Taylor marks himself as Super 1 to watch

11:06am Wednesday 16th April 2008

Mackenzie Taylor took a decisive victory at the opening round of the British Super 1 Championship at Three Sisters near Wigan last weekend.

Coming just a week after his Winning Series Karting success at Angerville in France, the 15-year-old has clearly marked himself as one of the favourites to take the Super 1 title.

In difficult conditions during timed qualifying, Taylor clocked the seventh fastest time - but admitted to making a costly error.

He said: "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 (which features a long main straight, where karts can reach 100mph) 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 10th of a second off pole position - it worked as a brilliant motivational tool for his performance in the heats.

The Sunbury Manor School pupil survived a scare to win the first race.

"I was coming down the fast Valley section and ran on to 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," he said.

Taylor won the second race and booked his place on the front row of the grid for the pre-final.

As the pack turned 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 third at the chequered flag.

Finishing in this position put him on the vital inside line for the first corner of the final.

Getting a fantastic start to tuck in behind pole-man Carl Stirling, Taylor slotted into second place.

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 - under which drivers are not allowed to overtake - 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, Taylor 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."

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