Truck race ace Mark Taylor finishes fifth in national championship as rain rocks final meeting

The team battled through horrendous weather conditions and substantial damage to keep their race truck on track over the challenging weekend.

But Mark Taylor, the 35-year-old Mansfield racer behind the wheel of the Taylors Transport sponsored racing truck, brought some silverware home, taking a second to finish the season on a high with a top five spot in the Division One championship.

Taylor said: “It has been a challenging weekend, so it was good to get a trophy and take a second place in race three.

“The conditions were horrible out there, we got a lot of damage to the truck during the races, but the team did a great job keeping me on the track.

“I would like to thank all that have been involved with us during the season, team, family, our sponsors and of course our supporters.”

On lap eight of qualifying Taylor spun the 5.5 tonne beast onto the wet grass, though got back and finished with 10th and 11th places for races one and two.

The team worked and replaced a damaged radiator once the truck returned to the Paddock.

Saturday’s first race saw heavy rain begin to fall. Two red flags stopped racing and on the re-start he was in seventh by the end of lap one to take the flag.

The rain had stopped by race two, but the track was still wet as Taylor started 11th on the grid and crossed the line in seventh.

Conditions only worsened for race three and a multi truck incident saw the #81 sustain serious damage to the cab side and chassis after being hit by at least two others.

The race result positions were declared a lap before the incident, that saw Taylor take a second-place podium spot and the team spang into action to repair a sorry looking #81, that included new windscreen, new body sections and repairs to the steering.

On the first lap of race four a steering fault occurred sending it straight over the grass and saw Taylor retire.

Repairs were carried out to see Taylor start the last race of the day and season, and from seventh on the grid, he took the flag in 18th.