Kart chaos as Melinda Sully crashes out spectacularly in KZ2 final won convincingly by slick Sam Dicker

Sam Dicker completed a brilliant weekend in Albany’s Southern Sprint as he claimed a dominant victory in the opening round of the WA KZ2 Series. Dicker was the fastest competitor in qualifying and followed that up with three heat race victories. The Exmouth Kart Club member proved far too strong in the 25-lap final, as he set the quickest lap on his way to an emphatic victory against a field of 31 other drivers. Dicker skipped clear and crossed the line 8.817 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor and he was the only kart to clock a lap time under 43 seconds after his slick circuit of 42.988 seconds on lap eight. Jake Klarich capped a strong weekend in KZ2 division with second place in the final and Damon Papasergio finished third. Mason Harvey, Jayden Peirce, Ryan Bender, Thomas Sparkes, Blake Mills, Nikola Mitic and Lewis Sutherland rounded out the top 10. There was a number of casualties, including Melinda Sully and Nathan Jack, who came together on the first lap. Albany resident Mitch Perrella also failed to finish. The Albany member won the 14-lap final by 0.519 seconds over Tiger Kart Club’s Brad Smith. Pearson also claimed victory in the tag 125 restricted masters final, winning the 13-lap feature race by 3.91 seconds. Albany driver Ben Keen was very impressive on his way to winning the cadet 9 division, crossing the line more than 6sec. ahead of his nearest rival in the 14-lap final. Albany youngster William Panizza produced a strong performance to place third in the cadet 12 final. Panizza finished just 6.184 seconds behind the winner Connor Radford while fellow Albany drivers Cody Colmer and Mitchell Turner were fourth and fifth respectively. Jake Jurgielewicz, also from Albany, won the tag 125 restricted light final by 3.353 seconds. Meanwhile other winners at the Southern Sprint were Zane Rhodes (KA4 junior light), Noah Lisle (KA3 junior and KA2) and Darcy Venetis (KA3 senior championship).