Leastone HQ

Naas Teenager Makes The Jump

Leastone Racing can confirm that 16-year old Mark Read will graduate to the Formula 5 series in 2007. Although the Naas schoolboy is sitting his Leaving Certificate this year, the nature of the calendar means he can do the majority of rounds without interfering with his studies.
Read began his racing career in karts back in 2004 when he the raced in the Junior Max category. He put in a number of impressive performances in his debut season but was hindered by the weight limit in the junior class. In 2005 he decided to make the move to the ultra competitive Senior Max class as the weight limit was much higher, thus giving him a more level playing field. He battled well among the more experienced karters but his season was affected by a series of shunts, most of which were through no fault of his own.
As the teenager racked up more experience he began moving up through the field and ran on the fringes of the top ten in the latter stages of the 2006 season. With the budgets to run at the front of any karting class astronomically high, it was time to look for a more affordable route up the racing ladder.
No stranger among the Leastone fraternity, as Mark had helped the team whenever school permitted, the youngsters Karting progress was closely monitored by Leastone boss Paul Heavey. Suitably impressed with what he saw, Heavey initiated negotiations in the closing stages of the racing season before the deal was confirmed soon after the season closed. “The plan was to move to single seaters as early as possible. Karting was just becoming too expensive and for roughly the same budget, I could make the move to Formula 5. I’m looking forward to the winter tests and getting myself up to speed.” said Read.
Paul Heavey is equally happy with the deal: “I watched Mark’s progress since the start of ’05 and he mixed it with much better funded drivers. This is the sort of talent we want to showcase in Formula 5 and it’s great to have him in the class for ’07.”