Home News Green ends USF2000 season with win in incident-packed wet race

Green ends USF2000 season with win in incident-packed wet race

by Craig Woollard

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy

Turn 3 Motorsport’s Josh Green used a brilliant opening lap to go from sixth to first to win the season-ending USF2000 race at Mid-Ohio, which had several caution periods.

There wasn’t much green-flag running at all in the race, which went to a time limit rather than to the 20 scheduled laps.

Due to the poor conditions, the opening lap was under yellow, before a single-file start. It was there where Green made his move, vaulting from sixth up into the lead on the first green flag lap before yellows flags were waved after about four corners of action for three separate incidents.

Pabst Racing’s Jace Denmark and Michael Myers collided at turn two, while Pabst’s Josh Pierson and Force Indy’s Myles Rowe also had separate incidents on the course.

On lap five the race returned to green, but once again there was an incident at turn two – this time Miller Vinatieri Motorsports’ Kent Vaccaro was beached after contact with Jay Howard Driver Development’s Jackson Lee who was able to continue.

That caused a lengthier caution, and on the restart, DEForce Racing’s Prescott Campbell, running in fourth, broke his front wing.

He opted to continue as Green led DEForce’s Nolan Siegel out front, and there was a whole two full laps of running before the caution flags were waved once more as JHDD’s Bijoy Garg had spun off.

At that point, it became evident that the race would run to time. The final green flag was waved on lap 14, but race one winner Yuven Sundaramoorthy got caught up in a collision between DEForce’s Ely Navarro and Turn 3’s Christian Weir, once again at turn two.

That brought the race to a conclusion, with Green at the top ahead of Siegel, new champion Kiko Porto and poleman Michael d’Orlando at the flag.

Despite losing his front wing, Campbell finished fifth, while Pierson recovered to finish in sixth. Spike Kohlbecker, Thomas Nepve, Billy Frazer (who gained seven spots on the first lap of action) and Andre Castro (who also gained nine spots during the race) rounded out the top 10.

Race results (15 laps)
Pos Name Team Time
1 Josh Green Turn 3 Motorsport 38m50.4862s
2 Nolan Siegel DEForce Racing +0.4784s
3 Kiko Porto DEForce Racing +1.2156s
4 Michael d’Orlando Cape Motorsports +1.8484s
5 Prescott Campbell DEForce Racing +2.6373s
6 Josh Pierson Pabst Racing +3.2440s
7 Spike Kohlbecker Cape w/ Ignite Autosports +4.1714s
8 Thomas Nepveu Cape Motorsports +5.1445s
9 Billy Frazer Exclusive Autosport +5.7128s
10 Andre Castro Legacy Autosport +7.3426s
11 Evan Stamer Cape w/ Ignite Autosports +8.9532s
12 Jackson Lee JHDD +9.9692s
13 Trey Burke Joe Dooling Autosports +11.5842s
14 Dylan Christie Turn 3 Motorsport +13.2430s
15 Jace Denmark Pabst Racing +1 lap
16 Kent Vaccaro Miller Vinatieri Motorsports +1 lap
17 Bijoy Garg JHDD +1 lap
18 Ely Navarro DEForce Racing +1 lap
19 Yuven Sundaramoorthy Pabst Racing +1 lap
Ret Christian Weir Turn 3 Motorsport
Ret Myles Rowe Force Indy
Ret Michael Myers Michael Myers Racing
Fastest lap: Porto, 1m50.1804s

Championship standings
Porto 413   2 d’Orlando 365   3 Sundaramoorthy 329   4 Pierson 291   5 Green 279   6 Christian Brooks 257   7 Kohlbecker 235   8 Siegel 227   9 Nepveu 220   10 Cambell 215