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Butler through to European Championship Finals |
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Friday, 18 July 2008 |
Irish kart racer Robert Butler's change of team appears to have paid
off after he comfortably qualified for the European Championship
Finals after the qualifier in Spain last weekend.
Now racing for the Dutch-based PDB Racing team on a Gillard kart,
Robert was fast as soon as he arrived at the new Alcaniz circuit and
went on to post second fastest lap in timed qualifying under the
supervision of mechanic Jarlath Keary.
In the heat races he was consistently at the front, winning a heat
after fighting off reigning Junior champion Jack Harvey, taking second
in another and scoring solid top tens in the remaining two. This put
Robert on grid two for the first of the two Final races.
Unfortunately there was trouble at the start, leaving Robert with a
bent steering assembly. He dropped down to eighth after this and
eventually nursed the kart home to 13th, knowing that the most
important thing at this meeting was to finish in the top 24 drivers
who would go through to the next round at Braga in Portugal. With 34
drivers on the track, 13th would almost guarantee him entry if he
could finish higher than last in the next one.
With everything fixed for the next race and a gearing adjustment to
give him more speed coming out of the corners, Robert aimed to make up
places and after fighting in midfield for much of the 15-lap race he
managed to break away and move up through the rankings. Taking two
competitors on the final lap alone, Robert finished seventh, also
finishing seventh when the two results were aggregated.
The slate will now be wiped clean for the European Final in Portugal
in three weeks and Robert will arrive as the top Irish contender in an
unusually strong field drawn from all over Europe.
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