Lawrence closes out Sprint Series career winning on Classico!

As it does every year, the 2022 Classico Grand Prix Weekend saw its first wheel-to-wheel action kickoff amongst the rising stars of sport karting in the CalSpeed Sprint Series, and it was no surprise to see the cream rise to the top on this challenging circuit. In the end it would be the usual suspects at the front, joined by a former champ at the checkers…

Qualifying and Heat Races…

In qualifying it was indeed the reigning champ making noise first, as Evan Lawrence looked to start his swan song in the Sprint Series on the right foot, conquering Classico with top time, and pole position overall. Scoring the #1 starting spot for the second and third set of heats would be reigning SE champ from last year Frank Chen and current overall title contender Emerson Thieman, the pair a couple of rising stars at CalSpeed. When the heat races commenced however, only Thieman was able to back things up with a W, as Lawrence settled for a P2 against current point leader Ivan Martinez, while Chen slipped back to third behind overall challenger Jeremy Aldridge in second, and first time heat race winner Ken Hackman.

C-Main

The C-Main would see Shelby Blecker lead the field away at the drop of the green for the standing start, but would immediately receive pressure from P2 starter Paige Abraham. Abraham hounded Blecker for the first 7 laps, making several moves, only to come up just short against the veteran Blecker. That bit of racing would see newcomers Bobby Sherrard and Erin Pae stay in the conversation, and in the final stages of the race, Paige went from on the attack, to needing to defend. Sherrard would go for the move on Abraham, but it would be Pae capitalizing on both to move from 4th to 2nd; the big beneficiary however was Shelby Blecker. That infighting saw his advantage grow, and even though the challengers would go quicker, it wasn’t enough to Deny Blecker hardware on Classico GP weekend.

B-Main

Jacob Abrams would start from pole in the B-Main, but it would be Jack Breaker snagging the top spot on lap 1, and with it, started to pull away in the clean air. Unlike the C-main that saw a 4-way fight for the win, the B-main would be a two-horse affair, as Nathaniel Small would move up from the 4th starting spot to become the lone challenger. Slotting into P2 by lap 3, Small closed in on the leading Breucker by about a tenth a lap until cutting the fastest lap of the race as he reached his bumper just past halfway. Once there however, the adage “its one thing to catch them, another to pass them” came into play, as Breucker was able to stave off any challenge from small to claim the B-main win and transfer into the A.

A-Main

After backing up his P3 in qualy with a heat race win, Emerson Thieman would lead the field away at the start, pushing to secure not only the win, but the most points possible in his bid for the championship. The pressure was on too, as point leader and fellow heat winner started just one row astern; that said, the pressure would instead come from reigning champ Evan Lawrence, moving up from P3 to take over the top spot on lap 2.  From there it was all Lawrence, slowly eking out a gap on Thieman, who next had to contest with the #3 guy ion the championship, Jeremy Aldridge. With the 2021 champ followed by the top three in the 2022 championship in a row, the cream had certainly risen to the top, but the little bit of infighting between the current protagonists helped give the edge to Evan. In the end, it would be a perfect ending to Evan Lawrence’s Sprint Series career, scoring win #4 of his career, and first on Classico, while Aldridge scored his best finish of the year, and Thieman settled for solid points in third.

The CalSpeed Sprint Series is already SOLD OUT for round #9, taking to the Classico CCW layout for the second time this season!

Sprint Series Round #8 A-Main Top 10

  1. Evan Lawrence [2R]
  2. Jeremy Aldridge
  3. Emerson Thieman
  4. James Lieser
  5. Ivan Martinez
  6. Brett Lopinsky
  7. Jack McNeel
  8. Michael Martin [2R]
  9. Lee Povey [SE]
  10. Camilia Rubio [SE]

Overall Point Standings Top 10

  1. Ivan Martinez              1740
  2. Emerson Thieman       1732
  3. Jeremy Aldridge          1690   
  4. Brett Lopinsky             1637
  5. Jack McNeel                1609
  6. Jacob Abrams             1530
  7. Joey Andrews              1523
  8. James Lieser                1490
  9. Derek Borunda            1479
  10. Leo Ovtcharov             1470

SE Sub-Championship Standings Top 5

  1. Lee Povey                    1384
  2. Luca Zambello             1262
  3. David Mock                 1172
  4. Tiange Li                      1138
  5. Nick Rajewski              1108

Summer Series Sub-Championship Standings Top 5

  1. Emerson Thieman       590
  2. Ivan Martinez              590
  3. Jeremy Aldridge          580
  4. Jack McNeel                535
  5. Jacob Abrams             533

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