Hannsen Dominates WA KZ2 Round 1
Tweet| 17 February 2013 |
press release
Luxor Driver Joey Hannsen (Luxor/LKE) took all before him at the 1st round of the Auto1 KZ2 Championship, not the least of which is a new lap record for the Hurricane circuit.
Qualifying set the scene for what was to come. Blake Mills (Energy/TM) showed he had what it takes to go with the Dutch former world champ, going under the previous lap record with a 32.7 lap. But not to be outdone, Hannsen quickly snatched it back going a tenth quicker and taking Mills’ early glory with a 32.63. Last year’s Champion Simon Gwilliam (DR/TM) qualified 3rd just missing out on breaking into the 32 sec bracket. Other big improvers where Richard Howe, who showed age is no factor knocking out some personal best times.
Above: Joey Hannsen and team
As the drivers come out for the 2 heat races so did the sun, with the mercury hovering around the 35-40 degree mark. This didn’t stop Hannsen once again stamping his authority on the racing. He didn’t get it his own way though with Blake Mills making the most of the starts to take the early lead making Hannsen work for his wins.
Race one came at a cost however for Triple F Racing driver Chris Griffiths (Energy/TM) and Matt Creer (Kosmic/TM) who come together in a lap 1 incident resulting in an early round finish to the round for Griffiths. The pair had to be separated by officials; Matt took advantage of the fresher tyres with some strong finishes for the rest of the meeting.
Daniel Currey showed his local knowledge of the track to mix it up with the two favourites. The Patrizi Coarse team driver was sporting his new RK chassis and BMB engine, taking 2nd place from Mills in race one. Currey also had a fight on his hands in race 2 with BD Soutar-Dawson (Arrow/TM) snatching 3rd place from Currey as Hannsen and Mills skipped away.
The Final
The lights came on… the stage was set, and the pits emptied as everyone looked for a spot at the fence to catch the final race. 25 competitors graced the track for the standing start. Mills again getting the hole shot to the first corner and quickly put a gap between him and the rest of the field. Hannsen, not to be outdone, clawed his way back and took control of the race along with a handy lead.
Recently crowned Australian Champion Anthony Martin (Lenzo/LKE) had the hard task of coming from last after a forgetful pre final. Martin showed his class making his way up to 10th for the final. Martin Later commenting, “It was one of those weekends where things didn’t go to plan from the beginning and we chased our tail all weekend. Next round will be different”.
Above: Hannsen and Mills on the front row
Todd Fiore (Energy/TM) from the Triple F racing team had a mixed weekend after a deflating tyre ended heat 2. “I opted to pull in instead of charge on. Tyre wear is a major issue on these weekends so I wanted to make sure I didn’t hurt the tyre and give myself the best chance for the final”. This smart thinking from the Triple F Racing stable helped Todd on his way to come from the rear in the pre final to 7th in the final. The drive was enough to guarantee Fiore landed the ‘Hard Charger Award’ for the weekend.
Towards the end of the race Mills put one last fight on for the lead. The result led to a 7 kart freight train as Hannsen had to aggressively block for the last few laps. The pair swapped for the lead a few times and also come together as a desperate Hannsen tried his best to keep the lead. Soutar-Dawson was a late retirement as his engine let go with only a few laps remaining.
As the action packed battle for the top 7 places continued and the 25 laps counted down it was Hannsen who would eventually take line honours. “Wow that was hard”. Joey said “I haven’t had to race that hard in a long time, full credit to Blake. We had a great weekend taking the lap record with the new LKE engines. This is a great series, a hard Series but everyone gets along well, it’s what racing should be like. Just want to thank Brendan and the team at Lenzo Kart Australia and I hope we can carry this through the year… YEAH BUDDY”
Daniel Currey rounded out the top 3 ahead of last year’s Champion Gwilliam and Jared Bishop (Zanardi/TM) who had a consistent weekend rounding out the top 5.
Rookie of the Year update
Last years ‘Dash for Cash’ sensation Jason Lecocq (Birel/TM) has skipped out to an early 18 point lead ahead of Jacob Parson (DR/TM) and Paul Newland (RK/Vortex) who have both stepped it up a level and can only be happy with the results.
