FMA WA KZ Series, Round 1
| by Lee Foster | 14 February 2014 |
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The first round of 2014 FMA Motorsport WAKZ Series was held at the Tiger Kart club’s Wanneroo raceway on Saturday the 8th of February.
Forty four karts took to the track for the first round of the WAKZ series, the biggest field of KZ karts ever seen in the history of the sport in Australia.
Above: RECORD FIELD – Blake Mills leads the huge 44 kart KZ field away in the first heat of the 2014 WA series
pic - Sean Phillips
With a massive build up to this race meeting in preceding weeks, tension in and around the pits was at an all time high before the start of the 2 x 5 minute qualifying sessions.
Blake Mills started 2014 the same way he left off in 2013, qualifying fastest with a track record breaking 46.241sec lap. Qualifying in P2 was Amrit Kandola with a 46.381, P3 was Simon Gwilliam with a 46.591, P4 Jake Klarich with a 46.723 and rounding out the top 5 was Darren Burke with a 46.796.
Other standout performances in qualifying came from rookie KZ drivers Kurt Kosteki, Josh Merritt and Deepal Kandola, all making it into the top 10 at their first meeting.
Preempting the spectacle that was about to take place in heat one, the pits cleared out and a huge crowd gathered along the fence, 3 and 4 deep along the main straight, spectators jostling for the best viewing position all around the race track. Despite a slight hiccup with the first start having to be aborted, the first heat got underway relatively trouble free, not a bad effort considering the size of the field. It was Blake Mills who led the field away from pole position through turn one and along the straight into the treacherous Cully’s Thunderdome turn 2.
The first casualty was former series champ Simon Gwilliam, suffering linkage failure, unable to change gear and slowing on the exit of turn 2. He was lucky not to be collected by one of the other 40 karts, all squeezing their way past on either side, struggling for every spare millimeter of track space. In a fairly uneventful race one, Blake Mills crossed the finish line first ahead of Darren Burke, Amrit Kandola, Jake Klarich, BD Soutar Dawson and Lewi Sutherland. Queenslander Jason faint also had a good run in heat one climbing from 15th to 8th, as did youngster Tom Howe, who made his way nicely through the field from his 42nd starting position, courtesy of a weight infringement in qualifying, to cross the line at the end of heat one in 25th place.
Above: STANDING ROOM ONLY – The huge crowd lined up along the fence to watch the start of the WAKZ series, heat one
pic -
Sean Phillips
The start of heat 2 was just as spectacular as the first. Blake Mills once again leading the charge, this time followed very closely by Simon Gwilliam making use of his fresh tyres after his heat one DNF. Darren Burke, who showed good pace in qualifying and heat one, was unfortunate to have an engine let go in heat 2.
Jayme Light made a welcome return to karting after a long break, debuting in the WAKZ series this year. He was also unlucky to suffer the same fate as “Burkey” with an engine failure.
This heats big movers were Dan Currey, racing up the order from 14th to finish 7th, Tom Howe making up another 16 spots over the 10 lap journey to finish 26th, and Rob Mclean also making good ground moving up 11 spots to finish in 26th. Once again though it was Blake Mills taking the win ahead of Simon Gwilliam, Jake Klarich, BD Soutar Dawson and Amrit Kandola.
Above: WELCOME BACK LIGHTY – Jayme Light was back in the thick of things, here being pushed hard by Paul Williams
pic - O’Keefe Photography
If the crowd thought the first 2 starts were spectacular, they’d seen nothing yet!
The start of the pre-final was marred by a huge crash involving Dean Whittome and Brad Fitch (see video below). Whittome had a ripper of a start from his 23rd grid spot, unfortunately not so for Fitch who stalled in P13 as the lights went out. Whittome careered into the back of the stationary, unsighted kart of Fitch, destroying both karts. Thankfully both drivers were unhurt.
The race continued with Millsy leading the charge again this time with Klarich in hot pursuit. Darren Burke was back on song with a replacement engine and made his way from 8th to 3rd, and Dan Currey was still moving forward as the meeting wound on, eventually finishing the pre final in 5th place.
There were 15 non-finishers in the prefinal, with some of the faster guys now having to start from the back in the final, and an epic duel between Mills, Klarich and Co looking imminent at the front. The final race was shaping up to be a real firecracker!
Above: On-board with Dean Whittome as he slams into the back of a stalled Brad Fitch
The final got underway, this time without incident, and it was Jake Klarich who won the start, leading away from Mills, BD, Burke, Currey and Kandola.
Klarich gave it his all but was passed by both Mills and BD on lap 3. Millsy put his head down and pushed to secure a handy gap, Klarich, BD, Gwilliam and Burke all duking it out for the minors and putting on a fantastic display of driving skill.
Racing in the mid and rear of the pack was no less exciting either. Lewi Sutherland, Jayme Light, Jake Parsons and Kurt Kosteki all blasted their way past 10 karts in the first 5 laps, the young chargers all having to start from near the rear due to dnf’s or bad runs in the prefinal. Lewi Sutherland eventually finishing in 9th place and took home the well deserved hard charger award.
Strong runs in the final also came from rookie drivers Bayley Mickler and 15 year old Tom Howe, both finishing inside the top 10.
In the end though it was Blake Mills who took a well deserved 3 second win taking out the round win and a clean sweep of all qualifying, heats, pre final and final. Taking out the minor placings were Jake Klarich 2nd and BD Soutar Dawson in 3rd.
Above: START LINE – 44 KZ karts ready to take the start in the final
pic - O’Keefe photography
Above: CLEAN SWEEP – Blake Mills on his way to a clean sweep of round 1 or the 2014 WAKZ Series
pic - O’keefe photography
The WAKZ committee and drivers would like to thank the Tiger Kart Club committee and members for hosting round 1 and series sponsors, FMA Motorsport, LD Total, Revolution Racegear, Fastlane Racing Driver School, DPE Kart Technology, MG Tires and Smartarts Creations helmet painting.
Round 2 of the 2014 FMA Motorsport WAKZ Series is being held at the Albany City Kart Club on the long weekend of March 1st and 2nd. We hope to see you all there for another fantastic show !
