Nikita Johnson was virtually in a class of his own Sunday at NOLA Motorsports Park. The 15-year-old from Gulfport, Fla., romped to a pair of USF Pro 2000 Presented by Continental Tire victories for VRD Racing and now holds a commanding 39-point advantage in the quest for a champion’s scholarship valued at $681,500 to propel him into INDY NXT in 2025.
Saturday’s winner Hunter Yeany (TJ Speed Motorsports), from Virginia Beach, Va., has emerged as Johnson’s closest challenger following second and third-place finishes today. Two Pabst Racing drivers shared the podium honors with 2023 USF2000 champion Simon Sikes, from Augusta, Ga., finishing third this morning and Jace Denmark, from Brownsburg, Ind., going one better in the weekend finale.
Yeany continued the morning from where he left off Saturday by taking up his position at the head of the field after having secured his first Continental Tire Pole Award in qualifying. The Virginian maintained his advantage both at the start and a subsequent restart after four laps due to Danny Dyszelski, from Belmont, N.C., having been involved in an incident which dumped his Turn 3 Motorsport Tatuus into the gravel at Turn 6.
Soon, though, it was apparent that Johnson had the car to beat. Having started fifth and then lost a couple of positions at the initial start, Johnson quickly made up the deficit and more as he charged his way into contention. By lap eight, Johnson was on Yeany’s tail and challenging for the lead.
Remarkably, the top two raced absolutely side-by-side through several corners on lap 10, each giving the other just enough space to race cleanly. Johnson was narrowly ahead as they completed the lap, only for Yeany to regain the advantage at Turn 1. A lap later, Yeany bowed to the inevitable as Johnson towed alongside on the front straight and finally made the pass stick in Turn 1.
Johnson then pulled away to his second win of the season, leaving Yeany to settle for second. Johnson’s fine effort brought him a new lap record as well as earning him the Tilton Hard Charger Award.
Sikes finished hot on Yeany’s tail in third for his best result of the season, while Canadian Mac Clark (DEForce Racing) also enjoyed a strong run to fourth.
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The BN Racing duo of Nicolas Baptiste, from Bogota, Colombia, and Mexico’s Ricardo Escotto finished nose-to-tail in fifth and sixth for their best results to date.
The Continental Tire Pole Award for the third and final race of the weekend was taken by Johnson by virtue of his new lap record in the earlier race being faster than anyone else’s second fastest lap set during qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Unsurprisingly, Johnson rocketed into the lead at the start and immediately began pulling away.
Johnson stretched his lead to as much as 4.5s following a string of fast, consistent laps before easing his pace a little in the closing stages. His eventual margin of victory was 2.8090s.
“Today was great. We came away with two wins. The VRD car was really fast,” Johnson said. “In race two, I started P5 and didn’t get the best start. My tires were brand new and they weren’t in yet so I fell back to seventh or eighth. I had to work back through the field and once my tires came in, the car was just a rocket ship and I was able to pass everyone. We made a change from race two to race three and that made it even better. Once I broke the draft to Jace I just put my head down and focused on building a gap and that’s what I did. I want to thank everyone on the team, Dan Mitchell, Jacob Loomis, Jacob Abel, Scottie, Hugo, all my teammates, my family and everyone back home watching.”
In stark contrast to this season’s previous four thrilling USF Pro 2000 races, Sunday afternoon’s encounter was rather tame. Denmark completed a strong weekend, which also included a pole position Saturday, by finishing a relatively lonely second as Yeany settled into third and once again kept Sikes at bay.
Clark and Escotto finished fifth and sixth, while Danny Dyszelski, from Belmont, N.C., claimed another Tilton Hard Charger Award after rising from 14th on the grid to eighth.
The PFC Award for both of today’s races were claimed by Dan Mitchell as the winning team owner.
USF Pro 2000 Presented by Continental Tire will return to action on May 9-11 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course where a pair of races will be held in support of the NTT IndyCar Series headline event.