Page 5 - 2021CalSpeedMagazineSept

TRound 9 - Sept 11
he 2021 CalSpeed Sprint Series would roll through the Classico CCW layout for the penultimate round in the championship, not only with the round win on the
line, but he overall title as well. Combining twists and turns of the famous Esses section along with the high speed and hard braking from the Silk and Hairpin combination, round #9 delivered in the excitement category, with some fresh faces claiming much of the spotlight...
And the first of those fresh faces was Albert Yeh, claiming his first career pole position in what was a very close practice/qualifying session, which also saw veteran James Lieser and overall point leader Evan Lawrence inside the same tenth. Ironically, it was actually the best qualifying performance of the season for all three individuals, each starting from the pole position once the heat races got underway...
Two of the three pole sitters would cross the line first for their respective heat races, with Albert Yeh settling for 3rd to kick things off after being in the hunt for all 8 laps. Instead, the win would go to Matthew McCoy, capitalizing on a P2 starting spot to lead flag to flag, while Jacob Reis was able to steal away the second spot from Yeh. In heat 1-b it would again be a flag-to-flag performance, this time from James Lieser, with Evan Lawrence continuing the theme of no lead changes by bringing him the heat 1-C win in convincing fashion.
Of the three, it would be James Lieser getting the nod for the pole position in the A-Main, his qualy time used to break the tie between himself and Lawrence by just .025 seconds...
The C-Main would see a pair of drivers new to CalSpeed claim the limelight, first with Luis Cabrera starting things off from the sharp end in his third start, while Matthew Bernath looked to bring things home in his first Sprint Series event. Cabrera would lead things off from the point, but Bernath would make the move by the second circuit, eventually holding on to the spot and pulling out to a sizeable margin to bring home the C-Main victory.
The B-Main would turn into arguably the most exciting race of the day, with Nathaniel Small leading the field off, but then coming under immediate pressure from round #8 c-main winner Greg Pelaez. Pelaez would take over the top spot and lead lap one, but Small would fight back to steal it away a couple circuits later. SE title hopeful Jake Boyd would enter the conversation next, picking off the top spot on lap 4, with Pelaez working back around Small and into
A Main Podium
B-Main Gregorio Pelaez
C-Main Winner Matthew Bernath