Damon Buckmaster racing the Team Mazda/Chaparral Suzuki early in his AMA road racing career. (Dunlop Press Kit photo)

Perhaps never in the history of AMA road racing was there a rider who came so close, so many times to winning a championship, but came up just short each and every time as did likeable Australian Damon Buckmaster.

“Bucky” came to the U.S. after winning the Australian 600 Supersport Championship in 1998. After an early injury sidelined him for much of his first season racing in the AMA, he came back and earned seven podiums, including three victories in 750 Supersport to finish runner up to John Hopkins by just three points. That would prove to be the story of the rest of Buckmaster’s career.

In 2001 Buckmaster finished second to Kurtis Roberts in Formula Xtreme. He lost that title by a single point. In 2002 he finished ranked third in both the Supersport and Formula Xtreme Series. Then in 2003 he was runner up in AMA Supersport (to Jamie Hacking) and the same in Formula Xtreme (to Ben Spies).

In all Damon tallied an impressive 13 national wins in three different classes and rode for two factory teams (Yamaha and Kawasaki). He was arguably the most consistent Formula Xtreme performer during his time in the series, but he left the AMA without a title. He very well could go down  as one of the best riders in the history of AMA road racing to never win a championship.