By Tony DiZinno
Several drivers took on sets of sticker Cooper Tires for this race – VRD Racing’s Nikita Johnson and Danny Dyszelski among others starting in P8 and P9 – as the USF2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires prepared for the second race of the Saturday Discount Tire Grand Prix of Road America doubleheader. So that added a wrinkle into the proceedings.
Mac Clark led the field to green ahead of Simon Sikes and Lochie Hughes as the 21-car field of Tatuus USF-22 chassis with the Elite Engines-prepared 2-liter MZR entries headed for Turn 1.
Someone else lost a front wing entering the corner. There was a car off at the Kink, Sam Corry, and at the end of Lap 1 a full-course caution flew.
Hughes made it around Sikes for second in the limited green flag running.
Race resumes end of Lap 3 and the start of Lap 4. Hughes tries around the outside of Clark for the lead at Turn 3 but nope. Clark now leading a train into Turn 5 and indeed Hughes is able to make it by for the left-hander at the end of the straight.
Max Garcia was up into third with Jorge Garciarce fourth and Sikes having lost several positions – down to eighth on Lap 4. Elliot Cox in the pit needed a new front wing.
Full-course caution number two flew for Evagoras Papasavvas off course, exit of the Carousel on driver’s right.
Chase Gardner in the pits as well.
The race resumes end of Lap 6 and start of Lap 7 for the second half of the 12-lap race.
Garcia tries for the lead around the outside of Hughes at Turn 1, doesn’t get it, and falls back a couple spots by Turn 3. Hughes leading Clark and Garciarce.
Sikes had made up two spots by Lap 8, now P6. But it didn’t last long as he fell to P9 by Lap 9.
White flag at the end of Lap 11 with Hughes up 0.7118 of a second on Clark, Garcia now back by Garciarce for third and Johnson completing the top five.
Checkered flag and Hughes gets a win he’d been close to all weekend given his early pace, with Clark just 0.6273 of a second behind and Garcia ending on the podium in another Pabst Racing entry. Garciarce finished fourth with Johnson fifth.
“I have to apologize for race one. I drove like a word I can’t say! Then had a problem with the wing. But this one was perfect. It’s hard with the tow to not get freight trained, and I came out with the win,” Hughes said.
“The guys told me what to do and I can’t thank everyone enough. Great end to the weekend.”
Jacob Douglas, Gardner, Dyszelski, Ethan Ho and Sikes completed the top 10.
Sikes and Hughes inverted their positions from Race 1; they finished first and 10th.
In race two, Hughes won, Sikes finished 10th… so the points should be identical or close as they were heading into the weekend when Hughes began four points up.
Race 2 Unofficial Results
| P | No | Name | Team | Laps | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | Lochie Hughes | Jay Howard Driver Development | 12 | LAP 12 |
| 2 | 1 | Mac Clark | DEForce Racing | 12 | 0.6273 |
| 3 | 24 | Max Garcia | Pabst Racing | 12 | 1.0079 |
| 4 | 10 | Jorge Garciarce | DEForce Racing | 12 | 3.9853 |
| 5 | 17 | Nikita Johnson | VRD Racing | 12 | 3.9935 |
| 6 | 23 | Jacob Douglas | Pabst Racing | 12 | 9.2144 |
| 7 | 95 | Chase Gardner | Exclusive Autosport | 12 | 9.2617 |
| 8 | 18 | Danny Dyszelski | VRD Racong | 12 | 9.5123 |
| 9 | 68 | Ethan Ho | DC Autosport | 12 | 9.5307 |
| 10 | 22 | Simon Sikes | Pabst Racing | 12 | 11.5301 |
| 11 | 97 | Zack Ping | VRD Racing | 12 | 11.5842 |
| 12 | 92 | Jack Jeffers | Exclusive Autosport | 12 | 11.8678 |
| 13 | 7 | Al Morey | Jay Howard Driver Development | 12 | 15.5976 |
| 14 | 19 | Gordon Scully | VRD Racing | 12 | 15.9252 |
| 15 | 93 | Avery Towns | Exclusive Autosport | 12 | 16.7504 |
| 16 | 12 | Maxwell Jamieson | DEForce Racing | 12 | 18.2277 |
| 17 | 9 | Dane Scott | Jay Howard Driver Development | 12 | 19.1507 |
| 18 | 67 | Elliot Cox | Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development | 12 | 20.0655 |
| 19 | 6 | Evagoras Papasavvas | Jay Howard Driver Development | 3 | Contact |
| 20 | 14 | Sam Corry | VRD Racing | — | Contact |
| 21 | 33 | Max Taylor | VRD Racing | — | DNS |