2019CalSpeedMagazineSeptember

T he ninth round in 2019 IronMan Series championship would roll through the Classico CCW layout for the second time on the season, with the sold out field taking on their second 2-Hour event as well. The penultimate round in the championship saw a pair of the top point contenders team up for the twice-around the clock contest, with title implications being one of the talking point going in… Doug Yauney would lead the field down the front straight for the single-file rolling start, helming the first half of the enduro before handing off to his teammate James Lieser around the half way point. He would maintain the top spot for the opening nine or so laps too, with Luis Calderon right on his tail, before Sam Hunt took over the leader duties on lap ten. Hunt would be the pace setter through most of the rest of the first quarter of the race, leading the next 18 consecutive laps, before Yauney took another go at things on lap 28. Their dutiful slipstreaming would help build a gap over the aforementioned Calderon, with the advantage reading about 11 seconds before the duo entered the pits on laps 33 and 34. This would hand the lead off to Calderon, but he too would pit after just a pair of circuits, making the new leader 2-Hour enduro ace Alyssa Yauney. Yauney would pace the field for the next 13 laps with fellow title rival Jose da Silva in tow, only relinquishing it when she ducked down pit lane for the first of her four stops on lap 50. Da Silva gladly accepted the bonus points before heading down pit road himself, with the duo coming back out 1-2 once again. The cycle would repeat over the next couple laps, as the second required stop, as well as the kart and driver swaps took place around the halfway point. This allowed a couple other leaders to snag points, but once on the other side, it was James Lieser returning to the spot his teammate Doug had claimed before, leading the race for the next 21 laps, until Alyssa finally caught him after making steading inroads lap after lap. Once out front Yauney would control the race, seemingly working towards her 3rd 2-Hour victory, except their was someone else who had been quietly running off sequence from the leaders. When Yauney finally came down pit lane for her final pair of stops late in the race, the real strategy winner became clear; Luis Calderon. Having completed his stops still with a quarter of the race to go, Calderon ran under-the-radar for the final 30+ minutes, clicking off fast lap after fast lap in the process. The result, a surprise new leader after all the stops were completed, and a first time winner in Luis Calderon. Alyssa Yauney would settle for second, while Paulo Franca brought the kart home third for he and his teammate Jose da Silva. Round 9 - Sept 28