Cooper Tires USF2000 Portland Qualifying Notes and Results

By Diane Swintal

#23: Jace Denmark, Pabst Racing, Radford Racing School, Metal Works
Road to Indy Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy
USF2000

Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship

Reminder of how this qualifying works:

One qualifying session to cover all three races:

• Qualifying session sets the race one grid
• Race two grid set by the second-quickest lap in qualifying or the quick race lap – whichever is quicker
• Race three grid set by the second-quickest lap in qualifying or the quick race lap in race two – whichever is quicker

Spoke with Pabst Racing’s Jace Denmark ahead of qualifying – he has enjoyed the chance to learn the track here at Portland, enjoying the “fast and flowing” layout.

Green flag on Cooper Tires USF2000 qualifying at 9:05 a.m. Pacific, under sunny skies and ambient temperatures in the mid-60s.

As the cars came around to start their timed runs, it was championship leader Myles Rowe, followed by Jace Denmark, Michael d’Orlando and Jagger Jones – in other words, the top four in points, having been lined up in order on pit lane. But Mac Clark, making his series debut, quickly passed Jones and joined the top four on track.

The first quick timed lap went to Pabst Racing’s Jace Denmark. DEForce Racing’s Thomas Nepveu then took the top time, only to be eclipsed by VRD Racing’s Nikita Johnson (Johnson has run five USF2000 races this season, but is focused on USF Juniors, where he is currently fourth in the championship).

Joey Brienza, who has tested with Exclusive Autosport a great deal in 2022 as he prepares for 2023, sat in third position with seven minutes remaining. Turn 3 Motorsport’s Christian Weir also joined the top runners, setting the second-quickest time.

Rowe jumped into the top spot with four minutes remaining, looking for that valuable point to be earned by the pole sitter, but teammate Denmark set a time just two-tenths back. But Denmark eclipsed Rowe’s time with just over a minute remaining.

As the checkered flag flew, Denmark had secured his fourth pole position of the season – and the valuable championship point. Johnson will start race one on the outside of row one, with Nepveu and Rowe in row two, Hays and Clark in row three. D’Orlando, second in points, will start in P9. Exclusive Autosport’s Billy Frazer, who had set the eighth-quickest time, ran the checkered flag, thus earning a two grid-spot penalty for this afternoon’s race one.

How competitive USF2000 is this year was shown in the final qualifying times, with 18 of the 20 cars within one second.

USF2000 Race #1 Grid: