The sixth round in the 2019 IronMan Series season would take on a special ‘Temp’ track for its 1-hour contest, a short and quick layout that would see the most laps completed in a race so far. At 42-43 seconds long, traffic and varying pit strategies were talking points going in, and both played a big part in the race’s outcome…
Scott Milne would lead the field away for the single-file rolling start to kick off the event, but it would be veteran Chris Carter taking an early turn at the lead. He would hold on to the top spot for a couple of circuits, before reigning Super Series champ Alyssa Yauney claimed the top spot for herself. Yauney would not move from the lead for almost the next 20 laps, while the rest of the field jostled for position or played their hands in the early pit strategy game.
Sean Fite would be one of the first to blink, pulling down pit road after a very rough opening salvo of laps, hoping to come out in clean air afterwards. The title contender wouldn’t get it however, and would once again continue battling with other early strategy drivers, which he would do all race long. Fairing a bit better on the early pit-strategy front, both Sam Hunt and Evan Karp would follow suit after Fite, ducking down pit lane on laps 6 and 7 respectively. Unlike Fite, Hunt would come out just in front of the infighting, and maintain clean air for several laps afterwards. Karp on the other hand would have to work through the same group Fite was in, the duo actually linking up to try and chase down the aforementioned Hunt.
Back at the sharp end, Alyssa Yauney’s reign as the leader was about to come to an end, first coming under fire from Ariel Rubio, and then Luis Calderon, followed by Paulo Franca and Max Demoss Sr as the musical chairs seemed never to settle. Finally on lap 27 Franca would take back the lead, this time holding on to it up until making his first pit stop on lap 42. From there to the end of the race would be a near constant revolving door of different leaders at the front, with only Jose da Silva holding onto it for any length of time.
As the time wore down the slew of different pit strategies and karts wrapped nearly all the way around the .433 mile course made it very hard to tell who was in which position, never mind who was leading. In the final ten or so minutes the lead would change hands seven times, finally with Franca again at the front, and this time without the tail of Tyler Redman. Both he and Redman had run identical strategies, but Redman would see more issues in traffic. The result would be Paulo Franca bringing home his maiden win with Redman scoring his first podium, each with healthy leads to the drivers around them. For his part, the aforementioned Sam Hunt would find himself in third when the dust settled, his early pit strategy and clean air early paying dividends as the race went on.
IronMan Series Round #5 Top 10
| 1) | Paulo Franca |
| 2) | Tyler Redman |
| 3) | Sam Hunt |
| 4) | Evan Karp |
| 5) | Sean Fite |
| 6) | Alyssa Yauney |
| 7) | Jose da Silva |
| 8) | Chris Huerta |
| 9) | Ariel Rubio |
| 10) | Chris Carter |
Points Standings after 2 Drops (Best Drop)
| 1) | Paulo Franca | 393 | (85) |
| 2) | Sean Fite | 358 | (80) |
| 3) | Jose da Silva | 342 | (48) |
| 4) | Sam Hunt | 342 | (18) |
| 5) | Alyssa Yauney | 330 | (57) |
| 6) | Diego Morales | 303 | (42) |
| 7) | Tyler Redman | 303 | (45) |
| 8) | Luis Calderon | 289 | (60) |
| 9) | Chris Huerta | 289 | (48) |
| 10) | Steve Spring | 281 | (39) |
Summer Series Standings
| 1) | Paulo Franca | 105 |
| 2) | Tyler Redman | 98 |
| 3) | Sam Hunt | 90 |
| 4) | Evan Karp | 85 |
| 5) | Sean Fite | 83 |
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