Canada’s Mac Clark was perfectly positioned to take his second USF2000 Presented by Cooper Tires victory of the season this morning for DEForce Racing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course after championship rivals Simon Sikes (Pabst Racing) and Lochie Hughes (Jay Howard Driver Development) clashed at Turn 2 with four laps remaining.
Hughes’ teammate Evagoras Papasavvas continued his banner weekend at his home track by finishing second. Sam Corry followed in third.
Sikes began the day in perfect style. After regaining the points lead yesterday in the first of three races that will comprise the Discount Tire Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio, Sikes started at the front of the field this morning by virtue of posting the second-fastest lap of all drivers during the lone qualifying session on Friday to secure his fifth Cooper Tires Pole Award of the season.
Sikes took off confidently in the lead and quickly built a seemingly unassailable advantage of more than seven seconds. Unfortunately, a midfield incident with seven laps remaining necessitated a full-course caution and slashed Sikes’ lead to nothing.
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At the ensuing restart, Hughes, running second, spotted what would likely have been his only opportunity to make a challenge for the lead as he lunged to the inside under braking for the Keyhole, Turn 2. Hughes caromed into Sikes’ right-rear wheel before cartwheeling spectacularly into the gravel trap and out of the race.
Sikes was able to continue in second place, minus his rear wing, but just as the race was about to be restarted for a one-lap dash to the checkered flag, race officials determined that the car was in an unsafe condition and Sikes was instructed to bring the car onto pit lane. He was eventually classified an unrepresentative 18th, his only consolation the fact he was able to claim the three bonus points for pole position, fastest race lap and leading most laps.
Meanwhile, Clark maintained his advantage on the final lap and crossed the line merely 0.2189s ahead of Corry, with VRD teammate Nikita Johnson and the two Pabst Racing entries of Max Garcia and Jacob Douglas hot on his heels.
“It was a crazy second race here at Mid-Ohio. That was insane,” said Clark. “We managed to take advantage on the second to last restart and just be smart, keep our nose clean and managed to come away with the win. It is really special on Canada Day weekend for me to get it done and just a really big thank you to the team. This is really good for us in terms of the point standings, so I am really excited
Thomas Schrage (Exclusive Autosport) claimed his second Tilton Hard Charger Award in as many days after rising from 21st on the grid to 11th.
David and Ernesto Martinez picked up the PFC Award as the winning car owners.
The final race of the weekend is scheduled for later Saturday afternoon at 4:30pm ET.
Provisional championship points after 12 of 18 races:
1. Simon Sikes, 277
2. Lochie Hughes, 270
3. Nikita Johnson, 246
4. Mac Clark, 224
5. Evagoras Papasavvas, 216
6. Chase Gardner, 147
7. Jorge Garciarce, 161
8. Sam Corry, 159
9. Jacob Douglas, 127
10 Max Garcia, 127