Page 9 - 2022CalSpeedMagazineApril

Round 3 - April 23
The third round in the 2022 CalSpeed IronMan Series season would finally get underway this past Saturday after the original date was postponed. Drivers would take to the
Grande Counter-Clockwise layout, marking it the first ‘reverse’ direction course on the docket for the 10-round championship...
Kiron Chakraborty would lead the field away for the start of the 60-minute contest, bringing with him a pack of 26 other drivers into the ‘Short Beach’ hairpin to start the lap. Newcomer Matthew Justmann would follow on his tail, followed by veteran Jose da Silva, and reigning champ Michael Hazlewood, with all drivers making it through the opening circuit cleanly. It would take long for strategy to come into play, as the pit lane was alive inside the first handful of laps, as Ayrton Demoss was the first to hit pit round amongst those in the top ten. This may have been an audible after earning a penalty, but Demoss immediately went to work to cut quick laps in clean air, running just as fast as the leaders at the time.
And speaking of leaders, Kiron’s time as said leader would only last for the opening couple of laps, as Da Silva took over the mantle by lap three, before Hazlewood worked his way by on lap 7. Da Silva had other plans however, and took back the lead on lap 9; having scored his bonus points for leading a lap, and perhaps looking to stay out of the infighting, Hazlewood took the opportunity for an early pitstop on lap 11, making it just Da Silva and Chakraborty at the sharp end.
This would be the deciding factor for the potential win, as the top two then decided to halt all battling, and would spend the next nearly 40 minutes line-astern, cutting the fastest laps of the race, and building an advantage over the rest of the field. At the time of Michael’s exodus from the front the advantage over the chasing pack was over 5 seconds, and as the 40 minutes wore on with the top two in unison, Hazlewood slowly lost time on the charts running alone, with the true scope not shown until pit stops started to come in earnest during the final 10 minutes.
And it was Pit lane that would ultimately decide the win as well, with Kiron the first to blink on lap 40, and Jose da Silva ducking down for his first of two stops just one lap later, just after receiving the ’10-minute board’ for time remaining. The difference would be in a blend in fraction from the latter, as Da Silva would be forced to serve a stop and go penalty shortly after completing his stops, going from a potential battle for the win, to a definitive P2 with no challenge in site. For Chakraborty, dutiful pushing and patience turned into opportunity, and he was awarded with his first career win in the IronMan Series. Behind them, it wouldn’t be so cut-and-dried for the final podium spot, as Ayrton Demoss left his final pit stop until the penultimate lap, coming out just behind Michael Hazlewood with the white flag in the air. Demoss would find his way passed, and then expertly defend from the champ, stealing away the final podium spot on the final lap...