Page 15 - 2022CalSpeedMagazineJuly

Round 7 - July 23
July brought the seventh round of the 2022 CalSpeed Super Series, this time taking to the quickest of its 7 layouts on the season, Nuotivo. Only on the calendar once this season, familiar faces
took over the front most of the day, although a few drivers were able to break through the status quo, including a new winner on the year at the end of the day...
The aforementioned status quo started in qualifying, as Sam Hunt picked up pole position number two on the year, having qualified in the top two in 4 out of the past 5 events. Joining him in the bonus points for the first time was up and coming talent -and most recent winner at the Sprint Series- Emerson Thieman, with Diego Alvarado clocking the third best time on his return from a short hiatus. Once the heats commenced however, a different name would top the charts, as Ayrton Demoss swept both of his heats to take the pole position in the A-Main. Joining him on the front row was Sam Hunt, who looked to be on his way to a heat win before getting out-dueled by Thieman in heat two, and instead scored the outside of row one with a pair of 2nds. Aside from Demoss and Thieman, other heat winners were title contender Donnie Clarke, Masters contender Jose da Silva, and the aforementioned Diego Alvarado.
Mark Walton would line up on pole for the C-Main, but it would be Austin Bell leading from the first lap, with Walton and Jeff Pesner in tow. Pesner would waste no time in making the move on Walton, and once he did, would immediately cut quick laps to bridge the gap to Bell, dispatching once he caught him on lap 4. Walton would come along for the ride, and it looked like perhaps the front three could break away, but instead, infighting would bring the rest of the pack to them, making it a total of six drivers in the conversation by lap 8. That infighting turned into an all-out battle on lap 9, with Edmundo Quezada the big winner, going from 6th to 2nd in one lap, with he and Pesner able to score a small gap to the chaos behind. Edmundo found his hole on the final lap, stealing away the win and the transfer to the B-main in the process.
The second main of the day would see Ariel Rubio lead the field away at the drop of the green for the 12 lap contest, but it would be Aaron Heathman from the off-pole position scoring the lead on lap one. Heathman was new to the Super Series, but was using his 206 experience from the KPX series in Norcal to his advantage, putting in consistent laps out front, and making it difficult for anyone to mount a challenge. It looked like Sportsman standout Jeremy Aldridge may have had the mustard to make something happen, but a penalty knocked him down the order, and Heathman never saw that challenge materialize. Instead, it would be a B-main victory, and A-main transfer for Aaron in his Super Series debut!
The Rolling start for the 7th A-main of the year saw Ayrton Demoss and Sam Hunt enter the first turn side by side, with Demoss coming out on top at the conclusion of lap one, and Diego Alvarado in tow in third. Alvarado was not content to sit in third, and instead made the move for second on lap 4, then followed suit with an attack on Demoss for the lead on lap 7. While the moves themselves didn’t seem to cost much time, by the time they were made the advantage from behind had evaporated, as Sean Fite and Michael Hazlewood and been able to bridge the gap with the fastest laps of the race together. The 5-way battle for supremacy went up a notch one lap later, and it was Fite coming out on top, with Hunt going from 4th to 2nd in the process, and Demoss
A-Main Podium
B-Main Winner Aaron Heathman
C-Main Winner Edmundo Quezada