Author : Dean Thompson

Warrick Taylor & partner Kellie Banks have continued on their recent form in the VSC Sprintcars with Taylor winning his second feature from two starts whilst Banks maintained her consistency to now be a very close second in the club point score championship after a recent run at Rushworth Speedway in Central Victoria.

The ‘Bass Concreting’ supported series has now completed three rounds beginning back at Ballarat in November then Bairnsdale on boxing night and Rushworth on the seventh of January with the Taylor and Banks teams getting themselves in a great position with six nights of racing left in the season.

With nine cars at Rushworth both drivers had returned to the track having only ever raced Mini Sprints on the venue and after hot laps Banks left her car as it was Taylor changed to a higher gear set for the upcoming first heat.

In heat one Taylor began in pole position and lead Allan Pitcher into the first turn. Taylor could feel that he had gone with the wrong gearing as the engine over revved and ran high two laps in allowing Pitcher to pass. After a car spun with two laps to go Taylor tried to dive under Pitcher at the re-start and again pushed high allowing Paul Solomon in Ken Hutchins car and Andrew Hughes to drive past.

For Kellie her consistency shone through when a ninth place start was converted into a sixth place finish after two other competitors Dan Carrigy and Rob Hunter failed to finish and she was able to beat home James Ryde and claim sixth position.

Before beginning the second heat Taylor converted his gearing back the other way to take revs out and to use more torque against the other six drivers who greeted the starter’s flag in heat two. A little luck in the approach to the starter seen Taylor begin from the second position on the outside of Hughes and Taylor took the lead from the start.

A couple of yellow light caution periods with spinning competitors and Shane Fisher crunching the wall halted a charge to the finish line. After the second restart Taylor set the quickest lap for the night with a 14.00 second lap time in taking the win. Banks finished fourth after avoiding Fisher earlier in the race and continued to finish races which is how to remain in the race for the championship. Taylor coming into the pits had a little drama when returning to his pit stall, he was unaware that a brake line and split and he had to drive into his own transporter truck to stop his car. He borrowed equipment such as a calliper from Carrigy to allow him to finish the nights racing.

The final heat only had six starters after Pitcher parked his car feeling that his engine was not sounding the best. The track had gone slick so Taylor changed the right rear shock and again had a position two start due to cars not continuing on from the earlier races. Hutchins with the help of the Solomon crew had a better set up and marched away for the win with Taylor having no answer for him whilst Banks beat home Ryde and Hunter again to finish fourth in the heat.

For the feature race track that was slick Taylor changed the set up to a slick track and put on the same rim and right rear tyre used to win the recent feature at Bairnsdale. Taylor began from pole and Banks from position three out of the six starters.

Taylor jumped to the lead with Hughes following him and Hutchins and Banks followed in behind with Hutchins lucky to stay upright after he and Hughes tagged. The four continued on in that order for the race distance of fifteen laps. Taylor won by a half lap distance with Ryde finishing behind Banks.

After some celebratory donut spins for the crowd, Taylor was pleased with his second win in succession and shared his thoughts with media. “Really pleased with the consistency we are getting from the engine and learning a lot about Sprintcar set up’s as we go along. Really enjoyed it here at Rushworth and hope the invite us again. Well done to Hughes and Hutchins and of course my girl Kellie. I’m so proud to be racing against her in her first Sprintcar season. She is doing well and improving each time she hits the dirt.”

Banks is now only three points adrift of the series leader Shane Fisher proving that to be first, first you have to finish. Taylor is twenty points behind the top two.

Banks shared her thoughts on how things went. “It is hard to wipe the smile of my face. We are still a rookie and it is easy to forget that when your second in the club championship points. We have six race meetings to go for the season and some of the stronger competitors will be at a few of those race meetings and we will continue to learn. I’m so proud of Warrick and of what he and I am achieving and also I am grateful to the assistance from family Norm & Sharyn Banks. “

Taylor and Banks will next run on February the fourth at their home venue at Nyora Raceway in South Gippsland and Taylor for one is looking forward to racing Peter Logue the yardstick in VSC Sprint racing, to see were his own car is at in terms of development.

Warrick Taylor Racing is supported by:
Banger Excavations
Warrick Taylor Race Products

Kellie Banks Motorsport is supported by:
Hennessy Transport
Warrick Taylor Racing Components

Written by Dean Thompson
WTR Media Rep

Cranbourne Sprintcar racer Warrick Taylor spent Boxing Night doing what he loves best, racing and winning, well second best now that he has a son to care for.

Taylor and partner Kellie Banks who just happened to be racing in the same category on the same night took their son Ryder out to his first ever Speedway meeting and it was Taylor who came home with the win amongst eleven starters for the evening.

The # 69 ‘Banger Excavations’ supported machine began heat one from position 2 and was looking to make the most of a front row start however the rev limiter was not helping by not hitting the 7500rpm it was set to hit and reached only 5000rpm’s whilst Taylor slid backwards through the pack until Taylor could hit the control panel and click the revs up to full RPM. Taylor a disappointing finished 5th after having the clear track ahead of him from the green flag.

In the pits Taylor and his team disconnected the rev limiter and just let the engine do what it wanted for heat two.

From position seven in heat two on a rough track Taylor was struggling with car set up and had a half lose coming out of turn four with the front wheels barely steering the car where Taylor wanted it to go, yet Taylor still picked off a couple positions to jump to 5th on the final corner of the heat race on a track that was going black. The team needed to make some changes for heat three and decided to reblock the car a little higher to glide over the track bumps and give the front end some more caster, the team also centred the top wing for stability and control.

A quick move from fourth place to third in heat three through turn one that would have set Taylor up for a strong finish was halted when caution lights were switched on due to a few cars having a bingle including his partner Banks. Banks was out of the race. On a second restart Taylor moved from fourth to second and diced with Andrew Hughes before settling for second place.

Ten racers began the final and Taylor started on the outside front row alongside Rod Bowman who had qualified pole position. The speedway club had tried to prepare the race track before the finals however after a 25 lap Super Sedan feature and being the second last category onto the track Taylor opted to race a slick set up on the car knowing the track wasn’t going to stay good for much longer.

Bowman got the better start however Taylor had set the car up to come on stronger from midway through the race. As the pair reached lap traffic Taylor made a pass on Bowman and started to pull away to a good lead as he lapped others before winning by around half a lap distance from Bowman with third, fourth and fifth battling just in front of Taylor nearly a whole lap down as he crossed the finish line.

A delighted Taylor shared his after race thoughts. “That is what we have been searching for from this car for the last twelve months. The engine still has a little more to give and we are getting there. I couldn’t have done it without Garry, Simon and Paul my team and of course Kellie and her family for supporting us. The wait to win has been worth it and now it is time to bank a couple more through the season.”

Warrick Taylor Racing is supported by:
Banger Excavations
Warrick Taylor Race Products

Written by Dean Thompson
WTR Media Rep