Braden Eves and Tanner DeFabis shared the honors Saturday at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park after the traditional Carb Night Classic had been postponed from Friday night due to inclement weather. The USF Pro Championships Presented by Continental Tire’s one and only visit this season to an oval track duly lived up to expectations.
Local resident Eves continued the astonishing form of his Exclusive Autosport team at the 0.686-mile oval with a record-breaking victory from the pole in USF Pro 2000. He was chased home in the Freedom 90 by Pabst Racing’s Jace Denmark, from nearby Brownsburg, Ind., while Australian rookie Lochie Hughes moved to within a point of the USF Pro 2000 championship lead after finishing a close behind in third for Turn 3 Motorsport.
In USF2000, DeFabis, from nearby Avon, Ind., rose quickly from third on the grid to dominate the Freedom 75 race for Jay Howard Driver Development. Last year’s USF Juniors champion Nicolas Giaffone, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, finished second for DEForce Racing ahead of Jay Howard Driver Development’s Evagoras Papasavvas, from Loveland, Ohio.
It was apparent from the very first USF Pro 2000 test session on Wednesday afternoon that 2013 champion Matt Brabham’s qualifying lap record was in serious jeopardy. Ultimately, the top seven on the grid eclipsed both his one- and two-lap standard, led by locally based series veteran Eves, who snagged his first Continental Tire Pole Award of the season during qualifying on Thursday afternoon with a new outright track lap record of 19.4602s and a two-lap average of 126.565mph.
The pole represented a long overdue return to form for Eves, the 2019 USF2000 champion, who had endured a disappointing start to the season with only a pair of top-five finishes from the opening eight races.
Eves took off at the start like a scalded cat. He established a new race lap record on only the second lap and had extended his advantage to over five seconds by the time the caution flags waved for the first and only time after 47 laps due to an incident between Turns 3 and 4 involving Ethan Ho (Turn 3 Motorsport), from Los Angeles, Calif., and championship leader Nikita Johnson (VRD Racing), from Gulfport, Fla. The pair had been disputing sixth place at the time. Both were unhurt.
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The restart would be crucial. Denmark, who had started second and remained as Eves’ closest challenger, was eager to grasp his opportunity after a huge deficit suddenly had been reduced to just a car’s length.
Denmark briefly nosed alongside his rival several times following the resumption, with 24 laps remaining, but Eves kept his cool. And his lead.
Hughes fell back a little from the two leaders at the restart, but it wasn’t long before he was back on their tail. Hughes’ teammate, Danny Dyszelski, from Belmont, N.C., also ran close behind in fourth.
Tthere was no stopping Eves, who held on to score his Exclusive Autosport team’s fifth win at the track since 2018. He also took home team owner Michael Duncalfe’s first PFC Award of the season.
“Oh man, well honestly I have to start off with the most important part of this which was how fantastic my car was,” Eves said. “The Corpay Exclusive Autosport crew just gave me the best car. This is their third time in a row now, winning here, and this place is very, very car dependent. You can’t carry the car here. It’s really a team effort so big thanks to my engineer John Hayes, my team owner Michael Duncalfe, co-owner Josh Cooley and the whole team. It was a super tiring race. The new Continental tire was pulling 2.8-g consistently for 90 laps, so it’s not easy on the body, but I managed to hold on and take the win, so I’m really proud of that.”
Indy NXT regular Bryce Aron, from Winnetka, Ill., finished a strong sixth on his USF Pro 2000 debut for TJ Speed Motorsports after taking the opportunity to gain his first experience on an oval.
Colombian Nicolas Baptiste rose from 17th on the grid to seventh to claim the Tilton Hard Charger Award for BN Racing.