He had already served notice of intent with an extremely solid performance in the 2011 Super 1 Series curtain-raiser at PF International – but in round two at Shenington, William Taylforth demonstrated that he is a genuine threat for British title glory this year with his maiden podium finish on the national karting scene.
Having taken a significant step forward over the winter months, William headed to the ultra-fast Shenington buoyed by his brace of top six finishes at PF – and targeting a second consecutive front-running effort. He would deliver in style.
“The goal for the weekend was just to continue getting consistent results – maybe the top five – to try to improve my championship position and stay in the running,” explained the talented young Lancastrian. “I’ve raced around Shenington quite a lot – we’ve been there nearly every month, I think, getting practice in for the nationals and finishing repeatedly inside the top six or top ten – so I know it well and it’s a track that I enjoy. It’s very fast and demanding to drive.”
Fifth position in qualifying amongst the 32-strong Comer Cadet class field was a promising start, but William’s two heats would yield a distinctly mixed bag. An exclusion from seventh place in the first of them for his part in a collision was undeniably a frustrating outcome, but the Great Eccleston-based hotshot maturely put that disappointment behind him to finish an excellent second on-the-road in heat two – what he described as a ‘really enjoyable’ race until a subsequent five-place penalty demoted him to P7.
Conceding that ‘they weren’t the greatest results, obviously, but at least we got through into the finals and our pace was definitely encouraging’, the 13-year-old went on to begin the pre-final from right the way down in 28th spot on the starting grid. He would make outstanding progress.
“I focussed on the start and looked a long way ahead to the hairpin, because I knew there would almost certainly be a pile-up there,” he recalled. “There was, and after that I just concentrated my efforts on going forward – and I managed to work my way right up to first with a couple of laps to go.
“I think I was in shock when I took the lead – it suddenly hit me that I had come from the back of the grid to the very front. Unfortunately, in the closing stages I got knocked around a bit and fell to seventh at the end. I was a bit disappointed because I knew I could have won, which would have been amazing given where I had started, but I still tried to look on the bright side and ahead to the second final.”
With a 21-place gain by some margin the greatest in the field, there was no shame in the slightest in taking the chequered flag seventh from where he had started, as the Hodgson High School pupil’s truly incredible charge saw him fairly scythe his way up the order like the proverbial hot knife through butter. In a real yo-yo race in which any of the top 13 contenders could arguably have prevailed, only one other driver lapped quicker than William throughout – and he would produce a similarly racy performance in the second final.
“Starting from much further forward this time, I knew anything was possible,” he acknowledged. “Having gone from 28th on the grid to first, I knew it would be much easier from seventh. I got a very good start, and coming out of the hairpin on the opening lap I was up to fourth. I was in the top three for most of the race, actually, but about halfway through I got a bit bashed around. There was a lot of battling going on for the top positions, but I managed to get my head down and pull it back.
“I made an attempt to grab the lead going into the chicane on the last lap, but it didn’t quite come off so I just made sure I defended second place. My team-mate got a run on me and pulled alongside going across the finish line, so when I came back to the pits I had a little bit of doubt about whether I had actually finished second – but when I found out I had, I was really pleased, especially after starting just 28th for the first final.”
With barely a tenth of a second blanketing the top three in a photo-finish at the flag and a much better fastest lap time than the race-winner once more, William was justifiably proud of his achievement. Acknowledging that a trophy always makes the long journey home so much more palatable, he might have encountered his fair share of trials and tribulations during the heats, but the Fusion Motorsport star pulled it all impressively together when it mattered the most.
Having improved from fourth in the title chase ahead of the weekend to third – and a mere three points adrift of the leader – that William Taylforth is a different driver in 2011 is beyond dispute. Now genuinely established as a bona fide front-runner on the national karting stage and with his tail up heading next to his ‘home’ circuit of Three Sisters near Wigan for the second outing in the Lewis Hamilton and Bernie Ecclestone-backed Formula Kart Stars Championship, his rivals would do well indeed to be on their guard.
“Last year, I was quite a nervous driver and I had no confidence in wheel-to-wheel situations,” he mused in conclusion, “whereas now I’m confident all the time – and against anyone...”
