PR: KMS North America in Vegas

KMS North America headed to the Las Vegas SuperNationals for the first time with 12 drivers under their new Gatel Tents. This was to be the first viewing of the new tents and the newly reconfigured trailer. KMS North America would be represented in 3 classes, Rotax Jnr, Rotax DD2 and the headline class KZ2.

In Rotax Jnr the team would have 3 Americans in Jared Cordova, Matt Solarczyk and Michael McCarthy, 1 Canadian in Nataël Cantin and a driver from Israel, Ayaly Kanoivicki. The drivers would show great pace in the wet and would qualify 5th, 9th, 20th, 21st and 30th respectively. A special note has to go to Ayaly Kanoivicki for qualifying 30th in his first ever time driving in the rain.

All the drivers would have some strong results in the heats as well as some tough results meaning that there would be mixed fortunes for their starting positions for the 20 laps main final. In the final the young drivers showed great strength to last the 20 laps. Unfortunately for Jared Cordova and Ayaly Kanoivicki, opening lap incidents would put them both out of the race on lap 1 and lap 3. As for Nataël, Matt and Michael, they would battle away to finish 18th, 15th and 14th respectively. Some very good results for the young drivers, who were all competing at the SuperNats for their first time.

Nataël Cantin was the lone Canadian KMS driver in Rotax Junior
(Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)

In DD2 the team had 7 drivers, regular Ben Cooper, returning drivers from the Florida Winter Tour, Kevin Ludi and Christophe Adams and new drivers to the team including factory Birel driver Paolo De Conto, Andreas Matis, Eugene Britz and Kyle Ensby.

2 of the 7 DD2s, Andreas Matis and Christophe Adams would be racing in the DD2 Masters category. There would be mixed fortunes for the 2 in qualifying as Andreas Matis would have a great showing posting the 4th fastest time in what was his first and only race in the 2013 season. Christophe Adams on the other hand would have a tough qualifying session posting the 27th fastest time. Despite this they would both have fantastic results in the heats moving them up the order. In the final they would have their best results with Christophe taking 2nd in the Masters category (15th overall) and Andreas 3rd (18th overall).

In DD2 qualifying, all of the drivers would post top 10 results, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th. Throughout the heat races in the rain all the drivers would have good results and show good speed that would all be for nothing as the track would be dry on Sunday morning. The main final would be one of the best races of the day, which would involve two of KMS North America drivers, Ben Cooper and Paolo De Conto. The 2 of them would be involved in a race long battle with each other and Bas Lammers, which ultimately lead to Ben coming out with the win and Paolo finishing 4th after loosing 3rd on the last lap. Kevin Ludi would go onto finish 13th in the race with team mate Eugene Britz just behind in 16th after a spin on lap 1 would see him fight his way back through the field. Unfortunately for Kyle Ensby he would not finish the final due to mechanical problems.

Doing double duty to compete in the headline class KZ2, Kyle Ensby and Paolo De Conto would both have tough qualifying sessions with Kyle not even completing 1 lap and Paolo qualifying 26th. Both would move forward in the cold and wet heats to have mid pack starting positions. With the final being dry the 2 would be in for a great race. Kyle would come through to finish 12th which was a fantastic effort considering that he had to start all of the heats from the back of the field. Starting from 19th Paolo would storm through the field with an excellent drive to finish 5th taken the fastest lap in the process.

KMS North America would like to take the time to thank all of its partners and everyone who has helped out throughout its first year. We now move onto the start of the 2014 season in Florida. We would also like to make a note that there is still space in the team for the 2014 FWT series with priority going to those who wish to compete in all 3 rounds.

For more information please contact Ben Cooper or Peter Kalman:
bcooper@kartingjimrussell.com
pkalman@kartingjimrussell.com