Page 5 - 2021CalSpeedMagazinejuly

ARound 7 - July 10
fter a 6 week break the CalSpeed Sprint Series continued through their second half of the season with Round #7, taking to the Nuotivo track for the
second time this year. The first repeat track of the 2021 calendar, Nuotivo saw familiar faces at the front from start to finish, but it would be a new name atop the podium when the final checkers fell...
For the second time in three events it was Michael Martin scoring pole position and John Rice just getting nipped on the clock to settle for second. This time, however; it was a sniff of a draft from the young Joey Andrews at the end of the lap that saw Martin pick up his fast time, with Rice trailing just a few kart lengths behind. Rounding out the top three in qualy and claiming the final pole position for the heats was former race winner Tony Wika, who looked to be back to near full form after his injury earlier this season.
In the Heats, however; only one of the three pole sitters would claim the win, with Matt McCoy dispatching Martin early for an unchallenged win in Heat 1A, the latter doing battle instead with Carl Zhu and Michael Chen. Chen would come out on top in the final few corners for 2nd, with Martin settling for third.
The second Heat would see a battle for the top spot, with John Rice trying to fend off the challenges from Mike Gonzales and Albert Yeh. Gonzales would try one last shot in the final corner, with the pair virtually identical at the line, with Rice holding on by the narrowest of margins.
Tony Wika would have a similarly tough time in the final heat of the day, this time working against Ivan Martinez for the top spot, but in the end it would be a hard charger Evan Lawrence working his way to the top spot. Martinez would settle for 2nd after leading the most laps with the #3 qualifier Wika in third.
The C-Main would see James Lieser do what A-Mainers do best when they end up in the C, and that’s run away from the pack. Starting out on pole, Lieser clocked fast lap after fast lap from start to finish, pulling out to a 3+ second gap when the checkers finally flew after 10 laps. To his credit, he’d also make solid inroads in the B-Main, marching up to 17th to salvage some decent points on the day to go along with his C-Main hardware.
The B-Main would see another A-Main level driver looking to bounce back from a tough Heat, this time with Jeremy Aldridge taking the fight to Heather Perrin later in the race. Perrin would climb up from 5th at the start to take over the lead after a couple of circuits, and would control
A Main Podium
B-Main Jeremy Aldridge
C-Main Winner James Lieser