This article is from page 33 of the 2008-06-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 33 JPG
LISCANNOR man Thomas Buckley, leads the way at the half-way point in this year’s Biland National Karting Championship. With five races under his belt, Buckley leads the standings by three points from second place David Yamamoto.
After winning the first race in the Series, Thomas has claimed three second place finishes and one fifth place finish. The season has taken a summer break but Thomas is hopeful of continuing his impressive second season when racing starts again in August.
“There are some hard-core racers taking part in this years. There are about 10 or 12 racers who are really in contention to win each race,” said Thomas.
“It’s very tight at the top. At the moment there is just two points be- tween myself and David but it’s even closer than that. At the end of the season each racer is allowed to drop his worst result from the final com- petition. So if we both drop out worst results at this stage I am only a point ahead.
“Tt’s quite now of the national championship for the next few months. There will be a number of
two day plate races taking place but they don’t count towards the national championship.
“Once August comes around again the races will be coming quick and Jeo me ex- 0 0
Thomas’ lead in this years compe- tition has been built on consistency. With four different drivers winning the five races to date his ability to get close to the front on a regular basis is paying dividends.
‘Three of the last four races are on tracks that we know well and have raced already this year so that is a good sign. There is only one really unknown track,” continued Thomas,
who represented Ireland in the World Biland Championship in Brazil last year.
“The good thing is that we have been on the pace in every track – we haven’t had any really poor results. In the last two races in particular, we have finished second but we were only a few hundreds of a second off the first place.
“We haven’t heard what is going to happen with the World Champion- ship yet this year but I’m sure it will be taking place later in the season. I would hope to get as far as the world final again this year.” Thomas is sponsored by Lahinch Surf Shop.