Taylor bids for podium in NZ sidecar series

REIGNING New Zealand sidecar champion Spike Taylor, of Masterton, has a series podium placing in his sights, after an excellent day's racing at Manfeild last weekend.
Taylor, with Denis Simonsen swinging, scored a second and two thirds on the LCR to close to within four points of the third-placed Lawrance brothers.
Things weren't looking good for Taylor, after an unhappy visit to the South Island where he finished up trailing by 30 or 40 points.
A complete rebuild of the rear end of the bike, plus high compression pistons, racing valve springs and a factory racing box for the engine transformed the LCR. Heaps of practise laps helped too.
Taylor reckoned his recent runs at the drags in Masterton paid off as well, the LCR blasting 20 metres clear at the start of the first race.
They were passed by Scrivener/Meads, Law/Ravenwood and the Lawrance brothers, but retook the latter for third. In this race new Wairarapa racer Dave Annan broke a cam chain and was out for the weekend.
Taylor hole-shot the start in race two and got involved in a huge scrap before getting a major fright when the bike jumped sideways under braking. He got by the Lawrances and then Law blew an engine. The Masterton men were second.
Race three (Law with a new motor) saw a blanket finish, with Taylor finishing .1s behind Law and .6s behind Scrivener.
"It was one of our best weekends ever," he said yesterday.
Taylor heads for Auckland this weekend for the final round, and reckons third, or even second, are possible. He especially wants to win the Jock Taylor Memorial Trophy which he last won at the Masterton road races.
Meanwhile, Michael Wolland is looking forward to some family time, after an exhilarating Battle of the Streets sidecar racing finale at Paeroa.
He and brother Tim were thrilled at finishing fourth in the series in their first season.
They picked up two fourth placings at the meeting.
"We were actually third for the first four laps of the first six-lapper," he said.
"Then we got passed by the Lawrances and Stu Prentice. On the last lap, at the end of the front straight, I was using Prentice's braking mark but I didn't realise he'd run out of brakes.
"We shot through, nearly went sideways into the pub and came out ahead of him and pointing in the right direction," Wolland said.
"The crowd were cheering ... it was really good racing. There was a bit of fairing-bashing, but you expect that. The road is quite skinny up there because of the gardens."
A bad start in the second race meant it wasn't as exciting, but another fourth left the pair happy.
"It was a bloody good day ? I'm rapt," said Wolland.
After the Paeroa meeting Tim Wolland went into hospital for further surgery on a hand injured in a racing crash, and Dave Leahy replaced him for the Manfeild round.