View RSS Feed

Tom Anderson

Interminable desire meets consistent fluidity in Solo 30 race at Hallett!

Rate this Entry
I'm going to smack Taylor Myers with a nickname; I don't think he's got one and something just came to mind. While attempting to find a Muse and articulate something fitting of his performance at Hallett, I was struck.The most oft used and abused adjective for a fast rider is "smooth". Sometimes I'm not sure what "smooth" is because it's used as a synonym these days for "fast" and so many of the fast racers I see don't look "smooth". To call Taylor "smooth" just doesn't seem to fit. He IS smooth, but this season he's found another layer to that; a smoother smooth and more emulates fluid. Right then is when I was struck, he moves through the courses we race like a fluid, but not water, something more solid if you will...
Remember those games before we all had video games and computers where you had to move a couple milliliters of Mercury through a maze? If you don't, the key to making it through the maze without breaking the Mercury up or having to retrace the course was to be steady, use all of the course without cutting corners too sharp, concentrate, focus, and get through the maze quickly to beat a time. There ya go. That is exactly what "Mercury" Myers did in Hallett.
If you don't know Taylor Myers yet, this is the young man that you want your kids to hang out with. He's the good influence, articulate, polite, funny, and smart- on the track and off. His personality shows in his racing too; smart, calculating, safe, and courteous. He speaks well, gives proper recognition to his supporters and friends, and has a real appreciation for what he has. Like so many other young racers and his colleagues, Taylor races because he's surrounded by his family so it's a true family effort that influence and shape who Taylor is.
On this race weekend, Mercury Myers gave no quarter which may not reflect my description of him above. None was asked, but surely none was given. From the flinch of Jeff Phillips' green flag hand until he showed the checker, Taylor was out front. Way out front. With an incredible launch and some incredible corner speed in the first few turns, Myers decimated the pursuing racers Nick Doolan and Ryan Warren in the F5 class. Taylor broke the throttle stop and busted off some incredible (and consistent) lap times to set the hook and reel in the win with a 1:37.4 fastest lap time; 4 seconds faster than Doolan's fastest lap and 5 seconds faster than Warren's. His lap times and race was so consistent in fact that if overlapped with the F4 race Mercury Myers would have finished in the top 5 only 4.5 seconds off fast-dude Brandon Altmeyer's lap time average and faster than the 5th place racer's lap average.
Because the three primary players in Solo 30 F5 are so entertaining and I like them all so much, I usually try to give equal billing during these little race reports. I did a terrible job of that this time and must apologize to Nick and Ryan- both of those guys rode their hearts out and do so every single event. These races are consistently very, very entertaining to watch and you never know who's going to end up on the top of the pile at race conclusion. This Solo 30 race results however begged for a spotlight. What difference does this race result make in the grand scheme of the season? Absolutely nothing with regard to what happens next round. The Hallett round will be forgotten by the three racers in question.
Next round in Cresson is a completely different day and (I'm sure) will yield the same exciting show that is par-usual for the F5 Solo 30 race. No doubt Nick Doolan will pull the pin on his RS to show Mercury Myers "what's up", and Ryan Warren will no doubt go for a repeat of his last performance to put the younger two racers in their "place" which he prefers to be somewhere adrift of him as the checkered flag flies!
But from Hallett, the day, the race, and the moment belongs to Taylor "Mercury" Myers. After a brief recap from his ever verbose Pop, CRRC and AMA fast guy Mike Myers who had an understandably hard time finding words this day, I got a couple words in with Taylor. "How was the race T?" He replied, "It was good". That's about all I got out of him. Call it being a teenager, call it being a male human, call it frustrating to those who really want to get a perspective on how the young man feels about his results, or call it appropriately humble and benevolent. It was "good" indeed.
With the obligatory "thank you" to the folks, products, and organizations who help Mercury Myers do what he does- SCRC and Bridgestone Tires; The Man Uncle Dave Schrader; "The" Mike Myers; The MacMan; Lone Star Track Days; of course his Mom and equally talented Sister; and Colin Edwards & The Texas Tornado Boot Camp- Taylor has gotten great at giving podium speeches to mention all of the above while now injecting a little humor too!
So, about the nickname, God I hope it sticks. Why? Because when Taylor is racing MotoGP in the future, I get to be the guy that gave it to him. ;)
Link to the Hallett video onboard Taylor's machine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DauhL...ature=youtu.be
Photo courtesy of Linz Leard Nine-Seven Images!
Tags: None Add / Edit Tags
Categories
Uncategorized

Comments