PORTLAND, Ore. — Jack Jeffers drove an exemplary race this afternoon at Portland International Raceway to clinch the USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire title with one race remaining on the season.
Jeffers, a 19-year-old rookie from San Antonio, Texas, led from flag to flag for Exclusive Autosport for his sixth victory.
Jeffers’ closest rival, Thomas Schrage, from Bethel, Ohio, worked his way from fourth on the grid to second, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Jeffers from clinching the championship and a scholarship valued at $405,000 to graduate onto the next step of the renowned USF Pro Championships open-wheel development ladder, USF Pro 2000, in 2026.
Schrage’s VRD Racing teammate, Teddy Musella, from Orlando, Fla., once again completed the podium in third.
The grid for today’s second leg of the Continental Tire Grand Prix of Portland tripleheader was established according to each driver’s second fastest lap during the lone qualifying session on Friday – or their fastest lap from the opening race of the weekend yesterday.
Jeffers duly claimed his fourth Continental Tire Pole Award of the season. He was joined on the front row by Musella, with Evan Cooley, from Mokena, Ill, aboard another Exclusive Autosport Tatuus lining up third ahead of Schrage, who failed to find a clear lap during the critical second phase of qualifying yesterday and was one of only three drivers to improve his grid position during the race.
Jeffers and Cooley worked together perfectly at the start, with Cooley immediately tucking in behind his teammate. Musella, meanwhile, found himself under siege under braking for the tight opening chicane from a third Exclusive car driven by Brazilian Lucas Fecury, who lunged through from his seventh starting position and forced Musella into the escape road.
Teammate Schrage also was inconvenienced, such that Jeffers and Cooley completed the opening lap in front of DEForce Racing’s Sebastian Garzon, from Neiva, Colombia, who started fifth, and teammate Jeshua Alianell, from The Woodlands, Texas, who had lined up eighth.
Cooley lost all hope of a good result when he ran off the road at the exit of the Turn Nine/10 chicane shortly before the end of lap two. Thankfully, that was no problem for Jeffers, who continued to lead from the DEForce pair, with Schrage soon hot on their heels.
Schrage overtook Alianell on the fifth lap to move into second, but it took him until Lap 11 to find a way through into second place. By then, Jeffers was already long gone in the lead.
The two leaders matched their pace for the remainder of the 25-lap race, but the relative positions remained unchanged and Jeffers’ comfortable win – and championship title – was assured.
Musella took until the seventh lap to find a way past Alianell, including a mistake at Turn One which cost him several seconds and left him with a mountain to climb if he was to challenge for the final podium place. But challenge he did. Musella narrowed the gap of more than five seconds to just a couple of car lengths with two laps to go, then took advantage of an error under braking by Garzon at Turn One to move past his rival into third.
