ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — There was no denying Jack Jeffers this year’s USF Pro 2000 Presented by Continental Tire championship.
The young man from San Antonio, Texas, was never seriously challenged all weekend as he added two more race wins to the one he scored yesterday for Exclusive Autosport, placing the title far beyond his rivals’ reach.
Jeffers thus became the fifth driver after Matthew Brabham, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Rasmussen and Max Garcia to claim back-to-back championship titles in USF2000 and USF Pro 2000.
Florida-based Brazilian Leonardo Escorpioni (Turn 3 Motorsport) chased home Jeffers this morning after finding a way past TJ Speed Motorsports’ Thomas Schrage, from Bethel, Ohio, while the Pabst Racing pair of G3 Argyros, from Newport Beach, Calif., and Colin Aitken, from Jacksonville Beach, Fla., completed the podium in this afternoon’s final race of the season.
Jeffers earned his sixth and seventh Continental Tire Pole Awards by virtue of producing the best second-fastest lap of the entire field during the lone qualifying session on Friday.
He was joined on the front row this morning by Schrage, who shadowed the champion elect during the opening five laps without ever looking likely to be able to make a pass. Jeffers’ car was simply too strong. Thereafter, Jeffers pulled away at will.
Schrage instead fell into the clutches of Escorpioni, who made an excellent exit to Turn Five, drove alongside Schrage on the uphill run to Turn Six, then calmly slipped past into second place.
After 15 laps of green-flag racing, Escorpioni finished just over 7.5 seconds in arrears of Jeffers, who was finally able to celebrate his championship win in the best possible style.
Schrage rounded out the podium in third, well clear of Aitken and Argyros. Teddy Musella, from Orlando, Fla., finished a couple of seconds in arrears, just ahead of VRD Racing teammate Frankie Mossman, from Newport Beach, Calif. New Zealander Sebastian Manson (Turn 3 Motorsport) and JT Hoskins (JHDD powered by ECR), from Sarasota, Fla., completed the top 10. Hoskins also earned his second Tilton Hard Charger Award in as many days.
The season finale once again was all about Jeffers, who again led from flag to flag. Only this time there were a couple of interruptions, firstly due to a multi-car incident at Turn One which brought out the red flags, and then another when Turn 3 Motorsport teammates Tyke Durst, from Charlotte, N.C., and Brady Golan, from Austin, Texas, tangled in Turn Five.
All drivers escaped without injury, although both debutant Clemente Huerta (JHDD powered by ECR), from Santiago, Chile, and Golan were assessed post-race penalties for incident responsibility.
Schrage once again started second, only to fall by the wayside after two laps when his car’s left-rear suspension abruptly failed in Turn Eight, thereby bringing his fine streak of four podiums and 16 top-10 results to an end.
Argyros found his car much more to his liking in the final race and actually took the challenge to Jeffers, finishing only a half-second behind. Aitken, too, chased hard, while Escorpioni also was in close attendance with Mossman completing the top five.
Escorpioni’s finish clinched the Team Championship for Turn 3 Motorsport.
