Drivers tune-up for State titles with opening round victories

Reigning Tag 125 heavy State champion Simon Gwilliam has tuned up for his title defence later this year with a dominant performance in round 1 of the South Eastern Zone Series at Albany City Kart Club last weekend.

Gwilliam, a multiple State titleholder, looms as a major player when Albany hosts the WA State Sprint Kart Championships, from September 29-October 1.

The talented driver blitzed his rivals in the Tag 125 heavy division last weekend after setting the fastest time in qualifying before claiming heat 1 and both pre-final events.

In the 14-lap final, Gwilliam was in a class of his own, powering away from his rivals to win by 6.276 seconds over Bayley Bell.

The clean sweep left Gwilliam with 1156 points from the opening round, while ACKC member John Hamment enjoyed a strong weekend to finish second on points with 875 despite finishing the final in sixth place.

Albany’s Greg Pearson was 12th overall on points after failing to finish pre-final 1 and the final.

Denmark’s Keb Evans, a member of Lake King Kart Club, won the sportsman KA3 combined division after an undefeated weekend of racing.

Evans prevailed over Bradley Nock in an entertaining 14-lap final by 1.086 seconds and also topped the overall points standings.

Albany’s Callum Harper charged from 10th place to sixth in the final and placed 10th overall on points, while Albany resident and LKKC member Brodie Kratochvill placed 11th overall.

In the sportsman KA3 hea-vy class, Albany driver Dion Hounsfield, who represents LKKC, won all three qualifying races before demolishing his rivals in the final to win by more than 14 seconds over Albany’s Bob Harrison.

Hounsfield (1156 points) took the overall win from Harrison (1012) with local driver Sonya Delamotte (637) back in fifth.

Up-and-coming Albany com-petitor Mitchell Perrella finished third overall in the highly competitive KZ2 category.

An LKKC member, Perrella went down narrowly in the final by 0.147 seconds to Alexander Barboutis.

In another good result, ACKC youngster Tyler Riedyk finished fourth overall in the cadet 9 division.

Other overall winners were Nash Ferraro (cadet 9), Lachlan Marshall (cadet 12), Dylan Ferfolja (KA4 junior light), Kip Foster (Tag 125 light), Thomas Callaghan (KA4 junior heavy), Luke Hall (Tag 125 restricted medium) and Ryan Bender (KA3 junior).