CalSpeedSept2018

S eptember boasted three rounds of the Sprint Series season–Round 9, however, would yield winners that would throw a bit of a curveball at the Summer Sub- championship. New faces were going to take the step on the podium, but they were certainly not all that unfamiliar… Samuel Hunt, winner of Round 8 and current lead of the Summer Sub-championship, started off dominating his qualifying session. It seemed like no one was going to chip away at his blistering pace. Meanwhile, Spencer Russell and Rodney Bryant were pulling off excellent times last minute. In the end, Hunt would be the only driver to break into the 53-second range with a 53.993 to add another pole position to his record. Heat 1C began with Rodney Bryant holding the torch and Randy McKee and Jacob Abrams taking to battle immediately into the Esses. Despite their infighting, the top three managed to begin gapping the field after only a couple of laps. Bryant remained steadfast with his lead, however, leaving no room for McKee and Abrams to get through. The latter pair would duel throughout the heat, coming to the start/finish side by side and with Abrams grabbing the P2 spot behind winning driver Bryant. The front row of the A-Main saw Bryant and Luca Bortone get out to solid starts, the latter having won his heat ahead of Sam Hunt. Very quickly, he steal the lead away in the Carousel just after the green. Bryant, Sam Hunt, and Spencer Russell took to a battle for second– Hunt attacking in turn 4, thus allowing Bortone a little bit of breathing room. Any sense of ease wouldn’t last very long as Russell steamrolled to latch onto him, the two pairing up to try and get away from Bryant. Speaking of breathing room, there was none to be had with the top 4 now absolutely glued together. In the waning laps, the top group would shuffle heavily, seeing Bryant get to P2 and Karp repositioned into third. It seemed almost like a sure thing with Bortone leading nearly the whole race but it wasn’t meant to be– in Carousel, Bryant would successfully steal it away, placing a huge defensive wall afterwards and going on to grab his first ever Sprint Series win ahead of Bortone’s first podium and Hunt’s P3. The Summer Sub-championship now shows that anything could happen: Hunt and Bryant tie for 1st and Bortone and Russell tied for third and forth only 5 points behind but only 1 Summer Sub-champ gets crowned… A third place finish for Hunt– and ahead of title rival Russell– has chipped away a few points from the latter’s overall championship run. Going into the double-header, title recipient was still anything but certain… A Main Podium B-Main Winner Doug Yauney C-Main Winner Max Demoss Jr. Round 9 Sept 8