Home News Simon Sikes ends long wait for first USF2000 win

Simon Sikes ends long wait for first USF2000 win

by Ida Wood

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Simon Sikes finally claimed his first USF2000 win in the second race at Sebring, and moves into the points lead in the process.

Simon started from pole and defended the inside line at the start, as Lochie Hughes and Ethan Ho passed his Pabst Racing team-mate Max Garcia to move into second and third.

A few corners later Garcia made contact with Nikita Johnson and spun around, dropping him to last.

Evagoras Papasavvas and Elliot Cox passed Ho on lap two, and they continued to battle over third place.

Cox managed to overtake Papasavvas on the inside of the final corner at the end of lap five, and they then went side-by-side into turn one with Cox on the inside.

They remained side-by-side exiting the corner and collided at turn two as Papasavvas moved across to the left. Papasavvas spun and was hit by Sam Corry, whose race was ended, but only dropped to sixth while Cox fell to 11th place.

The incident led to the pace car being called out, and racing did not resume until lap 10 of a scheduled 12.

Hughes tried passing Sikes for the lead around the outside of turn one on the restart, but went off track and was lucky to return to the circuit without any further drama. Mac Clark was able to pass him at the next braking zone though, then Jacob Douglas came through too before the race was put under another caution period.

The race was cut short by a lap and finished behind the pace car as a result, with Sikes taking victory – his first in the series after racing part-time over the last three seasons – ahead of Clark, Douglas, Hughes and Cox.

Papasavvas dropped to eighth behind Jorge Garciarce and the recovering Max Garcia, and Johnson finished ninth.

Louka St.-Jean was eighth at the restart but ended up retiring on that lap, although it was not immediately clear if the end to his race was what prompted the second caution period.

Race result (11 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Simon Sikes Pabst Racing 29m37.205s
2 Mac Clark DEForce Racing +0.595s
3 Jacob Douglas Exclusive Autosport +1.385s
4 Lochie Hughes JHDD +2.312s
5 Elliot Cox SFHR +3.031s
6 Jorge Garciarce DEForce Racing +3.729s
7 Max Garcia Pabst Racing +4.029s
8 Evagoras Papasavvas JHDD +5.076s
9 Nikita Johnson Velocity Racing Development +6.131s
10 Chase Gardner Exclusive Autosport +6.609s
11 Al Morey JHDD +7.254s
12 Gordon Scully Velocity Racing Development +7.710s
13 Zack Ping Velocity Racing Development +9.129s
14 Maxwell Jamieson DEForce Racing +10.075s
15 Ethan Ho DC Autosport +12.381s
16 Avery Towns Exclusive Autosport +13.901s
17 Danny Dyszelski Velocity Racing Development +1 lap
Ret Louka St.-Jean JHDD
Ret Sam Corry Velocity Racing Development
Fastest lap: Sikes, 2m05.712s

Championship standings
1 Sikes 107   2 Hughes 104   3 Papasavvas 79   4 Johnson 70   5 Clark 55   6 Garciarce 52   7 Gardner 44   8 Corry 42   9 Cox 37   10 Dyzselski 34