Liam McNeilly fell a little short of his ultimate goal of winning the USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire championship title, but the Englishman capped an impressive first season of competition in North America Saturday afternoon by completing a sweep of the Continental Tire Grand Prix of Portland tripleheader season finale. McNeilly, from Brentwood, England, tracked down and overtook Jay Howard Driver Development teammate G3 Argyros, from Newport Beach, Calif., then held off a late challenge from VRD Racing’s Sebastian Wheldon to secure his fifth win of the season.
Wheldon took the checkered flag in second for his season-leading ninth podium finish as Argyros rounded out the top three.
Fourteen-year-old Brazilian Leonardo Escorpioni led the field to the green flag, having captured his first Continental Tire Pole Award by virtue of posting the fastest lap in Friday’s second race of the weekend when his Zanella Racing team was one of only a few to gamble on a switch to slick Continental tires as the track began to dry in the closing stages.
A fine getaway on a dry track saw Escorpioni lead confidently around the opening lap, only to run a little deep into the chicane on the back straightaway, which resulted in him running wide onto the grass at the exit and immediately falling to fifth. Outside front row starter Argyros took over the lead as the yellow flags waved following a couple of separate incidents farther down the field.
Argyros continued in the lead at the restart, although teammate McNeilly quickly began to work his way forward after completing the first lap in sixth.
McNeilly slipped past Argyros with a fine move at the end of the back straightaway on lap 10, although instead of an easy run to the finish, he once again had to contend with Wheldon, who remained hot on his heels and never allowed the leader to relax.
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The top two were separated by only a third of a second at the checkered flag, followed by Argyros who claimed his third podium result of the year.
“Coming into Portland we knew it was going to be really tough to win the championship, so the next best thing was to try and win all three races,” McNeilly said. “Ultimately there were just too many things that went wrong this season, whether it was my fault or anyone else’s fault. To win all three races shows what we were capable of this year and the speed that we had in whatever conditions. We’ve just been getting stronger and stronger all throughout this year. USF2000 next year, we’ll see what happens there, but that’s all we could have done this weekend. Big thanks to the team and we’re on to next year now.”
Jack Jeffers, from San Antonio, Texas, took home the Tilton Hard Charger Award after fighting his way through from 12th on the grid to fourth for Exclusive Autosport, narrowly ahead of another 14-year-old, Christian Cameron, from Sonoma, Calif., who enjoyed another strong finish for VRD Racing.
Israel’s Ariel Elkin also posted an impressive drive for the first-year InterMS team. Elkin took the restart at the tail of field in 17th, then fought his way through the pack to finish in sixth.
McNeilly’s performance ensured another PFC Award for Jay Howard as the winning car owner, and cemented his second-place finish in the final points table behind VRD Racing’s Max Taylor, from Hoboken, N.J., who elected to concentrate his efforts on the final USF2000 race of the season after capturing the USF Juniors championship crown yesterday afternoon.
Taylor, 16, will pick up his prize – a scholarship valued at $263,700 to advance along the USF Pro Championships ladder – Sunday evening at the traditional Championship Celebration.