Mills Leads As New Faces Dominate Rnd 4
| press release | 1 August 2013 |
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Blake Mills (Energy/TM) has now gained control of the 2013 Auto1 West Australian KZ2 Championship. Although he is left wondering if he has done enough after round 5 (the last round) is complete and the worst round is dropped.
Round 4 took the championship again to a new track. The newly re-surfaced Wanneroo Kart Track. The surface and minimal testing ensured the drivers and teams had their work cut out for them. But that was nothing compared to what Mother Nature could muster. Friday practice was a literally washed away with torrential rain and Saturday racing was done under full wet set up.
Qualifying was a bit of a sore point for some. Unfortunately the Tiger Kart Club had to bring qualifying forward after telling some drivers it would be pushed back to allow for a tyre change. The result was some teams missing out on recording a time at all and missing out on valuable points. Mills one of the top runners caught up in the fiasco meant he would be starting rear for the first 2 heats. Jake Kalrich (Lenzo/LKE) took the honours though in the wet conditions.
Racing got under way again in wet conditions. Some drivers going with the Dunlop wets, some with the MG wets. It seemed in the conditions the MG wets where the better tyre. The first 5 to cross the line using the MG’s which left the Dunlop guys scratching their heads as to what to do. Jake Klarich couldn’t capitalise on his qualifying run and ran wide on one of the sandy corners. Unable to bring it back he was “Beached Az” (a popular phrase for the day) and cost him what should have been the win. Instead it was Rookie of the year challenger Dean Whitome (Intrepid/TM) snapping up some valuable points with the win. Bring him ever closer to Jason Lecocq (Birel/TM) in the Rookie points table. Dean was followed home by local celebrity Ben Van Ryt (lenzo/LKE) and the hard charging Blake Mills coming from the rear.
Above: Dean Whittome started both pre-finals from pole
Race 2 was again held under sandy and wet conditions and track conditions only got worse from karts re-joining the track. This time though Klarich held control and drove away for a comfortable victory. The impressive Blake Mills drove through the field once again, this time taking 2nd, ever consistent Van Ryt rounds out the top 3.
Sunday promised dryer conditions as the guys took to the track with slicks for the first time. Blake Mills showed his impressive form during the heats was no fluke and drove away with the win. Klarich coming home in 2nd would have to make some big changes to catch him if he had any chance in the final. Last year’s champion Simon Gwiliam (Energy/TM) salvaged what he could out of a forgettable weekend to come home 3rd.
The final was anything but a standard race.
The majority of competitors rocked up to the out grip on slicks. A brief downpour had the teams rushing for the wets. Well most of the competitors. Adam Maguire (DR/TM) opting instead to race on slicks, it was a move that would pay great dividends.
Above: The Maddox kart of Jason Gaikhorst
The race was defiantly started as a full wet race, typically as they have done the guys on MG’s drove away in the early stages. Then the track dried, the drivers on Dunlop’s began to get quicker and the drivers on MG wets cooked their tyres. The result was a very interesting race, with lots of passing and strategy that resembled a F1 race minus the pit spots. Matt Creer (Komic/TM) was one of the driver’s fortunate enough to have Dunlop’s and pushed through the field from 7th and took a very popular win. Matt being one of the drivers that have been with the series since it began and also taking his maiden win. Jason Lecocq Salvaged his forgettable weekend with a 2nd place just ahead of fellow rookie competitor Jacob Parsons (DR/TM). This ensures the Daniel Ricciardo Rookie of the Year Trophy is alive and hotly contested in the final round. Only 3 points separate these 2 for the Honour which is personally endorsed by the F1 superstar. Adam Maguire nabbed the hard charger award for the weekend after going to the rear on his slicks, they then came into their own and he progressed through the field up to 4th which was also Adams best performance.
After the ‘dust’ had settled from the weekend and the points where tallied up. It would seem that Blake Mills had taken control of the series from Joey Hannsen who was away on CIK duties. All this would change after the next round though. As part of the series points system means you then drop your worst round. This brings Joey back into contention. This also brings Last year’s Champ Simon ‘Gumby’ Gwilliam back into the mix making it a 3 way battle to the title. This means no one can afford to drop a race. Doing so could mean championship suicide.
Above: Points for Round 4
Driver Quotes:
Matt Creer:
“Qualifying was a mad rush to get to the grid but I was one of the lucky drivers to set a reasonable time. The heat races were extremely wet! I struggled to get any grip out of the Dunlop wets and was getting smashed around by everyone on MG wets while I tried to savage a reasonable place.
The Dry Pre final was good; I had pretty good pace with the kart coming on late and moved in to 7th.
The final, starting out of 7th with a drying track I knew the Dunlop wets would hold up better than the softer MG's. The race could not have gone any better, the track was drying and the kart felt awesome! I moved through the field but knew other drivers had the same wets as me. I moved in to 2nd and started to chase down Jason it wasn't easy to pass him but I got the move done and pulled a gap. I still had to push knowing that the few guys on slicks would be coming hard and fast!”
“It was a great weekend for us, I couldn't be any happier with the win and I would like to thank the Bunbury Kart Centre for helping us get there. I'm looking forward to the next and final round where I can prove some good dry pace.”
Above: Matt Creer took out the final from grid 7
Jake Parsons:
“With Qualifying I was just stoked to make out the gate in time, so to pick up my first top 3 after it was awesome. In Heat 1 I Ran 4th for most of it (due to Klarich striking grief on some kind of puddle and spinning out). I couldn’t hold off the charging Todd Fiore on the mg wets and went back to 5th but was the 1st on the struggling Dunlop wets.
Heat 2 again I got smashed by the guys on mg wets, held off Toddy this time to finish 5th. The Pre Final felt like the kart had some really good pace in the dry but made a flurry of mistakes and lost 4th spot to Jason Lecocq.
In the Final it played out like formula 1 race the way everyone was on different tyre strategies. Seems the woeful Dunlop wets made a decent intermediate tyre as the track dried up. I couldn’t believe my luck when Jason and I passed Mills and Klarich. Then Creer charged past to take lead and drive into the distance. In the last 5 laps I could see that Adam Maguire (charging on slicks) was like a seasoned angler, reeling me in at a great rate of knots and on the last two laps had the gaff out ready to land a podium. It was super hard to keep cool, not over drive the thing into the corners. I just tried to keep it tight and was pretty much parking it on the apex, using the gears to launch out. Felt ecstatic to finish up with a podium which has been one of my main goals this season.”
“Also if I can give a shout out to Steve and Lee from Ace Karting for hooking me up with the DR kart Chassis and BD from Flatout Karts and Engines for all his expertise and talent in setting up the TM engine, Congrat’s to Matt also, %^@#% awesome drive. Hopefully now we keep the ball rolling at the final round at king of the hill.”
Jason Lecocq:
“We really had a terrible run in the heats, the Pre final started 11th and drove up to 4th with good pace which was promising. Then in the Final got into the lead by half race distance to have Matt Creer blast by and leave me for dead. So bit of a mixed bag weekend.
Now though we can concentrate on the final of the WAKZ2 and CIK stars of karting final in September. Hopefully come away with the rookie title here and get some good results over east.”
Above: Series points after 4 of 5 rounds
The Final for the Auto1 West Australian KZ2 Championship will be held August 24th at Wundowie. Incorporated with the “King of the Hill” meeting.
