Mack's back!
3rd place restores Ashford kart star's title hopes

As Lewis Hamilton put in another superb drive to win the American Grand Prix at Indianapolis - his former karting mechanic, Kieran Crawley, was engineering Mackenzie Taylor’s return to the podium at Larkhall, Scotland.

And Crawley was delighted with his new protégé - “Mackenzie drove very, very well. Everything’s coming together at the right time.”

The televised Stars of Tomorrow championship is a breeding ground for tomorrow’s Formula 1 stars, and the standard of competition is very high. So much so, that in the Final the 14-year old was fighting for victory where any one of four karts could have won.

Through the fog of exhaust smoke, Taylor emerged in 2nd place after the start and immediately pressed Bristol’s Sam Jenkins for the lead.

For 15 laps he harried Jenkins’ rear bumper, whilst resisting the attentions of James Godbehere and Max Goff. With 3 laps to go, Goff lunged down Taylor’s inside and wriggled past both him and Jenkins. Momentarily forced off the racing line, Jenkins also allowed Taylor through. It was now a battle royal as Jenkins fought to regain his lead. With a desperate dive, Sam re-passed Mackenzie, taking James Godbehere with him. It was now the last lap and having had a trophy in his grasp, Mackenzie was in no mood to give it up. A stunning, oh-so-late-on-the-brakes move in the penultimate corner, saw Mackenzie slice past Godbehere and clinch 3rd place.

With points scored for qualifying, the heats and final, the Zanardi UK driver will have improved to a top 3 position in the championship table.

But with no time to celebrate, Mackenzie drove back to Middlesex to re-pack his bags and travel to Essay for vital testing.  

Next month (15 July) it’s over to France for the European championship qualifying race at Essay. A good showing there will guarantee a berth in the European championship finals, to be held at Sarno (near Naples) on 2 September.

Reports filtering back from France say that, at the time of writing, Super Mack is topping the time-sheets - and this on his first ever visit to the track!

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