Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Jack Jeffers became the USF2000 champion at Portland after two days battling with title rival Thomas Schrage.
Velocity Racing Development’s Schrage beat Exclusive Autosport’s Jeffers to race one pole by 0.0123 seconds, and they almost came to blows after a few seconds as Jeffers took the outside line into turn one then found no room to stay on track at the corner due to Schrage already preparing his car for the direction change of turn two.
Schrage cut the corner entirely, but it was inconsequential as chaos behind led to red flags. Jay Howard Driver Development’s Timothy Carel drove over the back of Pabst Racing’s G3 Argyros then rotated upside upside down as he continued to fly through the air towards turn one.
The next driver he wiped out was Exclusive’s Lucas Fecury, whose team-mate Evan Cooley was sliding sideways into turn one ahead. Cooley had already crashed into the pit wall and Fecury before crossing the line at the rolling start, but avoided being struck by Carel as he rolled several more times in the air.
The race was restarted behind the pace car using the original grid, with one lap officially already in the books. Green flags waved on lap three and Jeffers again took the outside line at turn one.
That was the closest he got to Schrage for a while, as he built a 0.98s lead. Jeffers began closing back in on lap 12 of 25, and Schrage responded to go a second clear but began lap 18 defending against his rival. They were super close starting lap 21 too, but the pressure was absorbed by Schrage to take victory and keep the title fight going.
VRD’s Teddy Musella was third with a damaged nose, only briefly facing mid-race pressure from Pabst’s Caleb Gafrarar who had to fight past DEForce Racing’s Sebastian Garzon twice.
Synergy Motorsport’s Eddie Beswick finished sixth, and VRD’s Ryan Giannetta came home 11th after wing damage slowed him down.
Jeffers’ second-best qualifying lap put him on race two pole by 0.1096s over Musella, with Cooley 0.219s behind in third. It also meant he had one hand on the title as Schrage’s race one fastest lap left him fourth on the grid, ahead of Garzon and Gafrarar.
Musella missed the opening corners on lap one, gifting Cooley second, and Gafrarar dropped down the order too.
Jeffers had to defend into turn one on lap two, then Cooley went off at turn 10 and fell behind Garzon, DEForce team-mate Jeshua Alianell, Schrage and Musella.
It took seven laps for Jeffers to build a one-second lead, during which time Alianell lost two places on successive laps. On lap nine he and JHDD’s Brad Majman spun after contact at turn one, promoting JHDD’s Anthony Martella and Argyros to fiftyh and sixth.
Jeffers was now stretching his legs, and after Schrage went down Garzon’s inside at turn six on lap 11 he was already trailing by three seconds. He could match the leader’s pace but not cut the gap, and Jeffers became champion with victory.
Garzon locked up into turn one on the penultimate lap and lost his front wing as he cut the chicane, which handed third to Musella. Martella won his back-and-forth-battle with Argyros for fifth.
Results round-up
Race 1 (25 laps)
1 Thomas Schrage Velocity Racing Development 30m21.2982s
2 Jack Jeffers Exclusive Autosport +0.5106s
3 Teddy Musella Velocity Racing Development +9.8097s
4 Caleb Gafrarar Pabst Racing +12.1567s
5 Sebastian Garzon DEForce Racing +13.7121s
6 Eddie Beswick Synergy Motorsport +15.4268s
7 Christian Cameron Velocity Racing Development +15.9073s
8 Anthony Martella JHDD +16.9716s
9 Brad Majman JHDD +22.7784s
10 Evan Cooley Exclusive Autosport +23.3269s
Fastest lap: Schrage, 1m11.1947s
Race 2 (25 laps)
1 Jeffers 29m56.5899s
2 Schrage +3.6759s
3 Musella +12.5734s
4 Garzon +17.7509s
5 Martella +21.7508s
6 G3 Argyros Pabst Racing +22.5606s
7 Beswick +24.3583s
8 Ryan Giannetta Velocity Racing Development +24.9590s
9 Cameron +26.1907s
10 Gafrarar +29.5174s
Pole: Jeffers, 1m10.9742s
FL: Schrage, 1m11.4752s
Championship standings
1 Jeffers 411 2 Schrage 360 3 Musella 341 4 Argyros 281 5 Gafrarar 273 6 Cooley 215 7 Martella 206 8 Garzon 195 9 Lucas Fecury 190 10 Beswick 183