Taylor takes his sixth

From Donald Taylor

LEAMINGTON, ON -- Deeley Harley-Davidson Buell/Clare’s Cycle H-D of Niagara-sponsored dirt track champion Donald Taylor of Welland, ON added another page to the CMA record book in recording his sixth consecutive National Championship and number one plate win last weekend in Leamington, ON.

Taylor rebounded from a lackluster start that saw him in sixth place entering turn 1 and quickly dispatched three riders on the exit of turn 2 on the first lap. At the start of lap 2 he closely trailed race leader Jon Cornwell (XR750) and second place rider John Parker (Rotax 600) but used the power and speed of the George Evans-tuned XR750 dirt tracker on the back straight to take over the point beginning lap 3 of the 15-lap National Championship final. He added to his lead with every lap to eventually enjoy a cushion of nearly seven-seconds at race end.

“There’s not a whole lot to say,” commented a smiling Taylor immediately after removing his Scorpion helmet. “I did what I came here to do. George set up the bike the same as it was last time here and I was very comfortable on it. We were fast through the practice and heat race. I was bad off the start again, I gotta work on that, but I was confident I could catch them quickly.

“It was getting slippery out there and I was starting to get dust in my eyes but once I got past Jon I knew they’d be really riding hard if they wanted to catch me. I caught up to lappers towards the end but they got the blue flag and there was no issues. Actually I did have a little trouble, I forget what lap it was but I got into the cushion really deep and it caught me and slowed me a bit, no big deal.”

Taylor was reminded of his record book status and responded, “Yeah this record should stand for a while, six years at least,” he said laughing. “Will I go for seven next year? Of course. I’ll approach it the same as this year. I’ll race as many AMA events as possible and hope I have enough races up here to go for the plate again. Things have been going really good down there so I want to concentrate on that but you know this plate is very important to me and it’s important to Deeley’s so I like winning it for them.

“I really owe a lot of this to George Evans, he is a master at making my XR750 work so well, that thing is so strong. And I need to say a big thank you to Clare’s Cycle (Harley-Davidson of Niagara). They have been with me through my whole career and continue to be there and I really appreciate their support."

The CMA record of four consecutive plates, which stood until Taylor came along, was shared by Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame members Yvon Duhamel, who established the original record run in the 1960’s, and Doug Sehl, who mirrored the feat in the 1970’s.