ROAD NEWS
BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT FOR KIWI AT LE MANS
It was a breakthrough moment for young New
Zealander Cormac Buchanan at round three of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup at Le Mans , in France , on Sunday , May 14 . The teenager from Invercargill finished fifth in the second race of two that weekend , his best result yet in the competition that is designed to identify , nurture and grow stars of the future . He had finished a creditable eighth in his first outing at Le Mans on the Saturday and he backed that up brilliantly with an astounding fifth place finish on the Sunday . “ Well , I was very lucky . I was P11 going into the second to last lap and finished P5 ( in race two ) so it is the first top five for me . Lucky , but then to finish first , first you have to finish , so I ’ ll take it ,” explained the 16-year-old Kiwi , referring to the five riders ahead of him who fell off near the end of the race . “ The starts this weekend have been really good , I am finally getting back to the way I felt at the end of last year , so I ’ m really pleased with that , but I just need to work on staying a bit more calm because , when I get in that front
100 KIWI RIDER group , it gets a bit hectic and I kind of make a lot of mistakes . Then I start losing the group . “ There is still plenty to work on and I am going to train hard for Mugello and get P5 with more merit shall we say .” At the time of writing Buchanan is now ranked 14th on the 26-rider points table after three rounds , up from 16th before the start of his weekend in France . There are four more rounds remaining , with the series set to wrap up at Misano , in Italy , on September 9-10 . Buchanan had sealed up both the 600cc Supersport and the Supersport 300cc class titles at the 2023 New Zealand Superbike Championships , that wrapped up at Taupo in March , before driving to Auckland and catching a flight to Europe that same Sunday evening . The Red Bull Rookies Cup is renowned for releasing new stars into the world of Grand Prix racing , with former rookies now competing with enormous success in all bike categories and competitions . Andy McGechan