Hunt Dominates Super Series 2021 Round 3

The CalSpeed Super Series continued in the forward direction with round #3, taking to the Sportivo layout, the third clockwise direction track in a row to start off the season. The last time the series was on Sportivo was last summer, with both races being won by the same person; this time around would make it three in a row…

A familiar face would claim top time in qualifying, as it was Sam Hunt scoring his second pole in three races, duplicating his feat from the last time the series was on the Sportivo layout. Joining him at the front during the green-white-checkered qualifying and earning pole for each of their heats would be Paulo Franca, and a breakout run by Diego Alvarado. Not only would the three snag the first starting spot for each of the heats, but along with it, bonus points to add to their tally at the end of the day.

And while it was a familiar face at the front in qualifying, the heat races saw an assortment of winners, with no driver able to double up to win both heats. For his part, Sam Hunt wouldn’t seal the deal on his first heat -instead getting 3^rd– but would come back to win his second heat to claim the pole for the A-Main. Scoring a career best P2 starting spot in the A-main would be Doug Yauney, earning it on the back of a first career heat win while backing it up with a 4^th in his second heat. Joining those two in the heat win department would be Paulo Franca, Tyler Redman, Kiron Chakraborty, and Evan Lawrence, the latter two making up row two on the A-Main grid.

Sam Auster would return to the Super Series after about 18 months off, and find himself going starting on pole of the C-Main here in round #3. Getting off to a good start, Auster would hold off the advances of Max Calder and Trevor Volin to kick things off, but then contact a few laps in would see Auster spin and eventually exit early. Taking over the top spot would be the aforementioned Volin, a long time sport karter that now was in position to score some hardware. With no shortage of infighting behind him, Volin steadily pulled away from the chasing pack, crossing the line a strong 4+ seconds ahead to score the C-Main win at the end of the 12 laps.

The B-Main would play host to the closest finish of the day, with a pair of up and coming talents putting on a show; 2020 Sprint Series 3^rd place overall, and current Sprint Series title contender Matt McCoy. The latter would lead them away, but it would be Clarke taking over the top spot early, only to have McCoy fire back one lap later. Matt would lead over the next few laps before Clarke once again took over the top spot, the pair actually cutting the exact same lap time -fastest of the race- in the process. As the laps wound down it was Clarke lead and McCoy giving chase, and it would all be decided on the final lap. After moves and counter-moves on the last lap, It would be a drag race coming out of the final corner, with Donnie Clarke crossing the line just .030 ahead at the line…

The start of the 3^rd A-Main of the year would see 2 different stories for the front row play out in the opening set of corners, as veteran front runner and pole sitter Sam Hunt opened up a lead immediately, while Doug Yauney saw a small mistake in turn 2 turn into an even bigger loss through the next couple of corners. By the exit of turn #5 the latter would be 5^th, while Hunt would have lengthened his lead by nearly a second over P2 by the end of lap 1. In fact, he would do nothing but pull away as the battle to get up to second raged on, allowing Hunt to bring home the win by over 4 seconds, making it 3 in a row on the Sportivo Layout,

Behind him it was a battle for 2^nd, with Kiron Chakraborty holding onto it out of the gate, before former series champ Sean Fite took over a few laps later. Working his way up from 8^th, Paulo Franca slipped by Fite a couple of laps later, with Michael Hazlewood slotting into 4^th to bump Kiron down one more spot to 5^th. In the end, Franca and Fite would be able pull away to secure the rest of the podium, Franca crossing the line just .074 thousandths ahead of Fite, with Kiron also nipping Hazlewood to steal away forth on the final lap.

The CalSpeed Super Series returns for round #4 April 24th, and heads in the reverse direction for the first time this year, as we take on Classico CCW!

Super Series A-Main Top 10-

1)	Sam Hunt
2)	Paulo Franca
3)	Sean Fite
4)	Kiron Chakraborty
5)	Michael Hazlewood
6)	Evan Karp
7)	Max DeMoss [M]
8)	Evan Lawrence [S][M]
9)	Henry Morse
10)	Tyler Redman

Point Standings Top 10 (drop)

1)	Sam Hunt	777	(360)
2)	Paulo Franca	767	(363)
3)	Alyssa Yauney	762	(0)
4)	Evan Karp	755	(340)
5)	Sean Fite	722	(344)
6)	Michael Hazlewood	699	(338)
7)	Tyler Redman	688	(314)
8)	Ayrton DeMoss	686	(244)
9)	Evan Lawrence [S][M]	677	(264)
10)	Diego Morales [M]	676	(298)