Page 15 - 2021CalSpeedMagazineOct

Round 10 - Oct 30
Coming into the final Super Series race of the season, the Overall championship and its runner up had been decided, as well as the Grand Masters title, but the rest of the
hardware positions were still up for grabs. Like we have seen in the past, the cream always seems to rise to the top at the season finale, but we also saw some fresh faces and some breakout runs, perhaps giving a glimpse to what the next season may hold...
When qualifying got under way it would be a driver whose presence in the green-white-checkered has become a lot more common, as Doug Yauney claimed career pole #3, and his second in a row to close out the year. Joining him in the bonus points and earning a P1 start for their heats were Series runner-up Paulo Franca, and 2020 series runner-up, Andres Prieto. Of the three, only Prieto would cross the line first in his heat race, while Pulo put up a pair of thirds and Yauney a 5th, before coming back to win his second heat. Instead, the driver stealing the spotlight would be P13 qualifying Ayrton Demoss, working up from 5th in his first heat to win, and then backing it up with a 10th-to-1st run in his second heat, earning pole for the A-Main in the process. Joining Demoss, Prieto and Yauney in the win column for the heats would be Doug’s daughter and former champ Alyssa Yauney, current champ Sam Hunt, and hardware hopeful Michael Hazlewood.
Michael Sielski would lead the field away for the first main of the day, and while he would eventually lead flag-to-flag to win, it was not without challenge. It didn’t start that way however, as Sielski got out to a stellar start while the drivers behind him battled, opening things up by 3.6 seconds in the opening circuits. Once young Camila Rubio slotted into second however, the lap times stabilized and eventually went into Rubio’s favor. After clocking laps over a half a second a lap quick for a few laps, the gap was down to 2 seconds, and then traffic came into play; in one lap Michael lost over a second, and coming to the white, the gap was less than a second. Luckily for Sielski as well, 3rd place runner Raul Chacon would put Rubio under pressure on the final lap after cutting fast time of the race, with Sielski holding on to the win by just under a half a second from the trialing pair.
The B-Main would see Sprint Series and Sportsman standouts battling for the win, and to earn a place in the final A-Main of the season, with 2021 Grand Masters champ John Rice leading the way at the green. Unfortunately, Rice’s season would come to an early close after a mechanical issue, leaving 2021 Sprint Series champ Evan Lawrence and his fellow Sprint Series race winner Carl Zhu to battle things out at the end. Lawrence would lead with Zhu keeping the pressure on all race, an exact reversal of their meeting on this same track in Sprint Series round #5. That time it was Lawrence pressuring Zhu, with Zhu holding on for his first win. This time around in the Super Series, it was Zhu on the attack, getting the job done around the outside of an overly defensive Lawrence coming to the white, holding on to claim the B-Main win in style.
A-Main Podium
B-Main Winner Carl Zhu
C-Main Winner Michael Sielski