake at the start of his first heat cost him dear and he could only
finish in 17th place -“It was
a schoolboy error” says his team boss, Ricky Flynn: “He wasn’t thinking and we pointed that out quite firmly to him. After
that, he didn’t make any more mistakes” he smiles.
Indeed, in the next heat, Mackenzie put in a stellar drive to go from
26th to 4th at the flag. Once the points had been added
up, Mackenzie found himself in a respectable 12th place on the grid
for the final.
With the track bathed in pale gold sunlight, it was Taylor who
shone from the start. Taking advantage of the confusion at the first bend,
Mackenzie passed 7 karts to move into 5th place. But before the race
could settle down, the ‘battenburg flag’ signaled that karts were stranded in
dangerous positions on and off the track. The field slowed to a single file
procession but ran nose to tail – and this played into the teenager’s hands. At
the re-start, it was Mackenzie who was the most alert and he got the jump on
his rivals, stealing into 2nd place.
He then pressured the leader (Rikki Gordon) into looking over his
shoulder, and before long had capitalised on his psychological advantage -
diving past the Irishman into the 2nd hairpin and snatching the
lead. From there it was first place all the way to the chequered flag.
“Four
races, two wins” reflects Ricky Flynn on Mackenzie’s
fortunes since joining his team. “He’s
going alright isn’t he? Mackenzie can lead a race quite well. He looked relaxed
and in control. He wasn’t looking over his shoulder to see what the others were
doing. He was consistent and didn’t make any mistakes. It was a very good
performance.”
Mackenzie says: “I feel good. To be able to start the Winter
Series with a win is great and to be the first person to win a KF3 race in England is
really special.”
But having taken the early win and the championship lead, does
Mackenzie feel under extra pressure? “No,
the pressure’s the same. We go to every race to win. Each weekend, Rick is
asking for a little bit more. Even if you slip up in testing, he’ll give you a
talking to. But it’s not really pressure, just a level of expectation. Everyone
in the team – my mechanic, Rick, me – we all want to win.” He adds: “I’d like to say a big ‘thankyou’ to Gordy (Finlayson at GFR) and
Franco of TM who congratulated me on my win – my engines have been good all
weekend and they both did a very good job. And thanks also to Ricky and Bryn,
my mechanic.”
Mackenzie will contest the second round of the Winter Series at
Shenington, Oxfordshire on 2 December - but says that winning the championship is
not a priority, “We’re not in it (the
Winter Series) to win it. It’d be nice
but it’s not our main priority. We’ll miss the 4th round in favour
of the Winter Cup.”
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