By Patrick Stephan
Pole sitter and yesterday’s Race #1 winner Jacob Douglas brings the field down to the green with the air temp 83F and the track up over 110F. Thomas Schrage is having some issue at the back of the field and has pulled off, then restarted his machine while the remainder of the field heads down the front straight for the start.
A couple cars have to bail on the start, going to driver’s left and missing the chicane.They weaved through the cones before rejoining as Douglas leads Max Garcia and 2023 USF2000 champion Simon Sikes through Turn 1. Could quite catch the car numbers and the field would go yellow after a couple of corners as Schrage car stopped again on the back stretch.
Under the yellow, the order was Douglas, Garcia, Sikes, Clark, Papasavvas, Johnson, Garciarce, Ho, Hughes, Corry, Morey, Max Taylor, Cox, Scully, Jamieson, Fecury, Etter, Dobson, Schrage.
On the restart, Mac Clark and Max Garcia get together on the far inside (driver’s right) under braking for Turn 1. Garcia looked to have gotten clipped as they moved back to the left to get the proper angle on the corner and he goes spinning across the track. He winds up in run off and back lightly in to the wall, picking up some rear wing damage.
Garcia is able to continue for the moment and we will stay green. Later we hear from race control that they will further review the incident between Clark and Garcia after the race.
On Lap 6, Douglas was leading Sikes by 0.45, with Clark, Johnson, Papasavvas, Garciarce, Ho, Hughes, Taylor and Cox rounding out the Top 10.
Sam Corry came down pit lane on Lap 7, dropping to 17th, but rejoining the race.
Lap 16 and Douglas continues to lead Sikes by 0.39 as they’ve put a gap on third place Mac Clark who is 3.1 back with Nikita Johnson 0.4 behind him. Papassavas is still fifth.
On Lap 18, Elliot Cox moves by Max Taylor for the 8th position.
Lap 20, Douglas has expanded his lead to 1.6 over Sikes with the battle looking to be for the final step on the podium.
Carson Etter gets by Gordon Scully for 11th to at the completion of Lap 24 and on the final circuit, we see Nikita Johnson pass Mac Clark for 3rd.
But, up front, Jacob Douglas takes the win by 0.3785 over Simon Sikes, with Johnson joining them on the podium. Clark and Papasavvas will round out the Top 5. They will be followed by Garciarce, Ho, Cox, Taylor and Morey is 10th.
Etter, Scully, Hughes, Jameison (passed Fecury on final lap for 14th). Dobson, Corry, Garcia and Schrage complete the field.
This is Douglas second win of his career, and second in a row.
Big movers in the race are Elliot Cox from 15th to 8th and Carson Etter from 18th to 11th.
USF 2000 presented by Cooper Tires Portland Race #2 UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
| Pos | Car # | Driver | Laps | Diff | ST | Team |
| 1 | 23 | Jacob Douglas | 25 | LAP 25 | 1 | Pabst Racing |
| 2 | 22 | Simon Sikes | 25 | 0.3785 | 2 | Pabst Racing |
| 3 | 17 | Nikita Johnson | 25 | 5.3376 | 7 | VRD Racing |
| 4 | 1 | Mac Clark | 25 | 5.7188 | 6 | DEForce Racing |
| 5 | 6 | Evagoras Papasavvas | 25 | 5.88 | 5 | Jay Howard Driver Development |
| 6 | 10 | Jorge Garciarce | 25 | 16.4597 | 10 | DEForce Racing |
| 7 | 68 | Ethan Ho | 25 | 19.2891 | 9 | DC Autosport |
| 8 | 67 | Elliot Cox | 25 | 22.0592 | 15 | Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development |
| 9 | 33 | Max Taylor | 25 | 23.5437 | 12 | VRD Racing |
| 10 | 7 | Al Morey | 25 | 24.3115 | 13 | Jay Howard Driver Development |
| 11 | 57 | Carson Etter | 25 | 36.1273 | 18 | DC Autosport |
| 12 | 19 | Gordon Scully | 25 | 36.9271 | 17 | VRD Racing |
| 13 | 8 | Lochie Hughes | 25 | 38.7313 | 11 | Jay Howard Driver Development |
| 14 | 12 | Maxwell Jamieson | 25 | 43.2233 | 14 | DEForce Racing |
| 15 | 11 | Lucas Fecury | 25 | 43.5026 | 16 | DEForce Racing |
| 16 | 9 | Ava Dobson | 25 | 71.4304 | 19 | Jay Howard Driver Development |
| 17 | 14 | Sam Corry | 24 | 1 LAPS | 8 | VRD Racing |
| 18 | 24 | Max Garcia | 17 | 8 LAPS | 3 | Pabst Racing |
| 19 | 90 | Thomas Schrage | ‑‑‑ | Mechanical | 4 | Exclusive Autosport |