Champ Kirkwood Again on Top as USF2000 Returns to Portland
September 1, 2018
Kirkwood, 19, from Jupiter, Fla., took another step toward that mark this afternoon as he claimed his 11th win of the season for Cape Motorsports.
Igor Fraga provisionally claimed second place for Exclusive Autosport, only for the Japanese-born Brazilian to receive a post-race penalty for avoidable contact which elevated Calvin Ming (Pabst Racing), from Georgetown, Guyana, into second place and Kory Enders (DEForce Racing), from Sugarland, Texas, into third.
Kirkwood set out his stall early by posting the fastest lap in qualifying on Friday to secure his fifth pole of the season at a new lap record of 1:10.9581, an average speed of 99.642mph. He narrowly maintained his advantage as the 18-car field funneled into the tight Festival Curves chicane for the first time, but he wasn’t able to prevent Pabst Racing’s Swedish rookie Rasmus Lindh from driving around the outside of him to take the lead at Turn Two.
Teammate Kaylen Frederick, who started second, had pulled alongside Kirkwood into the braking area for Turn One, only to receive a hefty bump from Fraga which sent him into the escape road. With all of the other shuffling in the first couple of corners, Frederick, from Potomac, Md., was able to resume in third behind only Lindh and Kirkwood, while Fraga emerged in fourth ahead of Enders and Braden Eves, from Columbus, Ohio, who was enjoying an impressive debut with Newman Wachs Racing.
After leading across the line at the end of the opening lap, Lindh, by his own admission, failed to close the door on Kirkwood as they headed once again into Turn One. Kirkwood saw his opportunity and required no second bidding as he dived to the inside and regained the advantage.
Try as he did, though, Kirkwood was unable to make any ground on his pursuers. The recently crowned champion turned an impressive series of consistently quick laps, including the fastest of the race, a new record 1:11.2010 (99.289mph), on Lap 14, but still Lindh and Frederick remained in tight formation directly behind him.
The Pabst pair were granted seemingly a lifeline when the caution flags waved after 19 laps due to an incident in the midfield. The restart came with four laps remaining, but while they swarmed either side of Kirkwood entering Turn One at the restart, both effectively left their braking just a fraction late and skated off wide to the outside of Turn One.
Kirkwood gratefully picked his way through and emerged with an appreciable advantage, which he held to the end to notch his 11th victory of the season.
After taking the checkered flag in second, Fraga was later adjudged to have been at fault in a multiple incidents, which relegated him to 15th in the final results.
Ming inherited the position and also took home the Tilton Hard Charger Award after working his way up from ninth on the grid.
Enders followed home in third to claim his first podium finish ahead of the recovering Lindh, who, following the penalty to Fraga, was able to strengthen his hold on second place in the championship with just one race remaining tomorrow afternoon. Lindh now holds a 15-point edge over teammate Lucas Kohl, who battled back from an early incident to finish fifth.
The result also allowed Pabst Racing to eke out a 12-point advantage, 321-309, over Cape Motorsports in its quest for a second consecutive Team Championship. The final outcome will be decided in tomorrow’s 16th and final round of the season, which is set to start at 3:20 p.m.