THEDOOR ISOPEN USF2000PRESENTED BYCOOPERTIRES PREVIEW

It was widely anticipated prior to the new USF2000 Presented by Cooper Tires season that it would be hard to match the level of excitement that unfolded in 2022. An intense three-way battle waged throughout the 18-race campaign and was decided only at the last gasp, when preseason favorite Michael d’Orlando edged out Myles Rowe in a dramatic series finale at Portland International Raceway. Rowe’s Pabst Racing team- mate Jace Denmark also had been in the thick of the contest until faltering at the final hurdle.

All three protagonists have now graduated onto the next level of the USF Pro Championships ladder, USF Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires. So, the door has been left wide open for a new rising star to scoop the champion’s scholarship prize, valued at $433,200, to continue their career progression in 2024.

Unusually, the top 11 finishers from last year have all moved on to pastures new, which has opened the door to a new crop of youngsters keen to establish their credentials at an early stage in their career. And the level of intensity remains undiminished.

Ten of the 18 races are now in the books prior to this weekend’s Discount Tire Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio, and the top two contenders, Australian rookie Lochie Hughes (Jay Howard Driver Development) and Simon Sikes (Pabst Racing), from Augusta, Ga., are separated by just three points.

Hughes, who won six times en route to winning the 2022 F4 United States Championship powered by Honda, currently has four wins to the three of Sikes, who is contesting his first full season after a couple of previous attempts were truncated due to budgetary constraints. But Sikes, who finished on the podium at MidOhio in all three races in 2021, once again has underlined his capabilities by accumulating four pole positions and six fastest race laps.

The other three race wins have been shared by teenagers Nikita Johnson, from Gulfport, Fla., VRD Racing teammate Sam Corry, from Cornelius, N.C., and Mac Clark

(DEForce Racing), from Milton, Ont., Canada. Clark, who beat Johnson and Corry to last year’s inaugural USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires championship made a somewhat circumspect start to this season but has since emerged as a regular contender, as evidenced by his first win at the Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park oval and both a pole position and fastest race lap most recently at Road America.

Others to watch this weekend will include Evagoras Papasavvas (Jay Howard Driver Development), Jorge Garciarce (DEForce Racing), Chase Gardner (Exclusive Autosport) and Pabst Racing teammates Max Garcia and Jacob Douglas.

Papasavvas, from Loveland, Ohio, will have plenty of support as he chases his first win, while Douglas is the top returning driver after placing 12th in 2022. Formerly a front-runner in karting and Formula Ford in his native New Zealand, Douglas made solid progress during his rookie season of USF2000, which included three top-five finishes, including one at Mid-Ohio, and two weeks ago recorded his maiden podium finish at Road America after joining forces for the first time with Pabst Racing.