Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Nikita Johnson beat points leader Lochie Hughes to take pole position for the last two races of the USF Pro 2000 season at Portland.
Johnson set the initial pace before Hughes and his nearest title rival Jace Denmark traded the best time.
Hughes was leading as the field pitted for fresh tyres but it was Velocity Racing Development’s Johnson who would be the man on the move, initially moving up to second ahead of Denmark, then taking first away from Hughes with two minutes to go.
Turn 3 Motorsport’s Hughes also improved on his time, ensuring he remained on course for at least one pole position, but Johnson found another two tenths of a second on his final effort at the chequered flag to clinch the double.
Simon Sikes took third on the grid for race one ahead of Denmark, though their positions will be swapped for race two.
On his second weekend in the series, Glenn van Berlo matched his Toronto qualifying result of fifth, where he will line up for both races.
Making his series debut alongside Johnson at VRD, Noah Ping topped Friday morning’s free practice session by nearly eight tenths of a second and would round out the top 10 in qualifying.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Nikita Johnson VRD Racing 1m08.2603s
2 Lochie Hughes Turn 3 Motorsport +0.226s
3 Simon Sikes Pabst Racing +0.368s
4 Jace Denmark Pabst Racing +0.512s
5 Glenn van Berlo Pabst Racing +0.565s
6 Danny Dyszelski Turn 3 Motorsport +0.757s
7 Frankie Mossman Jay Howard Driver Development +0.860s
8 Cooper Becklin TJ Speed Motorsports +0.944s
9 Liam Sceats TJ Speed Motorsports +0.967s
10 Noah Ping VRD Racing +1.071s
Race 2 grid
1 Johnson 1m08.4545s
2 Hughes +0.095s
3 Denmark +0.318s
4 Sikes +0.446s
5 van Berlo +0.499s
6 Mossman +0.684s
7 Sceats +0.816s
8 Becklin +0.845s
9 Alessandro De Tullio BN Racing +0.924s
10 Tyke Durst Turn 3 Motorsport +0.965s