Page 15 - 2021CalSpeedMagazineSept

Round 9 - Sept 25
Saturday marked the penultimate round in the 2021 CalSpeed Super Series, with round #9 taking to the Classico Counterclockwise layout, and carrying
with it hype towards the points standings. Heading into the weekend, the big storyline was whether or not some of the points battles would get sewn up one event early, with the Overall, Masters, and Grand Masters titles all in potential clinch scenarios. When the dust settled on the event, two of the three would indeed see champions crowned...
And when qualifying got underway we would see a pair of those title protagonists snagging bonus points for being inside the top three, with both point leader Sam Hunt and P2 man clocking the second and third best times respectively. They would lead the pack for their respective heats, but the driver on top of the pile with the overall pole position would be Masters driver Doug Yauney. It was the second career pole for Yauney, scoring his first back at the season finale in 2018. Once the heat races got underway, it would be the title contenders backing this up with heat race wins, while fellow Masters driver Max Demoss would best Yauney in the opening heat race. Joining them in the heat race win column would be Chase Nickells, Ayrton Demoss and Charles Eichlin, the latter claiming pole position for the coveted A-Main by pairing a 3rd place in his first heat with his win.
Unlike the previous event that saw some rare flag-to-flag performances, round #9 kicked off a trio of exciting final races with some new faces at the front of the C-Main. Making his first Super Series start, former competition karter Cody Kelleher came out on top of a battle that included fellow newcomer Camila Rubio, and veteran Grand Masters pilots Jeff Latimer and Vladimir Orlov. Latimer would lead the field away at the start, and immediately would see an attack from Orlov, who would lead through the halfway point. Kelleher would move up from 3rd to 1st in one lap, besting Rubio before finding a way past Orlov for the lead. Orlov would try again on the final lap, but a mis-time maneuver would see the positions swapped post-race, with Cody bringing home the hardware.
The B-Main would showcase a pair of breakout talents vying for the top spot; Evan Lawrence and John Rice. Both drivers have rubbed elbows with each other in the Sprint Series, have been embroiled in the Sportsman category hardware fight, and this time showcase their talents in a B-Main battle. Lawrence would lead and stave off move after move from Rice, with Rice showing exactly why he was a Dennis Kimbrell Integrity Award recipient last year, as he would give back the spot after too much contact. It was a display of exactly what this sport is all about, and while Evan Lawrence would come out on top and score the A-Main transfer, John Rice would
A-Main Podium
B-Main Winner Evan Lawrence
C-Main Winner Cody Kelleher