Howe Hits The Lead of WA KZ Series

WA KZ press release

3 September 2015


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Thomas Howe is the new series leader after round 4 of West Australian KZ Series held at Wundowie over the weekend. Previous leader Bayley Mickler didn’t show any of the form that had got him to the top from the last 2 rounds as he slumped to 4th in the standings. As predicted though West Australian sensation Jake Klarich continued his great form to win the 4th round in convincing fashion.

wa kz round 4
Above: Thomas Howe (14) now leads the series
pic - Andrew Hooper

Klarich didn’t have it all his own way however, the experienced pair of BD Soutar-Dawson and Simon Gwilliam where nipping at his heals over the 2 day event. BD taking out the first heat and Pre final Honours. It actually looked like BD might take it up to Klarich during the final if not for a first lap accident leading to a damaged seat.

wa kz round 4
Above: Jake Klarich (with almost vertical steering wheel) wins the Final
pic - Andrew Hooper

Amrit Kandola had a mixed weekend. Starting badly when he had engine troubles in qualifying and didn’t set a lap meaning he started from 27th. This was made worse when he was caught up in an accident lap 1 of heat 1. Hurting some ribs in the process and not sure if he was going to race on. He battled on though and made steady progress through the field. Starting 8th for the final, he again worked his way forward to 3rd in the final.

The ever consistent Simon Gwilliam had a solid run finishing in the top 3 all weekend. Finishing the final in 2nd bringing home a bag of points after a couple of average rounds.

wa kz round 4
Above: BD Soutar-Dawson
pic - Andrew Hooper

The Ricciardo Rookie of the Year award has a new Leader. Aaron Grossman has taken the lead from Jake Kosteki. It was Joshua Wood however, who impressed early on the weekend. Qualifying 4th with a string of top 10 finishes before falling to 12th in the final.

Looking at the points heading into the final round both awards are still well and truly up for grabs. With the ‘worst round drop’ meaning Thomas Howe will need to win and hope for a few miracles to keep his top spot.
The big fight for the Series Champion will be coming from Klarich and Soutar-Dawson. Both already have dropped a round and are only separated by 4 points.

The rookie award prize was recently received from Daniel Ricciardo and is still well and truly up for grabs, 19 points separate Grossman, Kosteki and Elliott.

The WAKZ Drivers and committee would like to thank Wundowie on another fantastic event. We now look forward to the final round on the 24th October at Wanneroo and our Series Presentation on the 25th October at Empire Bar. If you’re interested in attending the presentations please email wakzseries@gmail.com or look us up on Facebook.

wa kz round 4
Above: Daniel Currey ahead of Amrit Kandola (11) and Hayden Patrizi (29)
pic - Andrew Hooper

Above: Series points after round 4 of 5

Above: Results at round 4

Driver Quotes:

Jake Klarich

"This weekend everything went pretty perfect for us, the kart was mint in qualifying and that set us up for the rest of the weekend. In the heats and pre final I had some good battles with BD, it was good racing. We made a few changes for the final and it worked, couldn't fault the kart, I was able to do some consistent times and create a gap. It was good to get some points back after missing out on round 3 this season, should be an exciting last round at Wanneroo!

A huge thanks to Stanley Motorsport, Super Rooster, A&R Klarich Transport, Hanssen Racing Engines, Performance Racegear, and TB Kart. Now we look forward to this weekend where we head east for another round of the Australian Championship."

wa kz round 4
Above: Jake Klarich
pic - Andrew Hooper

Simon Gwilliam

"Well it was great to have a trouble free round as this year has been everything but!

My kart and engine were fantastic all weekend and I managed to set my own pace each race, unfortunately that wasn’t fast enough to go with Jake in the final. Happy to come home with the silver though. Was also good to see BD take it up to Jake in the heats.

Many thanks to the FMA team + Grassy & Ronnie my crew."

wa kz round 4
Above: Simon Gwilliam was 2nd in the Final
pic - Andrew Hooper

Amrit Kandola

"We had a tough start to the weekend with a seized engine on the first lap of qualifying. This left us rear of the field for both heats. In the first heat I mis-judged a pass on Hayden Patrizi resulting in a large crash. I DNF’d the race but also hurt my ribs quite badly. The kart was thankfully undamaged. I had to stock up on the pain killers for the remainder of the weekend. Good pace in the remaining heat race and pre-final left me in 8th starting position for the final.

We had a bad start in the final with a slower starting kart in front. Dropped down to 10th, but then had very good race pace to move my way forward into 3rd. The gap was too large to catch Jake and Gumby, so I settled for 3rd
Big thanks to IKD and Tim Craig for the Maranello chassis and help, dad for engine building and mechanic. We Looking forward to more testing before final round to hopefully take the fight to Jake."

wa kz round 4
Above: Amrit Kandola, 3rd in the Final
pic - Andrew Hooper