BROOKS JUMPS TO POINTS LEAD WITH ST. PETERSBURG
“Canadian Mac Clark closes the weekend on top”
April 25, 2021 – Christian Brooks and the Exclusive Autosport team enjoyed a near perfect weekend on the streets of St. Petersburg. The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship sophomore claimed a pair of victories today on the unforgiving 1.8-mile street circuit, elevating himself from fifth in the points table following the first two races of the season last weekend in Alabama to an already appreciable points lead.
Brooks, from Santa Clarita, Calif., was followed home in a scrappy race this morning by Exclusive Autosport teammate Matt Round-Garrido, from Stourbridge, England. Barber Motorsports Park race winner Yuven Sundaramoorthy, from Delafield, Wis., took third for Pabst Racing.
Brooks had to work much harder this evening, overtaking Brazilian polesitter Kiko Porto soon after a late restart and holding on to take a narrow victory. The podium was completed by Michael d’Orlando, from Hartsdale, N.Y., who mounted an incredible comeback for Cape Motorsports following a frightening accident in the earlier race.
In the opening USF2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Andersen RacePark, Brooks made full use of his Cooper Tires Pole Award, earned yesterday in qualifying, to hold off teammate Round-Garrido and score an impressive one-two finish for the Canadian-owned team. Unfortunately, the race also was notable for a series of incidents which necessitated several full-course cautions and even one red-flag stoppage. The 26-car field managed to negotiate the tricky Turn One relatively cleanly, with just one spinner who was able to rejoin, but there was carnage later around the lap when six cars became entangled at Turn Seven.
The restart was no better as New Yorkers and long-time karting buddies d’Orlando and Josh Green (Turn 3 Motorsport), got together in Turn One, sending d’Orlando into a wild ride which ended with his car on its side.
The race eventually ended under yellow with the two Exclusive cars chased home by Sundaramoorthy, who had run third early on, then fell as far as sixth before working his way back to finish on the podium.
New Zealand Formula Ford 1600 champion Billy Frazer kept his nose clean to finish fourth ahead of Porto.
Rookie Grant Palmer, from St. Charles, Mo., capped a memorable race for Exclusive Autosport by rising from 25th on the grid to 13th to snag the Tilton Hard Charger Award.
Porto capitalized perfectly on having won the Cooper Tires Pole Award during a second qualifying session on Friday by leading confidently at the start of this evening’s USF2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Andersen Interior Contracting. Coincidentally, he and Brooks had shared the laurels during USF2000's most recent visit to the Florida streets at the end of last season, each capturing his maiden series victory.
Porto was intent upon securing his second win and seemed set to do so, despite the best efforts of Brooks, who remained apparently tied to his rear wing for most of a thrilling 20-lap race.
Round-Garrido and d’Orlando led the chase until Myles Rowe (Force Indy), from New York, N.Y., appeared on the scene following a couple of incisive passes. Sadly, Rowe lost a couple of places when an attempt to pass Round-Garrido at Turn One went awry, and three corners later he left his braking a tad too late and inadvertently tipped an innocent Sundaramoorthy into the wall. Rowe also was eliminated in the incident which brought out the full-course caution.
Brooks took full advantage of the restart by pressuring Porto into a mistake at Turn One. Brooks nipped through as the Brazilian ran wide, then held off a late charge to win by just 0.3581 of a second and secured a second PFC Award of the day for Michael Duncalfe as the winning team owner.
Round-Garrido looked set for another podium until d’Orlando pulled off a textbook pass at Turn One on the final lap to secure his first top-three of the season.
Californian Prescott Campbell (DEForce Racing) had arrived in Florida as the points leader and ended what was a disappointing weekend on an up-tick by working his way from 16th on the grid to ninth, ensuring himself of the Tilton Hard Charger Award.
After commencing their season with four races inside eight days, the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship contenders will now take a three-week respite before reconvening at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in Indiana for a triple-header event as part of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES’ Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 14-15.