Thomas looking to world finals

Jamaica's budding driving star, 15-year-old Thomas Issa, woke up this morning in Belgium, a week after turning in a sparkling performance in the United States to cement a place in the World Go-Kart Finals, scheduled to take place in New Orleans later this year.

"He is in Belgium competing in a Euro Max event this weekend and at the same time using the opportunity to further prepare himself for the world finals later this year," president of the Jamaica Karting Association, Neil Williams, told Automotives on Thursday.

Last year Issa had to go through the rounds at the US Grand National Finals to book a ticket to the world finals, held in Portugal. Though he came up empty-handed, the Campion College schoolboy learnt a lot from the experience and strategised this year.

"He will also be doing a stint at the Skip Barber Racing School to enhance his preparation for the world finals," Williams further said.

The Skip Barber Racing School is one of the largest such institutions in the world. It conducts racing schools, defensive and high-performance driving schools, amateur and professional racing championships and corporate entertainment schools. Skip Barber started the school in 1975 with two borrowed Formula Ford race cars and four students. The school visits up to 30 racetracks across the United States and Canada and owns 120 race cars.

In his campaign on the North American circuit this year, Issa made no mistake in the Florida Winter Tour Rotax Series. He turned in another classy performance at the Homestead Speedway in Florida, where he was a double winner two weeks ago,

Issa gave a good display in Ocala last weekend, wrapping up the championship convincely. Last Saturday, he went into the meet holding a commanding lead. By late afternoon, careful calculations suggested that he had won the championship, following his second-place finish earlier in the day.

He won the championsip ahead of the American duo of Ashley Rogerio and Kyle Kirkwood, who came in second and third respectively.

- Glenroy Sinclair