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6 Andres Prieto/ Diego Morales
7 Donnie Clarke/ Luis Calderon
8 Michael Hazlewood/ Ayrton DeMoss 9 Chris Huerta
10 Matt Steele/ John Rice
The penultimate round in the 2020 IronMan Series championship would head in the reverse direction for the first time since getting things back underway from the shutdown, with the Classico CCW
course the track of choice. It would also be the lone 2-hour event on the schedule, and with it being the second-to-last event, the championship and overall podium was certainly a talking point...
Ariel Rubio would lead the sold-out field of 25 for the single-file rolling start, himself being one of about half the field electing to go solo in the two-hour contest. While he would click off lap number one in the lead, it would be fellow solo-artist Max DeMoss picking up the mantle on lap two, pacing the field for the next 20+ laps. Pit lane would be a busy one all race long, and it started right away on lap one with Matt Steele ducking in from the P10 starting spot, while Scott Milne came in from the very back, with Patrick Britain following suit after being put into the tires in the opening circuit. In total, each driver/team would need to come down pit lane five times; two in the first hour for their standard pit stops, one in the middle for a kart/driver change, and finally 2 more trips for their final two required pit stops in the second hour.
It would turn out that the ‘stay out’ strategy would be the way to go, as most of the eventual front runners would elect to make their time cutting laps at least for the first forty minutes or so, butting up to the pits opening for kart changes at the 50 minute mark. While it was the aforementioned DeMoss that led for the opening 20 or so minutes, Paulo Franca would take over the top spot next, leading for the next half hour or so, not relinquishing the lead until splitting off for his first stop on lap 54. From there the lead would exchange hands regularly every six laps or so, with drivers ducking into the pits either for their regular stops, or for their kart/driver change, with point leader Sean Fite the first of the myriad of leaders. His turn at the front would score him valuable bonus points, which would be critical by the end of the event...
After Fite came in for his second stop, it was enduro ace Alyssa Yauney taking a turn at the front, followed by Fite again once she came in for her second stop, before Andres Prieto took a turn when the point leader made his kart swap and driver change to Bill Kreig. Prieto would only lead a single lap before making his trip down pit lane for his kart swap and driver change to Diego Morales, with Morales immediately having to serve a penalty for Prieto’s spin and contact coming into the pits. The time lost there would turn out to be enough to keep them off the podium, settling for 6th in the end...
After Andres’ fateful run through the pits, it would be Chase Nickells ticking off a couple laps in the lead before handing things over to his partner Seth Willits, which saw Alyssa’s teammate -and father- Doug Yauney at the point for a handful of laps, then Bill Kreig saw the lead for the first time in his tenure in the event, who would actually lead all but 6 of the following laps in the race.
When the dust finally settled in pit lane late in the race, Bill Kreig was the clear leader, going on to pick up the win for himself and Sean Fite, with Jose da Silva crossing the line second for himself and his teammate Paulo Franca. The final podium spot would go to Seth Willits and Chase Nickells, the pairing rebounding from a penalty in the pits, but the big winner on the day would be Sean Fite. Not only did he pick up the win with Bill Kreig’s help, but the three bonus points he scored for leading a lap before handing off the reigns would be enough to clinch his very first IronMan Series championship!