Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway / LLC Photography
Kyle Kirkwood clinched the 2018 USF2000 crown with four races to go with victory in the first race at Mid-Ohio.
The Cape Motorsports driver started from pole, his fourth of the season, and dominated to take his seventh consecutive win.
Kirkwood’s main opposition came from Pabst Racing, which also caused chaos on the first lap.
Kaylen Frederick and Rasmus Lindh, who had qualified second and third, collided into Turn 4. Frederick pitted and lost a lap, while Lindh was handed a drive-through penalty.
Pabst team-mates Lucas Kohl and Calvin Ming moved into second and third as a result, while a bold overtake by BN Racing’s Keith Donegan moved him into fourth.
A set of full-course cautions kept the podium order unchanged, while a mishandling car moved Donegan down to fifth behind championship debutant James Raven.
Raven was judged to have jumped one of the restarts though, and was handed a drive-through penalty, dropping him to 18th.
Donegan therefore regained fourth, with South African Julian Van der Watt equalling his best result of the season in fifth.
Dakota Dickerson benefited from the chaos to rise from 24th on the grid to sixth, ahead of Singaporean Danial Frost.
The battle for eighth place was won by Michael d’Orlando, heading Kory Enders, Lindh and Jacob Abel.
Race results (20 laps)
| Pos | Name | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyle Kirkwood | Cape Motorsports | 37m50.4257s |
| 2 | Lucas Kohl | Pabst Racing | +1.8275s |
| 3 | Calvin Ming | Pabst Racing | +3.0360s |
| 4 | Keith Donegan | BN Racing | +6.6009s |
| 5 | Julian Van der Watt | Team Pelfrey | +7.0277s |
| 6 | Dakota Dickerson | ArmsUp Motorsports | +7.2428s |
| 7 | Danial Frost | Exclusive Autosport | +7.7261s |
| 8 | Michael d’Orlando | Team Benik | +8.0515s |
| 9 | Kory Enders | DEForce Racing | +8.1727s |
| 10 | Rasmus Lindh | Pabst Racing | +8.4414s |
| 11 | Jacob Abel | Abel Motorsports | +8.7230s |
| 12 | Colin Kaminsky | DEForce Racing | +10.6413s |
| 13 | David Osborne | Newman Wachs Racing | +11.0947s |
| 14 | Yuven Sundaramoorthy | Exclusive Autosport | +15.4394s |
| 15 | Kyle Dupell | Team Pelfrey | +16.3273s |
| 16 | Sabre Cook | Team Benik | +22.4946s |
| 17 | Igor Fraga | Exclusive Autosport | +36.7402s |
| 18 | James Raven | DEForce Rscing | +40.3000s |
| Ret | Jose Sierra | DEForce Racing | |
| Ret | Darren Keane | Newman Wachs Racing | |
| Ret | Bruna Tomaselli | Team Pelfrey | |
| Ret | Oscar DeLuzuriaga | Newman Wachs Racing | |
| Ret | Russell McDonough | BN Racing | |
| Ret | Kaylen Frederick | Pabst Racing | |
| Pole: Kirkwood, 1m20.5527s? ? ??Fastest Lap: Lindh, 1m22.3274s
Championship standings |
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