Page 9 - 2021CalSpeedMagazineOct

Round 10 - Oct 30
The final IronMan race of the season many times sees it mor of a training ground for the Machismo 12 Hour race that looms at the end of the year, as the championship
can be wrapped up in advance. For 2021 however, not only did we have the overall title up for grabs -with the point lead changing hands the race prior- but 9 drivers had a mathematical shot at the Summer Sub-championship as well...
CalSpeed veteran Dmitry Korotkov would lead the field to the green for the final time this season, but would immediately come under fire of rising talent Denis Shakovski, who would lead lap one. Next on the leader list would be 2020 Sprint Series runner-up turned 206 driver, taking over the point for a handful of laps before another Sprint Series standout took over, Evan Lawrence. The newly crowned Sprint champ would lead for just one more lap than Steele, before it was Doug Yauney taking control at about the quarter-distance mark. Like those before him, Yauney would also not be able to get to the double-digit mark in laps led, and title protagonist Michael Hazlewood went enter the conversation about a third of the way through.
Hazlewood had marched up from the 24th starting spot, not only trying to secure the overall championship, but the Summer Series as well, and when he reached the lead on lap 23, it was ahead of a train of 10 drivers, which included many of those he was trying to best for the title. #1 on that list was fellow overall hopeful Paulo Franca, who sat 8th at that time, and seemed to be embroiled in battles throughout the contest. And as soon as he got there, a bit of traffic went his way, gifting him about 1 second on the rest of field, although he was able to maintain the distance with superb pace.
The first of the leaders to blink for the pits would be Lawrence, ducking down pit lane on lap 39 out of the 4th spot, which at this point, looked to be a battle for the podium, and not the win. Hazlewood continued his trek away from the pack, leaving his pit until late, never really coming under pressure, earning his 3rd win on the year, and with it, the overall and Summer Series championships. For Lawrence and the rest of the front runners, it was mostly holding station, with Yauney locked down in P2, followed by Tyler Redman and Lawrence, before Franca made inroads via superb pit strategy. Yauney would cross the line 2nd for his second podium of the year, while Redman would hold off Franca for what would be his first podium of the season, keeping a streak alive of at least 1 podium a season for the last 3 consecutive years...
In the points, Franca’s 4th place would lock him into 2nd, while Sean Fite and Sam Hunt fell back on drops after things didn’t go their way, with the advantage going to Fite by just 4 points to take the final overall hardware spot, and his 5th over the past 6 seasons...