Freedom 75 pole sitter Colin Kaminsky provided a trio of compelling storylines in a Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship qualifying session full of them.

1) A crash late in the afternoon practice session left the Pabst Racing crew only two-hours to get the 19-year-olds car fixed for his qualifying run.

2) Kaminsky’s first career Road To Indy pole began with the third quickest first laps, ended with the fastest second and overall lap, and had a two-lap average of 110.266 mph.

3) The pole run by the Pabst Racing veteran ended a run of 11-straight poles, dating back to 2000, by Cape Motorsports on the 0.686-mile Lucas Oil Raceway oval.

Pole Sitter Colin Kaminsky watches as other cars qualify for the Freedom 75 (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

Starting outside of Kaminsky on the front row is Newman Wachs Racing rookie Cameron Shields. Australian Shields, who spent Tuesday with his mentor Will Power in Washington D.C. as part of media day for the Indianapolis 500, joined Kaminsky as the only other driver to average over 110 mph over the 1.372-miles of qualifying.

Cape Motorsports’ highest starting driver Reece Gold will start on the inside of the second row. The 14-year-old held the provisional pole through five drivers after a pair of consistent laps separated by only 0.365 mph.

Disappointing qualifying efforts by the top three in points should make for an exciting race. Points leader Braden Eves starts 12th on the grid and will have some work to do if he wants to win his fifth race. Hunter McElrea made a mistake on his second lap and will start from the back of the field. Manuel Sulaiman, who is tied for third with Darren Keane will start just ahead of Eves in 11th.

The order for the single car, two-lap qualifying for the Freedom 75 on the 0.686-mile Lucas Oil Raceway was determined by inverting the entries by championship points.

That meant the unmistakable bright red Indy Dental Group, LLC/Lumist sponsored No. 40 of Jack William Miller was the first car on the track. Miller turned in two consistent laps that averaged 109.433 mph, good enough for the outside of the fourth row.

Miller’s Miller Vinatieri Motorsports teammate Eduardo Barrichello, the fifth car on track was quicker than Miller on his first lap before dropping off on his second lap. Barrichello will start the race on the outside of row five.

The second car on track was Manuel Cabrera, whose first lap at 110.063 mph was the quickest first lap of all 19 drivers. Unfortunately, his second lap was over 0.6 mph slower, meaning the Exclusive Autosport driver will start on the outside of the second row.

Darren Keane, who comes into the lone oval event of the year tied for third place in the points has been looking for some luck and may have found it in his closest competitors misfortune. The 19-year-old turned in two laps in the high 109 mph range and will start Friday night’s race in sixth.

Hunter McElrea was on a qualifying attempt that would have given him a good chance at pole when the right rear of his Soul Red No. 22 from the Pabst Racing stable made contact with the wall at the exit of Turn 2. The 19-year-old was able to complete his run with a car that crab-walked across the line and will have to start at the tail of the 19-car field. The Aussie should be fun to watch as he tries to carve his way through the field.

The last car on the track, was the Cape Motorsports Magic 8 Ball driven by Braden Eves. The winner of the first four races of the year turned the fifth slowest second lap of qualifying and will start the race in 12th spot.

Freedom 75 Qualifying Results.

RANK

CAR NO.

DRIVER

TEAM

LAP 1 (MPH)

LAP 2 (MPH)

AVERAGE (MPH)

LAP SPREAD

1

23

Colin Kaminsky

Pabst Racing

109.974

110.560

110.266

0.586

2

73

Cameron Shields

Newman Wachs Racing

109.726

110.389

110.057

0.663

3

3

Reece Gold

Cape Motorsports

109.623

109.988

109.805

0.365

4

90

Manuel Cabrera

Exclusive Autosport

110.063

109.440

109.751

-0.623

5

14

Alex Baron

Legacy Autosport

109.838

109.642

109.740

-0.196

6

2

Darren Keane

Cape Motorsports

109.542

109.934

109.738

0.392

7

52

Jak Crawford

DEForce Racing

109.304

109.846

109.574

0.542

8

40

Jack William Miller

Miller Vinatieri Motorsports

109.142

109.724

109.433

0.582

9

41

Eduardo Barrichello

Miller Vinatieri Motorsports

109.567

108.980

109.273

-0.587

10

5

Matt Round-Garrido

Jay Howard Driver Development

109.545

108.791

109.167

-0.754

11

12

Manuel Sulaiman

DEForce Racing

109.020

109.277

109.148

0.257

12

8

Braden Eves

Cape Motorsports

109.518

108.744

109.129

-0.774

13

21

Yuven Sundaramoorthy

Pabst Racing

109.444

108.722

109.082

-0.722

14

24

Bruna Tomaselli

Pabst Racing

108.840

108.946

108.893

0.106

15

6

Christian Rasmussen

Jay Howard Driver Development

108.679

108.941

108.810

0.262

16

36

Nolan Siegel

Newman Wachs Racing

107.933

108.533

108.232

0.600

17

28

Anthony Famularo

BN Racing

107.958

107.767

107.862

-0.191

18

7

Christian Bogle

Jay Howard Driver Development

106.259

106.350

106.305

0.091

19

22

Hunter McElrea

Pabst Racing

109.978

102.499

106.107

-7.479

A 20-minute practice at 4:05 pm precedes the 75 lap race scheduled to start at 6:45 pm

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