Page 15 - 2020CalSpeedMagazineOct

RHound 8 - Oct 24
eading into the 2020 Super Series season finale, only a couple of hardware positions had officially been decided, with only the Masters and Sportsman
championships locked up a month prior. The Overall, Grand Masters, and most of the podiums were still fluid, with the Tecnico track playing the perfect stage in the last round of the 8 round contest.
The final qualifying session of the year would see a familiar face atop the sold-out show of 90 entrants, as Paulo Franca clocked his third pole of the year -and second in a row- making it 5 times he has been in the top 2 in qualifying in 2020. Joining him in the top 3 and therefore scoring P1 starting spots in their respective heats were Ayrton DeMoss and Andrew Wood; the former in the top 3 for just the second time in his career, while Wood was fresh off the win in the IronMan finale just that morning. Once the racing began however, it would be a different driver showing the way, as Michael Hazlewood swept both his heat races for pole positon in the A-Main, while one-off runner Charles Eichlin, the aforementioned Paulo Franca, point leader Diego Morales, and a fresh face at the front, Ariel Rubio all scored heat race victories. Combining his heat win with a fourth saw Paulo Franca on the front row for the second race in a row as well, while consistency paid off for Andres Prieto and Andrew Wood who filled in the second row albeit without heat race wins to their names.
When the mains kicked off it would be Albert Yeh leading the field away for the start of the C-Main, and he would never look back. An up and coming talent that was not able to put in a full season, Albert’s C-Main performance was flawless, not putting a wheel wrong for each of the 12 laps, scoring the win and the B-main transfer in the process. His 10+ second lead made his win a forgone conclusion, and many on the sidelines watched veteran Jose da Silva work through the pack from the last starting position. Forced to miss most of the day due to work commitments, the two-time Masters champ was masterful working through the field, making it up to the third spot before the checkers fell.
The final B-Main of the year would be polar opposite of the C-Main, as a train of 7 drivers all vied for the final transfer spot into the A-Main. At the start it would be eventual Grand Masters champ Tony Wika at the helm, but he would come under immediate fire from Jeremy Aldridge, who was pushing to perhaps make it onto the Sportsman championship podium as well. Aldridge would take over the top spot on lap one, and immediately would feel the pressure put right back on him by Wika, who was also in the hunt for the Sportsman hardware. Wika was not alone either, as Evan Lawrence, Chris Carter, Nick Marascio, Leo Ovtcharov and the guy everyone was chasing in that Sportsman hardware battle -Michael Chen- were all in a row. Things stayed pretty calm at the front until about 5 to go, and then the jockeying for position saw things shuffle
A Main Podium
B-Main Jeremy Aldridge
C-Main Albert Yeh