WA KZ2 Series - Final Round
| by Lee Foster | 29 August 2013 |
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The final round of the 2013 Auto One KZ2WA Championship was held at the Hurricane Kart Club on Saturday the 24th of August. Held in conjunction with the annual King Of The Hill event, a huge field of 32 KZ karts took to the track.
The weather gods were shining down on the tricky 753m Burma Road circuit, with perfect conditions for the day / night meeting, only adding to the fantastic atmosphere, great racing, live band and fireworks that all who attended enjoyed so much.
The hard fought battle for the 2013 Auto One KZ2WA championship was still red hot going into the final round, with Blake Mills and former World Champion Joey Hanssen tied for the lead. Last year’s defending KZ2 champion Simon “Gumby” Gwilliam, and young gun Jake Klarich were still in with a shot at the title as well, but they would need a little luck to go their way.
Qualifying was split into two, short, sharp, 5min sessions. Gwilliam set the fastest time (32.890), closely followed by Mills (32.963), Hanssen (33.021), Soutar-Dawson (33.056), and rounding out the top 5 was Klarich (33.114). CIK regulars Cameron Hill (33.139), Daniel Currey (33.202), and Cian Fothergill (33.300) qualified 6th ,8th and 11th respectively.
Above: Full of Energy - the all Energy Kart front row of Simon Gwilliam (21) and Blake Mills (2) followed by the rest of the 32 strong KZ2 field form up for the 1st heat race of the day
pic - O’Keefe Photography
The start of the first heat saw Blake Mills narrowly lead the field into the first turn, with some scintillating early race pace on cold tyres, Mills pulled a gap that could not be run down by the ensuing pack. There was plenty hard fair racing to be witnessed right the way through the field, and at times it was difficult to know where to look. At the end of the first 15 lap action packed heat race, “Millsy”crossed the line with a handy 2.5 second gap back to Joey Hanssen, BD Soutar-Dawson, Simon Gwilliam and Jake Klarich. Cian Fothergill moved up from his 11th place starting position to finish 6th, with Hayden Patrizi right on his bumper moving up from 12th to finish 7th at the flag.
Above: Action in the pack - Hayden Patrizi (29), Cian Fothergill (20), Ben Van Ryt (51), Lewis Sutherland (76) and Cameron Hill (4) all going hard at it during heat one
pic - O’Keefe Photography
Above: Back in Black – Jake Klarich made the swap from Lenzo kart to CRG for the last round of the series. He ran inside the top 5 all weekend and finished 2nd in the 25 lap final
pic - O’Keefe Photography
The heat 2 start was a carbon copy of heat one, with Mills just managing to get the better of Gwilliam into the first corner. “The Flying Dutchman” Joey Hanssen was not going to let Blake Mills take the championship without a fight, and quickly moved into 2nd position overtaking Gwilliam on the start of lap 2. Unfortunately for Gwilliam, he was hung out to dry after the move from Hanssen, with a freight train of karts bustling past him as he struggled to get traction on the dirty outside line. The race was on, with Hanssen leading the hungry pack in pursuit of Mills who had opened up a handy buffer. Misfortune struck however, as Hanssen’s engine expired about half race distance, leaving Daniel Currey to take up 2nd position in the running order. The gloves were off and every position meant precious points in the championship, Jason Lecocq being one of the casualties losing his nosecone on lap 7. Heat 2 again belonged to Mills who finished ahead of Daniel Currey, BD Soutar-Dawson, Jake Klarich, Hayden Patrizi and Simon Gwilliam. Other drivers to make good progress in heat 2 were rookies Jacob Parsons and Josh Mulholland.
Above: Close quarters – BD Soutar-Dawson (75) also swapped karts (from Arrow to Energy) for the last round. He's seen here leading Simon Gwilliam (21), Joey Hanssen (11), Daniel Currey (3), Jake Klarich (95) and Hayden Patrizi (29)
pic - O’Keefe Photography
The prefinal was run under lights adding to the spectacle of this fantastic event. Again it was Blake Mills leading the field away into the first turn. Joey Hanssen was starting out of position 14 due to a dnf in heat 2, and things did not get any better for the Dutchman. His chance at winning the Auto One KZ2WA championship gone in a cloud of dust as he was involved in a first corner incident and out of the race.
The swarming pack was now more intense than ever, every position crucial for a good starting spot in the all important final race of the series. Jason Lecocq, keen to stay in contention for the Daniel Ricciardo rookie of the year award, made a charge through the field moving from 23rd to 15th, Lewis Sutherland and Daniel Currey also on a mission went from 20th to 13th and 15th to 7th in the prefinal. Blake Mills was too strong once again, leading home Simon Gwilliam, Jake Klarich, BD Soutar-Dawson, Hayden Patrizi and Cameron Hill.
Above: Hill at King Of The Hill – Cameron Hill made the trip to the west joining the Birel team for the last round of the series. Strong results saw him hovering inside the top 10 eventually finishing 11th in the final
pic - O’Keefe Photography
Above: Welcome return – Amrit Kandola made a return to karting last Saturday in the KZ2WA field aboard a new Exprit chassis. Older brother and former Australian champion Deepal was doing the spanner work
pic - O’Keefe Photography
Series points going into the final race of the Auto One KZ2WA championship still had Simon Gwilliam in with a mathematical chance to win the title. With both Mills and Gwilliam starting on the front row for the 25 lap event, the race was shaping up to be an absolute cracker!
Being the final showcase event of the evening, tension could not be higher when the 32 kart field rolled out onto the Wundowie circuit, a huge crowd had gathered throughout the day and were now 4 and 5 deep at the fence waiting for the action to begin. Blake Mills had made perfect starts all day and the final race was no different. Simon Gwilliam however was not so fortunate, almost stalling his no. 21 Energy kart off the line and dropping back to 8th position before the first corner. Mills, whilst in the lead of the race, still had to finish to take the title, and Jake Klarich was not going to let him go without a fight. Mills and Klarich managed to break away from the pack with Klarich hounding Mills every corner looking for a way through. Gwilliam was fighting his way back through after his poor start having to fight tooth and nail for every position.
The racing was no less fierce further back in the pack, KZ2 new comer Josh Mulholland showing great form to move up from 30th to 16th, and Joey Hanssen staging a massive comeback after a couple of dnf’s, to charge his way through the field in the final, going from 29th to 6th position. As the laps counted down, Klarich was still harassing Mills for the lead and Gwilliam was homing in on Hayden Patrizi looking to take the final podium position. In the end though it was a jubilant Blake Mills who crossed the line in the no. 1 spot, clinching the Auto One KZ2WA championship ahead of a hard charging Jake Klarich. Hayden Patrizi held on to finish 3rd, just ahead of Gwilliam, Currey, Hanssen, TV superstar Ben Van Ryt, Queenslander Cian Fothergill, BD Soutar-Dawson and Jason Lecocq. What a final race to end the series!
Above: Winners are grinners – Blake Mills on his victory lap after winning every race of the final round, to clinch the Auto One KZ2WA championship. Father Clayton and crew chief Matt Elsdon were ecstatic with the result
pic - O’Keefe Photography
The KZ2WA committee would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all of the drivers, sponsors and clubs who have supported the 2013 series: Auto One, Ace Karting, Mills Drainage, Flexistaff, Flatout Karts, Primepower Engineering, Hurricane Kart Club, Tiger Kart Club, Bunbury City Kart Club and Daniel Ricciardo for his support of the Rookie of the Year award.
KZ2WA ROUND 5 RESULTS
1 BLAKE MILLS
2 JAKE KLARICH 3 HAYDEN PATRIZI
- Full results on AKA CMS HERE
KZ2WA CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
1 BLAKE MILLS
2 SIMON GWILLIAM
3 JOEY HANSSEN
DANIEL RICCIARDO ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1 JACOB PARSONS
2 JASON LECOCQ
3 DEAN WHITTOME
Above: Rookie winner – Jacob Parsons in his DR kart was the overall winner of the Daniel Ricciardo Rookie of the Year award for 2013, running a very close 2nd was Jason Lecocq and 3rd was Dean Whittome
pic - O’Keefe Photography
Above: Smiles all round – 2013 Auto One KZ2WA series podium L-R, Joey Hanssen (Shamick Racing / CRG), Blake Mills (Mills Drainage / Energy), Simon Gwilliam (Ace Karting / Energy)
pic - O’Keefe Photography
Above: At speed – Ben Van Ryt pushed hard all weekend in the Rytangle Carpentry Lenzo kart
pic - O’Keefe Photography
