Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Liam McNeilly won the second and third USF2000 races at NOLA Motorsports Park to remain unbeaten in 2025.
That run was immediately threatened in race two as fellow front row starter Evan Cooley went for the outside line at turn one on the opening lap and managed to take the lead.
His Exclusive Autosport team-mate Jack Jeffers was similarly ambitious from eighth on the grid, making his first overtakes at turn one then making a huge dive at the turn three hairpin that worked perfectly as he swept past several drivers on the inside to take third. He then overcooked turn four, but it did not undo his work.
Further back, JHDD’s Brad Majman pittted after losing his front wing and Pabst Racing’s G3 Argyros also headed into the pits.
Jeffers was already 1.8 seconds behind the leader as lap two began, but was helped by the battle emerging up front. McNeilly reclaimed first place at turn eight.
They began to spread out on lap three, then a caution period began on lap four due to Velocity Racing Development’s Ryan Giannetta getting beached in the gravel following a collision.
When racing resumed on lap eight of 15, behind the top three were VRD’s Thomas Schrage and Pabst’s Caleb Gafrarar.
Schrage passed Jeffers around the outside at turn one, and DEForce Racing’s Jeshua Alianell was sixth before a mid-lap spin sent him down to 16th.
McNeilly set successive fastest laps to edge away from Cooley, and once he became occupied with Schrage in his mirrors he significantly grew his gap and won by 5.783s.
Schrage went to the inside of Cooley at turn one on lap 13 for second place, and soon they had Gafrarar on their tail after he had demoted Jeffers to fifth on lap 11 and then closed in on the battle ahead.
They held their positions to the end, and Jeffers beat DEForce’s Sebastian Garzon in a photo finish.
DEForce’s Brady Golan broke down on the race three formation lap, meaning yellow flags waved through lap one. Green flags waved on lap two and McNeilly sprinted off. He was not seen by the rest of the field following that, taking his fifth win by 7.708s.
Schrage started second and repeatedly locked up or went deep at turn four but held onto his position under race-long pressure from Argyros.
Jeffers passed Cooley for fourth on lap two and was not pressured by him after that, with VRD’s Teddy Musella a safe sixth. Most of the race’s battles were for the positions below that.
Results round-up
Race 2 (15 laps)
1 Liam McNeilly JHDD 27m34.852s
2 Thomas Schrage Velocity Racing Development +5.783s
3 Evan Cooley Exclusive Autosport +6.632s
4 Caleb Gafrarar Pabst Racing +7.039s
5 Jack Jeffers Exclusive Autosport +9.126s
6 Sebastian Garzon DEForce Racing +9.242s
7 Anthony Martella JHDD +13.732s
8 Teddy Musella Velocity Racing Development +15.726s
9 Timothy Carel JHDD +16.098s
10 Ayrton Houk Benchmark Autosport +18.439s
Fastest lap: McNeilly, 1m34.179s
Race 3 (15 laps)
1 McNeilly 24m42.101s
2 Schrage +7.708s
3 G3 Argyros Pabst Racing +8.024s
4 Jeffers +11.417s
5 Cooley +13.140s
6 Musella +13.529s
7 Gafrarar +14.090s
8 Garzon +14.958s
9 Christian Cameron Velocity Racing Development +17.714s
10 Houk +26.853s
FL: McNeilly, 1m34.685s
Championship standings
1 McNeilly 163 2 Jeffers 112 3 Schrage 95 4 Cooley 85 5 Argyros 68 6 Musella 65 7 Gafrarar 64 8 Garzon 64 9 Alianell 60 10 Cameron 55