|
Mackenzie Taylor took a decisive KF3 victory at the opening round
of the British Super 1 Championship at Three Sisters, near Wigan
last weekend (12/13 April).
Coming just a week after his Winning Series Karting success at
Angerville in France (5/6 April), the Ricky Flynn Motorsport driver has clearly
marked himself as one of the favourites to take the Super 1 title.
In difficult conditions during Timed Qualifying, Taylor clocked the 7th fastest
time - but admitted to making a costly error: “The guys who recorded quicker times were all slip-streaming one
another, but I was out on my own and didn’t get a tow. At Wigan
you can gain a tenth of a second by towing behind someone, and I just didn’t
give myself that opportunity - I was pushing my own air.”
Though his self criticism sounds a little harsh – especially when
you consider that he was just a tenth of a second off pole position - it worked
as a brilliant motivational tool for his performance in the heats.
Surviving a massive ‘moment’, he won his first race. “I was coming down the fast ‘Valley’ section
and ran onto a damp section of the track. My kart suddenly snapped sideways and
I was thinking ‘this is going to hurt,’ but I clipped a kerb and the kart
flicked back the right way”.
Mackenzie won the second heat and booked his place on the front
row of the grid for the pre-final.
As the pack barreled into the first corner he found himself unable
to get onto the dry, racing-line and dropped to 12th - before
getting his head down and working his way up to 3rd at the chequered
flag.
Getting a fantastic start to tuck in behind pole-man Carl
Stirling, Mackenzie started the final in a bullish mood. Half a lap later, seeing
a chance, he passed Stirling - who immediately
had a stab back. Taylor
led the pair onto the long main-straight, with the young Ulsterman
slipstreaming him and preparing to pass. However, the alert Taylor
saw waved yellow flags and pointed first at them and then at Stirling.
The Irish driver duly backed out of the move, handing the advantage back to
Taylor who then firmly pressed it home as rain began to fall.
Demonstrating his superb kart control in the worsening conditions,
Mackenzie quickly opened a gap of nearly five seconds. As his rivals slowed, he
drove perfectly, corner after corner to cruise to a dominant win.
“I’m very
pleased with the result” he said afterwards. “I would’ve been angry with myself if I
hadn’t won. Once again, the team (Ricky Flynn Motorsport) did a perfect job and gave me the best
equipment to go out and win with. That’s why I would’ve been angry if I hadn’t.
I’m also very grateful to Gordy at GFR for my engines and to Martin and Dan at
Pro-Performance – their involvement has really made a difference to me this
year.”
|
