Page 9 - 2020CalSpeedMagazineOct

IRONMAN RESULTS
The season finale for the 2020 IronMan Series would see all eyes on the 5-way battle for the final two podium spots, as Sean Fite had already wrapped things up one round early in September. For
round number eight the field of thirty would take to the Tecnico layout, a driver’s favorite, but one where pit strategy could make a huge impact on the finish...
Sprint Series standout Evan Lawrence would lead the field away for the first time in his IronMan Series career, and unlike many of the pole sitters to precede him, he would hold on to the point for several laps. Some of that was because of the infighting behind him, as Michael Floerchinger and Tyler Redman went back and for the multiple times to kick things off, while the other element was the mass exodus from the track to the pits in the early stages. Only a handful of drivers elected to stay out in the open ten circuits, which is also partially what helped Lawrence’s first challenger reach him a bit quicker: Chris Huerta.
With his charge to the front bolstered by many of the drivers in front of him taking to the pits, Huerta was able to get to second by lap 5, and then set his sights on reeling in the leader, Lawrence. It did not take long for the veteran driver to reach him, and on lap 10 it was Huerta taking over the lead, a position he would keep for the next 35 laps. Losing the lead was actually the best thing to happen to Evan however, as he would immediately find more pace, and start rolling right with the new leader for much of his duration out front. In fact, it wasn’t until lap 35 that Evan would finally be caught and passed by Andres Prieto, who had worked up from the 14th starting spot, albeit with a bit more pushback from the other drivers along the way. Both he and Michael Hazlewood marched through the pack almost together the entire time, with the latter starting just one spot ahead of Prieto.
On the other end of the strategy spectrum however was the drivers that elected to pit early, instead of staying out, with 2 in particular making the most of the move: Andrew Wood and Bill Kreig. After pairing up with Sean Fite for the win last month, Kreig would start in the 20th spot, and would be one of the first to head down pit road. Woody on the other hand started 27th and did a bit of work on track before peeling off, electing to make his first stop on lap 13. Kreig was 16th and in a long line of karts when he came in, quickly dispatching the two drivers in front of him upon his exit, and then set sail in clear air, picking off drivers one by one as the fastest driver on the track. For his part, Wood made it up to 6th before coming down pit lane, and after a few clean laps would have to fight through some unwilling traffic before turning on the afterburners.
It wouldn’t be until about the 3/4 mark that we would start seeing the pit lane return to its busy nature, with not only the leaders heading down for the first time, but the aforementioned Wood for his second. This decision to pit for a second time was a crucial one, as he and Bill Kreig had gotten linked up and were cutting the fastest laps on track; until Huerta came out of the pits right in front of them. Woody would duck down pit road and come out in relatively clean air, while Kreig would stay out with Huerta, and the duo would fight through traffic. When the duo did final come down pit road for the final time on lap 52 and 53 respectively, the damage done was clear: a 2+ seconds advantage to Wood. As the final stops were made in the last five minutes, Andrew would maintain his advantage, and claim round #8, while Huerta would settle for 2nd after a spirited battle with Kreig, who slotted into 3rd.
In the podium fight however, it wasn’t quite enough for Huerta to leap frog into the top 3, coming up just 2 points short to Prieto, who brought home a solid 6th place finish, his 7th top 6 finish of the season. Scoring a 5th was runner-up in the championship Michael Hazlewood, 10 points clear of Prieto, while Sean Fite would actually have his worst finish of the year in 9th, but all smiles with the 2020 IronMan Series title in hand already.
1 53
2 25
3 44
4 58
5 47
6 55
7 52
8 38
9 36
10 39
Andrew Wood Chris Huerta
Bill Kreig
Evan Lawrence Michael Hazlewood Andres Prieto Ayrton DeMoss Max DeMoss
Sean Fite Paulo Franca