By Patrick Stephan
The third and final USF2000 presented by Cooper Tires race of the weekend will run under different conditions than all the other races today. The sun is shining brightly and the air temp is up to 82F with the track temp at 105F and the humidity at 66%.
Big troubles for Jacob Douglas’ Pabst Racing car. He was scheduled to start 6th, but was unable to fire on pit lane. The crew was hard at work near the rear of the engine trying to get his car going. The field rolled off without him.
Lochie Hughes would also have an issue. His car stopped on the track coming down the hill from Turn 2 and would stall and need a tow back to the pits. Hughes rolled several times earlier today in that same car – so amazing the second place driver (and his car) in the points even made it to the grid and how he’s coming back behind a safety truck as the race has officially started but under yellow.
When we do start, it’s to begin the 3rd lap. Simon Sikes and Mac Clark will bring the field down two wide to get the race going, but it won’t stay green for long.
Turn 1 was ok, but cars and parts are scattered around Turn 2. Can’t tell for sure which are it was, but as Rob Howden said, one of the VRD cars wound up over the inside curb and made contact with the rear of Jorge Garciarce, spinning him and it stacked up behind them. Just too many cars in too little space.
Sikes, Clark, Johnson, Papasavvas, Garcia, Corry, Gardner, Dyszelski, Schrage, Ho, Golan, Etter, Towns, Scully, Morey, Jameison, Ping, Garciarce, Adams, Taylor, Douglas, Hughes, Cox (DNS)
Back to green single file on Lap 6 as Sikes and Clark again get away from the field, with Johnson and Papasavvas in tow.
When they got back to the timing line to score Lap 7 – the first fully under green – the order is Sikes, Clark, Johnson, Papasavvas, Garcia, Corry, Gardner, Dyszelski, Schrage, Golan, Morey, Etter, Towns, Ho, Douglas, Scully (out), Jameison (out), Ping (out), Taylor (out), Garciarce (out), Adams (out), Hughes (out), Cox (DNS).
Douglas is on the track, but two laps down. He came in to race 9th in the points. Really suffering in the championship battle due to the issues following his Race #2 Crash is Lochie Hughes. He was just 7 behind Simon Sikes and will finish 22nd, while Sikes is currently leading Mac Clark by 3.6 seconds on Lap 12.
Following Clark is Nikita Johnson who just three tenths back, and they will spend much of Lap 14 side by side from Turn 4 through Turn 9 with Clark keeping the spot. That lets Papassavas and Corry close down as we have a nose to tail train from 2nd through 7th.
Sikes is happy to see that battle and on Lap 15 has a 6.6 second (and growing) lead over Clark. Lap 15 saw the Top 5 turn their fastest lap of the race.
Lap 17 sees Sikes lead grow to 7.1, with Clark, Johnson, Papasavvas and Corry still close to each other.
Lap 20 and Nikita Johnson is able to get by Clark who hangs on to the final podium spot. Papassavas and Corry round out the Top 5. Further back, Ethan Ho moved by Golan on the final lap for 13th.
As has been noted previously, Sikes has a familiar problem in racing – he’s short on budget. Rob Howden, USF broadcaster, confirmed on the race call that Sikes is essentially race to race at this point, and likely needs to win the championship (and it’s scholarship) to continue his racing career.
Sikes has won this year at Sebring (#2) and IMS (#2), and Road America (#1). On the podium he noted how has had speed all weekend, and was finally able to convert that to a win in race #3. He also thanked Doug Mockett (long time racing supporter) – for keeping him on the track this year.
Here are the results, more to follow on the weekend – tomorrow or Monday as there is a LOT to go over from this weekend.
USF2000 Mid-Ohio Race #3 Unofficial Results
| Pos | Car # | Driver | Laps | Diff | Gap | Team |
| 1 | 22 | Simon Sikes | 20 | LAP 20 | Pabst Racing | |
| 2 | 17 | Nikita Johnson | 20 | 10.311 | 10.311 | VRD Racing |
| 3 | 1 | Mac Clark | 20 | 11.0718 | 0.7608 | DEForce Racing |
| 4 | 6 | Evagoras Papasavvas | 20 | 11.5329 | 0.4611 | Jay Howard Driver Development |
| 5 | 14 | Sam Corry | 20 | 11.7898 | 0.2569 | VRD Racing |
| 6 | 95 | Chase Gardner | 20 | 12.1246 | 0.3348 | Exclusive Autosport |
| 7 | 24 | Max Garcia | 20 | 12.4421 | 0.3175 | Pabst Racing |
| 8 | 18 | Danny Dyszelski | 20 | 18.3177 | 5.8756 | VRD Racong |
| 9 | 90 | Thomas Schrage | 20 | 18.6573 | 0.3396 | Exclusive Autosport |
| 10 | 7 | Al Morey | 20 | 26.5728 | 7.9155 | Jay Howard Driver Development |
| 11 | 93 | Avery Towns | 20 | 31.327 | 4.7542 | Exclusive Autosport |
| 12 | 68 | Ethan Ho | 20 | 32.2995 | 0.9725 | DC Autosport |
| 13 | 11 | Brady Golan | 20 | 32.6673 | 0.3678 | DEForce Racing |
| 14 | 57 | Carson Etter | 20 | 37.1896 | 4.5223 | DC Autosport |
| 15 | 23 | Jacob Douglas | 18 | 2 LAPS | 1 LAPS | Pabst Racing |
| 16 | 19 | Gordon Scully | 3 | Contact | 6.2422 | VRD Racing |
| 17 | 12 | Maxwell Jamieson | 3 | Contact | 70.1809 | DEForce Racing |
| 18 | 97 | Zack Ping | 3 | Contact | 8.8233 | VRD Racing |
| 19 | 33 | Max Taylor | 3 | Contact | 129.4536 | VRD Racing |
| 20 | 10 | Jorge Garciarce | 2 | Contact | 0.121 | DEForce Racing |
| 21 | 9 | Logan Adams | 2 | Contact | 0.0247 | Jay Howard Driver Development |
| 22 | 8 | Lochie Hughes | ‑‑‑ | Mechanical | 1 LAPS | Jay Howard Driver Development |
| 23 | 67 | Elliot Cox | ‑‑‑ | DNS | Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development |