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[FF] A taste of things to come from Mostert?
by Sean Henshelwood
A taste of things to come for Mostert at Oran Park
December 8, 2008
Stepping from junior karting into the world of open-wheel racing is a big step for any emerging young driver. To step from the top end of junior karting as a multiple Australian champion into the complete unknown at the leading edge of Formula Ford in Australia, is yet another level of ‘scary’.
For rising Queensland star Chaz Mostert though, it’s just another day..
“Yeah I suppose it’s a big step, but racing a car is all I’ve ever wanted to do..” the 16-year old shrugged prior to stepping into his Synergy Motorsport Spectrum for the final round of the 2008 national series.
It had been an interesting year for the Queensland student, starting from an observation session in front of CAMS officials at the opening round at Eastern Creek through to his outstanding run at Oran Park’s final, an eight round season that has taken him from disappointment to jubilation, and everything in between.
“A lot of people told me I was crazy at the end of last year when I went looking for a car for the national series,” Eddie Mostert admitted. “But we’ve always thrown Chaz in at the deep end, and on his insistence we skipped state series to go all the way to Formula Ford’s ‘main game’. It’s been a tough year, don’t get me wrong, but to be lining up on the grid at Oran Park off P3 for the opening race after holding down P2 in the second practice session shows that it has all been worth it..”
Adding weight to Eddie’s comments was the fact that after five of the eight rounds, Chaz held down last position in the championship, with a total of minus three points…
“It was a tough start to the year, and we were hard pressed to crack the top ten and score points,” Eddie said, “but when we joined Justin (Cotter – Synergy team-boss), Chaz just blossomed and took a huge step forward to move from the mid 20s into eleventh place in the championship. At the start of the year we were lookingfor top tens, and dreaming about top fives.. now Chaz is capable of making the podium, so it’s been a huge step.”
“We could see from the start of the season that Chaz had huge potential,” Justin Cotter admitted. “We really wanted him on board early, but Eddie is a man of his word and had already made a commitment (to another team), so we just waited until they were ready. To be able to take him from the back to the front has been testament to his ability, and I guess, our experience with preparing the car..
“It’s funny, but from the outset with us Chaz has been fast. We tested here (Oran Park) a couple of times during the year, and he was as quick as, if not quicker than Laska (Paul Laskazeski). He’s also very technically capable which is interesting for a guy of just 16.. We set his car up with Laska’s optimum setup and Chaz actually asked us to make a modification which I didn’t expect to be quicker, but he’s really surprised us.. In essence what he wanted us todo was loosen up the rear of the car. Paul likes the steering to be direct and tend towards understeer. Chaz on the other hand likes to drive with the rear of the car and prefers oversteer, and he proved how switched on he was because despite setting the third fastest time in opening practice, doing it his way, he actually went faster…!”
For a number of commentators, Chaz’s progression through to the tail of the leaders was a sensation, however for those that know him, it was almost expected.. “He can get pretty hard on himself when the results aren’t there,” Eddie admitted. “It’s more because he feels he can do it and it’s not happening as quickly as he’d like than anything else, so this has been justification for what we’ve been trying to do all year..”
Off the second row of the grid for the opening race, Chaz was given some quick words of advice from team-mate and series points leader Paul Laskazeski.. “This is your first time starting this far up.. I’ve got a championship on the line, so if you go in too deep into turn one, and in all likelihood you will, run wide and avoid the back of my car..” he smirked in vague reference to his Symmons Plains DNF after being removed from the race lead by an errant foe..
As it was Laska made an awesome start, and in some eyes, too awesome.. With thep oints leader racing away comfortably to the lead in turn one, Chaz settled into a strong third behind Daniel Erickson and started to mount an assault on P2. Just two laps in though the race was brought under pace car conditions, and ultimately the red-flag after Lucas Dumbrell suffered a nasty crash at the back of the circuit.
“I hope Lucas is okay,” Chaz said afterwards. “I didn’t see any of the accident because it was behind me, I just hope he pulls through.”
“So far as the race is concerned, I got a great start and was looking for a way past Erickson, so I’m pretty happy with the pace of the car.”
Saturday’s second race again saw Chaz start strongly, moving into third place off the start as Laskazeski again raced away to an early lead with Erickson in pursuit. Chaz knew he needed to attack early and make whatever inroads he could on Erickson and he pushed hard, but was unable to find a way past the local driver, instead looking to consolidate valuable points and experience watching two drivers that would not be in the category in 2009.
“I had a couple of slight chances early,” Chaz admitted, “but I wanted points and a strong finish, it gives me a good grid position for the final race.”
Post-race Eddie Mostert wore the widest grin in pit lane. “Fantastic,” was all the normally vocal Queensland truckie could mutter, fantastic indeed and just reward for a sometimes frustrating year.
Off P3 for Sunday’s final race, Chaz again started strongly, but was forced wide by Kristian Lindbom into turn one. The pacecar controlled the field for lap two, before Nick Percat got the jump on Chaz into turn one to start lap three. “Kristian fed me a wheel on his way past, but Nick was a lot smoother, he just caught me on the restart – my lack of experience I think, but disappointing.”
From there Chaz started to mount an attack, but slipped up heading into the notorious final corner on lap four, just managing to gather it up before the hard concrete retaining wall, dropping two positions in the process. “I don’t think I did anything different to what I had been doing in the previous races, but for some reason I lost front-end grip and slipped up towards the wall, it happened again on lap seven, so it made me a little cautious from thereon, perhaps too cautious, but I was mindful of finishing,” Chaz shrugged post race.
After dropping back as far as eighth, Chaz recovered for seventh at flag fall to record his best round result of the year.
“All up I’m rapt,” Chaz smiled. “It’s been an interesting year, but with a great finish, so I’m really pumped for 2009, I think we’ve got all the ingredients for a win, and from there, who knows.”
Whilst Synergy Motorsport celebrated a stunning result for Chaz in just his third event with the team, they also celebrated victory in the championship with team leader Paul Laskazeski taking the 2008 title in Synergy’s debut year. For Chaz, that adds further weight to his 2009 chances, and the possibility of newer equipment. “We’re still negotiating with Justin (Cotter), but that’s where we’ll be next year,” Eddie Mostert confirmed. “We’re just working on selling our car, which has proven to be every bit as good as anything else on thecircuit, and update to one of Justin’s cars for next year. I’m just so happy that Justin came to us during the year and offered his help, it’s been the single biggest step in Chaz’s career, and has quite honestly fast-tracked us to where we were hoping we’d be after a slow start in cars. We’re really looking forward to 2009..!”
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Qualifying
1. Paul Laskazeski (1:10.4332), 2. Daniel Erickson (1:10.6259), 3. Chaz Mostert (1:10.7947), 4. Kristian Lindbom (1:10.8796), 5. Scott Pye (1:10.9068), 6. Nick Percat (1:10.9437), 7. Ryan Simpson (1:11.0654), 8. Richie Stanaway (1:11.1100), 9. Trent Harrison (1:11.2840), 10. Robert Storey (1:11.3420)
Race1 (red-flagged)
Race 2 (12-laps)
1. PaulLaskazeski (Spectrum 011b), 2. Daniel Erickson (Spectrum 011b), 3. Chaz Mostert (Spectrum 011), 4. Kristian Lindbom (Mygale SJ07A), 5. Nick Percat (Mygale SJ07A), 6. Scott Pye (Spectrum 011b), 7. Ryan Simpson (Spectrum 011c), 8.Robert Storey (Comtec Spirit WL07), 9. Chris Goodman (Spectrum 011c), 10. Glen Wood (Spectrum 011b)
Race 3 (12-laps)
1. Daniel Erickson (Spectrum 011b), 2. Paul Laskazeski (Spectrum 011b), 3.Kristian Lindbom (Mygale SJ07A), 4. Nick Percat (Mygale SJ07A), 5. Scott Pye (Spectrum 011b), 6. Ryan Simpson (Spectrum 011c), 7. Chaz Mostert (Spectrum011), 8. Glen Wood (Spectrum 011b), 9. Robert Storey (Comtec Spirit WL07), 10. Trent Harrison (Mygale SJ08A)
2008 Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship – series points
(points after eight rounds of eight):
1. Paul Laskazeski (342 points), 2. Nick Percat (274), 3. Kristian Lindbom (222), 4. Daniel Erickson (198), 5. Ben Morley (151), 6. Adam Graham (146), 7. Scott Pye (137), 8. Jake Chapman (105), 9. Brad Lowe (99), 10. Rob Storey (52), 11.Chaz Mostert (50)
Chaz Mostert is proudly supported by Synergy Motorsport, Kitco Transport, DIY Pool Fencing, Quality Plasterboard Accessories, Absolute Glass, Northline Transport, Logan Village Smash, Beenleigh Auto Trim and Comspread Engineering.
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