WA KZ Series, Round 2


from West Australian KZ Committee 21 April 2015
 

With the weather looking threatening above the Bunbury Kart Track on 11 April for the second round of the WA KZ Series, a good qualifying result would be paramount. V8 Touring Car Driver Jake Kostecki (CRG) received his first pole in the WAKZ series with a time of 31.82, his best result since joining last year.  Followed by the experienced pair of BD Soutar-Dawson(Arrow) with 31.90 and  FMA Motorsport driver Darren Burke (Formlua K) in a time of 31.91. There was going to be some close racing with the top 5 separated by a tenth of a second and the top 12 by 2 tenths.

Queenslander Kyle Ensby received no time after his transponder failed to charge overnight, this would make it hard to hit the front in the short and tight track.

wa kz2 round 2
Above: Fastest qualifier Jake Kostecki
pic - Andrew Hooper Photography

Race 1 got away with little drama. Kostecki was unable to capitalise on his qualifying result and had a bad start, he was pushed back to 9th by lap 6 when contact was made with Thomas Howe (FA Kart) before making his way back to 7th. BD Soutar-Dawson looked in great touch as he hit the lead early and drove away from the pack. His 5 kart lead was never challenged as he took the win. Darren Burke and Youngster Thomas Howe battled it out for 2nd and 3rd . Bunbury Local Joshua Merritt (OK1) silently chip away to grab 4th and the ever aggressive Deepal Kandola (Luxor) made it to 5th after starting 11th.

BD once again looked in dominating form taking the early lead in race 2. Once again he drove away from the pack and took a very comfortable win. This time Jake Kostecki  was able to make the most of his front row start but was unable to make inroads to BD coming home 2nd. Burke held off his team mate Simon Gwilliam (Formula K)  and the pair crossed in 3rd and 4th.

This set up pre final grid which had BD Soutar-Dawson from pole, Burke, Kostecki, Howe and Kandola. Drama on the start line! As the field got away Simon Gwilliam in 10th snapped a chain and caused a big accident on the main straight. The crash took out 8 drivers. No serious injuries, however the CRG of Peter Newland and the Formula K of Adam Garnaut where unable to be repaired for the final.

wa kz2 round 2
pic - Andrew Hooper Photography

This didn’t stop the race however and it looked like BD was going to clean sweep the weekend. No one could get close to his consistency and once again his early lead could not be beaten. By now though recent Australian Karting Championship round winner Jake Klarich (TB Kart) had found some pace and set to work pulling in the front pack. Starting from 8th he caught Thomas Howe who was in 2nd and passed him showing he had the speed to threaten BD’s dominance. Howe was showing the first round was no fluke coming home 3rd and adding to his impressive run of championship points. Deepal Kandola also drove a solid race coming home 4th and Round 1 Hard Charger Bayley Mickler (Formula K) was also making his way forward.

The Final was set up for 25 grueling laps around the tight and twisty Bunbury City Kart Club Track.

Deepal Kandola caught everyone napping at the start of the Final, going straight to 1st by lap one. He then continued to set an early lead. BD also had a relatively good start and set about chasing down Kandola who had already gotten a 4 kart lead followed by Thomas Howe and Bayley Mickler. Jake Klarich had a less than impressive start and was back in 5th with a lot of work to do.

But the current Championship leader set about correcting his bad start. One by one he picked off the Mickler, Howe and Soutar-Dawson. He then set his sights and chased down the lead that Kandola had made. Bayley Mickler was looking very impressive. His kart had come on and also started making his way forward. By lap 12 he had made his way to 3rd, BD looked to be struggling, Howe also slipping by, and it looked like his dream weekend had come to an end eventually slipping back to 6th.

The Impressive Queensland pair of Cian Fothergill (Luxor) and Kyle Ensby (CRG) had also made their way to the pointy end. Ensby had a lot of work to do coming from mid pack. By lap 20, Fothergill had passed Howe to get into 4th , he then set about hunting down Mickler however there just weren’t enough laps as he crossed in 4th. Ensby not far behind in 5th.

wa kz2 round 2
Above: Queensland's Kyle Ensbey (39) caught in a green and black sandwich; Joshua Wood (99) and Robert Hooper (6)
pic - Andrew Hooper Photography

By lap 14 Klarich had caught Kandola, he didn’t play around and within that lap he passed him, and drove away. Just like his recent Aussie Championship win Klarich had another come from behind victory with some great passing and racing.

Jake Klarich took Round 2 Honours and the $1500 prize money that goes with it, from Deepal Kandola and Bayley Mickler. Cian Fothergill and Kyle Ensby both agonizingly short from a podium. Peter Newland didn’t have the best end to his weekend, but he did pass 13 karts in race 1 to take the Hard Charger Award.

wa kz2 round 2
Above: Round 2 winner and series points leader Jake Klarich
pic - Andrew Hooper Photography

Big Thank you to the Bunbury City Kart Club and the officials for putting on a great meeting, Karting WA for the support and our Round Sponsor Newland Associates.

Round 3 of the FMA Motorsports WA KZ Series will be held at Tiger Kart Club (Cockburn) on May the 23rd and 24th. If you’re interested in competing or want more information please email wakzseries@gmail.com

wa kz2 round 2

Driver Quotes:

Deepal Kandola

“Qualifying was good, the light drizzle before changed the balance of the kart. The field was really close which just goes to show the level of competition in the WA KZ series 2 tenths of pole but in p11. First race had a good start and moved up a few positions kart was good but at the end of the race finished p5.Second race had another good start made a few positions to finish p7 kart was fast which showed in the lap times but not in the position. It is always hard on a small track when you start further back to try and make your way forward. Started the pre final in 5th made my way into 4th early on in the race. The front 4 in BD, Klarich, Howe and myself were really closely matched in lap time so it was going to be a good fight in the final. Made a few changes to the kart for the Final to suit the night conditions. Started of p4 and good a good start into 3rd then got into 1st by the end of the first lap. Tried to push as hard as I could to break away from the pack. Klarich managed to reel us in over the distance and get the win.

"Congratulations to Jake Klarich on the win. He showed us all why he is the man to beat in Australia at the moment. But that just gives Us more motivation to keep pushing. 

"We now have good confidence going into the next round at the Cockburn track which has been a favourite of mine for many years. My brother Amrit will be racing again so the both of us together will be doing plenty of testing before the next round. It always help having a very fast younger brother to keep pushing me.”

Jake Klarich

“Qualifying wasn't the best for us on the weekend, came away with 8th, it was very close but we had a bit to find in the kart. Through the heats we struggled a little bit, tried a few major changes to find that little bit but it didn't quite work, also a bit of an incident in the first heat which set me back a bit. For the pre final we found exactly what we were trying to find in the kart and went from 8th to 2nd. In the final I had a bad launch off of the start and dropped back to 5th. Made my way back to 1st with about 10 laps to go. The Stanley motorsport TB kart was on fire. 

"Huge thanks to Stanley Motorsport, Super Rooster, A & R Klarich transport, Performance Racegear and Hanssen racing engines.

"The next stop for us is the Second round of the Australian Championship at Monarto SA, we will be doing a lot of testing up until then to ensure we have the best shot at another podium! "

wa kz2 round 2
Above: Push off
pic - Andrew Hooper Photography

Bayley Mickler

“After qualifying 7th we made a couple of changes to the kart knowing that we were no more than 1 tenth of the front 2 we knew all we needed was consistency and that’s what the flat-out powered Formula K had we ended up 6th in heat 1. Heat 2 I got a bad start bogging off the line and struggled with the tyres coming up to temperature fast enough, when they did which was around the last 5 laps we were one of the fastest karts on track and this was good for a final of 25 laps. Heat 3 pre final starting out of 7th we were able to manage the tyre pressures better and move up to 5th and start 5th for the final which was good but I would of liked to have started front 2 rows. In the final we got a good start and was able to get to 4th by the first corner jumping the 95 kart of Jake Klarich, Jake was to fast earlier on in the race for me and ended up getting past in the early stages, when the Formula K kart came on it was good, we were able to pass Tom Howe and BD Soutar-Dawson, I had Cian Fothergill on my tale in the closing stages of the final, Cian closed up the gap to me big time the last 2 laps as my air box and carburettor had come loose. I was losing power but I was able to hold on for a podium spot.

"Overall the weekend was very technical and the race was some of the hardest most intense racing I have experienced in the WA KZ series yet 

"Obviously we will commence testing for carnival of karts but I am also heading over to the US to race the SKUSA pro tour in the S2 gearbox category in 2 weeks for Aluminos kart team for the Springnats, 
I hope to do WA proud.” 

wa kz2 round 2
Above: Joshua Merritt ahead of Bayley Mickler and Cian Fothergill
pic - Andrew Hooper Photography

wa kz2 round 2
Above: Series points after 2 of the 5 rounds

wa kz2 round 2
Above: Darren Burke recovered to 11th in the final after a pre-final DNF. #44 is Dean Whittome
pic - Andrew Hooper Photography

wa kz2 round 2
Above: Lewis Sutherland
pic - Andrew Hooper Photography

wa kz2 round 2
Above: Jake Klarich leads the pack
pic - Andrew Hooper Photography

wa kz2 round 2
Above: First round winner Thomas Howe was third
pic - Andrew Hooper Photography

wa kz2 round 2
Above: Hayden Patrizi in, of course, a Ricciardo kart
pic - Andrew Hooper Photography

 

 

Home



kartsportnews promo banner