Da Silva Picks Up Win #3 in IronMan Series R8

Round #8 in the 2019 IronMan Series championship would take place during the highly anticipated Classico Grand Prix weekend, kicking the racing off for day 2, Sunday. The twists and turns of the short and technical Classico course would be the battleground for the 1-hour contest, and it was a familiar face that would wind up on top of the box in the end…

Tom Zevin would lead the stacked field of thirty at the start, a group of drivers that represented arguably the most talented field of the year, many looking to get ‘practice’ for the Classico GP later the same day. As it was, Zevin would come under fire right away, leading lap one before James Lieser stole away the top spot to lead the next four circuits. Chris Carter was the next to have a turn at the lead, pacing the field for four laps of his own, before Max DeMoss took over at the point. DeMoss would hold onto the top spot for a bit longer than his predecessors, leading a total of 12 laps before his reign at the front was challenged by Andres Prieto at about the one-third mark of the race.

It wasn’t long after however until Prieto would duck into the pits, relinquishing the top spot back to DeMoss, who tacked on five more laps to his lead total before his own reign came to an end. This time it would be Sean Fite at the sharp end, taking over the lead duties on lap 33, and staying there until last month’s winner, Alyssa Yauney took over on lap 42. This would begin the longest run of laps led by any driver, as Yauney paced the field for the next 17 laps, although she and Fite would trade the lead back and forth a couple of times before and after making their pit stops. Ironically, all this action at the “front” would actually be a fight just outside the top five when the pit stop strategy settled…

This is because the strategy to stay out may have netted them laps led, by it would see them drop down the order and expose the ‘true’ front runners for the win, led by Jose da Silva. After pitting on lap 10, Da Silva would break away from the constant infighting, and instead start cutting fast laps in clean air, picking up opportunistic dancing partners along the way. As the laps clicked off and the pit stops started to happen, Jose kept moving up the order; 20^th on lap 20, 11^th by the halfway point, and then inside the top ten and closing in on those in front in the final 10 minutes. When the final pit stops started to happen -Jose’s included a handful of laps before the end- Jose and his two primary rivals were still under the radar. The former leader Andres Prieto led over da Silva and then fellow early-stop strategist Michael Hazelwood, all three about 30 seconds astern from the leaders. Thing is, they hadn’t pit yet. When those stops finally did happen, surprise, it was a three-way fight for the win with Da Silva coming out on top for his series-leading third win of the year, with Michael Hazelwood claiming his first IronMan podium, and Andres Prieto coming home in third.

IronMan Series Round #5 Top 10

1. Jose da Silva           
2. Michael Hazlewood
3. Andres Prieto
4. Chris Huerta
5. Miles Calvin 
6. Sean Fite      
7. Alyssa Yauney
8. Andrew Wood
9. Max Demoss Sr
10. Seth Willits

Points Standings after 2 Drops (Best Drop)

1)	Paulo Franca	571	(63)
2)	Jose da Silva	536	(48)
3)	Sean Fite	530	(75)
4)	Alyssa Yauney	513	(57)
5)	Sam Hunt	485	(18)
6)	Chris Huerta	443	(48)
7)	Luis Calderon	441	(45)
8)	Tyler Redman	432	(39)
9)	Max DeMoss	402	(51)
10)	Steve Spring	371	(0)

Summer Standings after Drop (Best Drop)

1)	Paulo Franca	190	(0)
2)	Jose da Silva	190	(72)
3)	Sam Hunt	185	(48)
4)	Alyssa Yauney	175	(72)
5)	Tyler Redman	175	(15)