Photo: Gavin Baker Photography / Road to Indy
Kiko Porto took over the USF2000 points lead with a hard-fought victory in the first race of the Road America round.
The Brazilian started from pole and led away before the race entered a full course yellow period following an incident involving Billy Frazer and Kent Vaccaro.
Upon the restart, Porto and Cape Mototsports’ Michael d’Orlando went side-by-side for almost the entire lap in an incredibly tense minute-and-a-half that somehow didn’t result in contact between the pair.
D’Orlando claimed the lead before the final corner, but then Porto went around the outside of him at the start of the next lap and from that point kept the lead of the race to win for DEForce Racing.
Porto’s team-mate Nolan Siegel had been second but was passed by d’Orlando and Spike Kohlbecker on the opening lap, and then after the restart he made a mistake that dropped him several spots down the order. However he recovered well, even when he made another mistake, and was rewarded with fourth place behind Cape with Ignite Autosport driver Kohlbecker.
Exclusive Autosport’s Christian Brooks made a strong pass to finish fifth ahead of series returnee Simon Sikes (Legacy Autosport) and pre-race points leader Yuven Sundaramoorthy (Pabst Racing).
Race results (12 laps)
| Pos | Name | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kiko Porto | DEForce Racing | 29m28.6976s |
| 2 | Michael d’Orlando | Cape Motorsports | +0.8813s |
| 3 | Spike Kohlbecker | Cape w/ Ignite Autosport | +5.9938s |
| 4 | Nolan Siegel | DEForce Racing | +7.5576s |
| 5 | Christian Brooks | Exclusive Autosport | +9.8622s |
| 6 | Simon Sikes | Legacy Autosport | +11.8724s |
| 7 | Yuven Sundaramoorthy | Pabst Racing | +12.0547s |
| 8 | Josh Pierson | Pabst Racing | +12.3478s |
| 9 | Josh Green | Turn 3 Motorsport | +13.4181s |
| 10 | Thomas Nepveu | Cape Motorsports | +13.7844s |
| 11 | Prescott Campbell | DEForce Racing | +15.3530s |
| 12 | Bijoy Garg | JHDD | +21.8262s |
| 13 | Dylan Christie | Turn 3 Motorsport | +22.2077s |
| 14 | Peter Vodanovich | JHDD | +22.4305s |
| 15 | Trey Burke | Joe Dooling Autosports | +22.9518s |
| 16 | Evan Stamer | Cape w/ Ignite Autosport | +22.9781s |
| 17 | Ely Navarro | DEForce Racing | +27.7325s |
| 18 | Erik Evans | Velocity Racing Development | +27.8907s |
| 19 | Myles Rowe | Force Indy | +30.7693s |
| 20 | Michael Myers | Michael Myers Racing | +30.9990s |
| 21 | Jackson Lee | JHDD | +1m03.5499s |
| 22 | Jace Denmark-Gessel | Pabst Racing | +1m06.1392s |
| 23 | Matt Round-Garrido | Exclusive Autosport | +1m10.3892s |
| Ret | Kent Vaccaro | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports | |
| Ret | Billy Frazer | Exclusive Autosport | |
| Fastest lap: d’Orlando, 2m11.0627s
Championship standings |
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