Keelby motorcyle racer makes encouraging start at Silverstone

Keelby motorcycle racer Mikey Large-Taylor kicked off his 2019 campaign in fine style at Silverstone circuit.
Mikey gets in the zone in the pit lane as dad Shane makes some last-minute visual checks on the bike EMN-190425-154604002Mikey gets in the zone in the pit lane as dad Shane makes some last-minute visual checks on the bike EMN-190425-154604002
Mikey gets in the zone in the pit lane as dad Shane makes some last-minute visual checks on the bike EMN-190425-154604002

The opening round of the Dickies British Junior Supersport Championship, on board the Large-Taylor Racing Kawasaki 400 Ninja, Mikey was very quickly on the pace in free practice.

He held third place for most of the session before finally finishing in a super fifth position.

Mikey set some early encouraging lap times in Saturday qualifying which put him comfortably within the top 10.

As the session progressed he found it difficult to find a clear track and dropped to 11th place, but showing his maturity, he pulled into the pit lane to re-group.

He found a clear piece of track and set a lap time which equalled his career best and placed him in a superb sixth spot.

Starting the following day’s first race from the second row of the grid, he initially dropped a couple of places before settling into a good rhythm and setting some consistent lap times.

A problem soon arose when his left-hand handlebar worked itself loose, but Mikey hung on and brought the bike home in a fine ninth place for some valuable championship points.

The Lincs rider started the day’s second and final race from 12th on the grid, determined by lap times from race one, which in Mikey’s case had been hampered by the handlebar issue.

He quickly settled into a race-long dice with six other riders, finishing in a great seventh place, and only a tenth-of-a-second away from sixth.

An encouraging start to the season as Mikey next heads to Oulton Park for his first outing on the team’s new Yamaha R6 Superstock 600 machine on the May

Bank Holiday weekend.

“The bike ran really well all weekend and I’m really pleased to put some points on the board at the first meeting,” he said.

“I’m hoping to get a wild card ride on the 600 at Oulton before returning to Supersport action at Donington towards the end of May where I’ll be looking at upping the pace and grabbing more championship points.”

The team are still searching for any sponsorship help from anyone with an interest in motorcycle racing who would like to help with the supply of tyres, fuel and other essentials.