Gold grabs win in chaotic USF2000 race – Rasmussen struggles – championship chase tightens up

Reece Gold celebrates his first USF2000 win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ((Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions))

Drivers were given the command fire the 21 Indy Pro 2000 engines for their second race of the day at 1:05pm.

The field was slow get in pair of teenagers, Gold and Barrichello brought the field to the green flag.

Gold grabbed the lead on the run to Turn 1, with the rest of the field fanning out on the run up the hill to Turn 2.

In turn 5, there was contact that knocked Nolan Siegel down the running order to 14th after starting fifth. He was able to recover to finish ninth.

On Lap 2, it appeared that there was contact between Rasmussen and Shields in The Keyhole.

As the No. 6 got to the braking zone, he locked up the front tires, spinning into the grass. He tried to get going, but got high sided on the curbs trying to get back on track.

That forced race control to throw the yellow flag to allow the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team to push the Jay Howard Driver Development veteran back onto the track.

The green flag came out to start Lap 4, with Gold, Barrichello, Green, Shields, Round-Garrido, Miller, Brooks, Porto, Bogle and Sundaramoorthy.

On Lap 5, Gold’s lead over Barichello was less than half-of-a-second.

Later in the lap, Sikes went off in Turn 4. He was able to get back underway keeping the track green, but fell from 14th to 20th.

On Lap 8, Barrichello was starting to put immense pressure on Gold, starting lap nine only a half-second behind Gold.

At the halfway point of the race, Gold’s lead over Barrichello, was just over a half-second. The rest of the top ten were: Green, Shields, Round-Garrido, Brooks, Miller, Porto, Sundaramoorthy, and Duppell.

On Lap 11, Round-Garrido was warned for blocking, as the Pabst Racing sophomore was defending against Brooks.

As they started Lap 12, Barrichello was only six-tenths behind Gold. The top four were only separated by two-seconds.

Round-Garrido, was holding up a number of cars, with Brooks, Miller, Porto, and Dupell.

Round-Garrido and Brooks were side-by-side through Madness. Behind them, Dupell spun at the exit of Turn 4 and like Rasmusson was ended up high siding the No. 8 as he tried to get back on track.

The AMR INDYCAR Safety Team tried to get him going without throwing a full course yellow.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible and the yellow came out. The safety car was not utilized, and the green flag came back out with three laps remaining.

Barrichello got a great run to the green, and tried to make the outside pass in Turn 2. He was unable to make that work, but the two went side-by-side into the braking zone of Turn 4, with Barichello once again taking the outside line. The two went side-by-side through Madness, before Gold pulled ahead in Turn 6.

Behind them, Josh Green, who was running in third ended up in China Beach, moving Shields to the final spot on the podium.

Later on that lap, Brooks was able to move around Round-Garrido to move up to fourth.

When Gold took the white flag, his lead was a half-second. The driver who was looking for his second win in the last three race, was able to hold off the second generation racer for the win.

On the last lap, Sundaramoorthy, who was battling Miller for the sixth spot, went wide at the exit of Turn 2, bouncing across the grass and dropping to 14th.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand-Prix of Mid-Ohio
Race #1 unofficial results