Taylor fourth at Leamington

From Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada

LEAMINGTON, ON – It has been a long time since Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada-sponsored dirt track racer Donald Taylor finished a Canadian race off the podium. One could certainly not expect him to feel good about it, but that was the case at the half-mile held last weekend in Leamington, ON.

Taylor took a close fourth place after starting in last position in the main event.

“It was kind of frustrating,” Taylor explained. “We had carb problems with the XR750 in practice and still hadn’t sorted it out by the time the heat race came up, and I ran last in that qualifier. That put me on the back row of three for the final.”

In the 15-lap final, Taylor got a good start and worked his way quickly into fourth place; he was on the move when the red flag came out for a fallen rider. On the restart, Taylor was sharp again and got a very good launch, only to have it negated by yet another red flag for a rider jumping the start. On the third start, Taylor was not at his best and got caught in the pack on a dry, slippery, and dusty race track.

“It was tough,” the six-time champ admitted. ”It was really hard to pass, and dangerous; really hard to see. I kept passing guys until I caught up with Chris Evans (American Harley-Davidson on a D XR750 bike), and we started to race each other. It was a great dice and it was a lot of fun. Then, late in the race, I found a good line and got rid of Evans and started after the leaders. I was closing on them, but there just wasn’t enough laps left in the race.”

Taylor noted that a fourth place finish was acceptable considering his luck of the day and the fact that he faced a full field – 17 quality riders – with many mounted on the XR750 Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and a strong contingency from the AMA Pro Series in the states.

“A front row start would have made all the difference,” he simply stated. “Coming back from last place and almost getting a podium was good, and we know it’ll get better. We never had a chance to get the XR on the dyno and, as you know, [we] had some issues, but we will have everything sorted out by Belleville, [ON].”

Taylor retains his points lead in his quest for his seventh CMA dirt track number one plate, and will race at the Niagara Motorcycle Raceway in Welland, ON this weekend. He will be on the Harley-Davidson XR750 motorcycle once more when the series visits the famed Belleville half-mile on Aug. 6.

For further information on dirt track racing and results, please refer to www.canmocycle.ca.