Page 13 - 2022CalSpeedMagazineApril

WRound 4 - April 23
ith the track changed to Classico Counter-Clockwise and the field re-shuffled, round #4 of the CalSpeed Ironman Series would get underway only about 20 minutes after the third
round had finished. With a quick drink of water, and perhaps a bathroom break done and dusted, 29 drivers took the green for the second 1-hour contest on the day last weekend, with our 4 different winner in as many events the result...
This time it would be John Rice taking his turn as the leader of the pack for the start of the second of two 60-minute races on the day, with Jacob Reis, Chris Carter, and Carl Zhu all in tow. Things were clean through the Esses and then the Contino Carousel for the first lap, but it didn’t take long for the on track action to spill into the pits, as 3 drivers elected to make their first stop before completing their first lap. A fourth driver followed suit the very next lap, but after that it all stayed on track, which would turn out to be the better strategy.
Out front things would mimic the start of the previous IronMan, as our pole sitter would come under fire and lose the lead after just a pair of circuits, this time with Carl Zhu working his way up from fourth to steal the top spot away. Zhu would lock himself into the early pace-setter with Sean Fite working up into P2, and John Rice hanging tough in third and Jacob Reis in fourth, the lead quartet building a 2+ second advantage over 5th in the opening twenty laps. Fite would actually bridge the gap up to Zhu, with the latter pair would eventually get to swapping positions a couple of times, helping bring Chase Nickells into the conversation. At the halfway point things started to shake up a bit at the front, as Carl Zhu would surrender the lead for his first trip down pit road, promoting Fite to the lead, followed by Nickells who had made quick work of Reis and Rice.
Interestingly enough however, of the front runners over the first half of the race, Only Zhu and Nickells would find the top 5 in the end, the pair both fighting for the final podium spot with Donnie Clarke and Andres Prieto on the final lap. Prieto had pit first on lap 2, Clarke on lap 8, Zhu on lap 31, and Nickells on lap 55; All four drivers had their own pit strategy, and they would all meet up in the end, with Clarke coming out on top, while Nickells and Zhu were able to leapfrog Prieto on the final circuit.
Of the aforementioned four drivers enveloped in the podium battle that would go down to the very end, Clarke’s strategy was the closest to eventual winner Bill Kreig, and second place runner Diego Morales. Starting 14th and 17th respectively -Clarke started 18th- the eventual 1-2 pair would find each other immediately after the dust settled for lap one. With a bit of infighting breaking them up, Morales would blink first on lap 6, with Kreig waiting to make his first trip until lap 9. That delay would see Kreig lose out on the deal, and from there would have to work his way back up to Morales over the next few laps, with future podium contenders Donnie Clarke and Andres Prieto in the train as well.
The difference came with the second pit stop, as instead of being at the back of the quartet, Kreig was now at the front, have nabbed all three in his selection of pitting last of the group. Able to find a little extra pace in clean air, he was crucially now able to be the deciding factor through traffic, eking out an advantage over the second half, with Morales mirroring his rival to break away from Clarke and Prieto. And from there, the rest was history; win for Bill Kreig and podium #2 on the season so far for Morales, who also left as the Winter Series point leader...