Racer dies day after Wallerfield crash

AN autopsy will be done on 34-year-old racer Melbourne Taylor later this week after he died on Monday morning, hours after he crashed while racing on Sunday afternoon.

Speaking with Newsday on Monday, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Automobile Sports Association (TTASA) Ashton Eligon said the accident took place at about 2 pm on Sunday. It happened during the third (of ten) championship races at the Frankie Boodram International Raceway in Wallerfield.

Eligon said Taylor, who had been racing motorbikes since 2016, might have lost brakes and crashed into a pile of tyres, injuring his arm and leg. The accident took place on the penultimate lap of the ten-lap race.

“The sun was blistering, so it was the best condition for racing on Sunday. We saw him slow down and went into the run-off area which is about 400 feet.”

Eligon said, after the crash, Taylor was taken to the Arima District Hospital, then transferred to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, where he died on Monday morning.

The father of three, all under the age of ten, was a mechanic, Eligon said, adding that Taylor wore all his protective gear.

He said Taylor was a careful rider and one who practised regularly, having visited the race track last Monday in preparation for Sunday’s event.
His death came as a shock to everyone, Eligon said, as Taylor only complained of his arm and leg being injured after the crash.

Eligon said all racers accept that motorsports are dangerou,s but the death did not seem consistent with the injuries Taylor said he had. He, like Taylor’s family, is eager for the findings of the autopsy.