CalSpeedMagApril2018

Gloomy skies and cooler temperatures welcomed the Ironman Series for its fourth round in the 2018 championship campaign, taking to the Grande Counter Clockwise circuit for the month of April. The trend of new or different faces in victory lane would continue in this installment, with a last minute entry earning the top step in pro, while a IronMan veteran scored his first win of the year in sport… For the second round in a row it would be Michael Wojdat leading the charge to the green flag, this time down the hill and into ’Short Beach’ for the very first of what would be 59 circuits. He would maintain the top spot for the opening three laps before a hard charging Diego Morales reached the top, having worked up from 6th in those few short laps. Conversely, Riley Dugan elected to pit extremely early, making his first of two stops after just two laps, making his way in clean air much of the rest of the race. Part of what had Dugan pitting early was that the Pro Class had already began to catch sport class traffic, as the early stoppers in that class began to get caught up by the overall leaders. Still, with Morales leading the charge, he, Wojdat and round three runner-up Charles Eichlin continued to work their way through traffic as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for Wojdat, he would attempt to do perhaps a bit too quickly, locking up the brakes on lap 11, collecting a sport class driver earning some damage in the process. Just prior to that, Eichlin had actually decided to take a trip down pit road, a move that perhaps kept him out of a dire situation. Unlike his rivals, Morales stayed out of the pit lane for the entirety of the first half, instead methodically, although sometimes cautiously working through traffic lap after although lap. Ironically, with Dugan making his second stop before Morales had even made his first, the two drivers would meet on course as former worked to keep from being lapped. It would only last a lap or two before Morales made his trip down pit lane, and it would be the closest the two would be to each other all race. With all four of the front runners on different strategies, no driver spent much time wheel-to- wheel racing, with it all shaking out after pit stops with healthy margins. Morales would use that margin to carefully navigate traffic in the waning laps, scoring the Pro Class win in his debut, with Riley Dugan scoring the second spot just .657 seconds astern. Eichlin would be able to leapfrog the damaged Wojdat to score his second podium in a row, with the latter doing strong work with a damaged ride most of the race. Round 4 April 28 PRO RESULTS 1 12 Diego Morales 2 10 Riley Dugan 3 6 Charles Eichlin 4 16 Michael Wojdat 5 15 Matt Steele PRO Winn Diego Morales