Road to Indy Takes over NJMP

The Road to Indy swept into New Jersey Motorsports Park, and put on a show this weekend. With championship battle in Indy Pro 2000, and a couple of breakout stars in USF2000, all three races for each series brought their own storylines.

USF2000 points leader Kiko Porto came into this weekend with a cushion, and he took full advantage of this weekend, leaving New Jersey with a 49 point lead. Porto took a dominant win in Race 1, passing polesitter Yuven Sundaramoorthy in Turn 1 and blasting away from the field. Sundaramoorthy showed his defensive skills, holding back Brooks, Green, and D’Orlando despite massive pressure the entire race. Those four drivers finished as a pack nearly 14 seconds ahead of P6. Sunday’s slate of action kicked off in exciting fashion as Michael D’Orlando took pole in front of a cheering hometown crowd. However, when drivers took the grid for Race 2, the cool, high-grip conditions from qualifying were gone, replaced by rain that forced the switch to wet tires. As the race began, Porto once again took the lead, but struggled to save his tires on the drying track. 

As the 20 lap race wore on, Myles Rowe began his advance up the field, starting from P10 on the grid. Rowe adapted brilliantly to the changing track conditions, finding grip and speed to help him catch race leader Kiko Porto on the final lap. Rowe made a daring move in the final complex of corners to take the lead, and took a well-deserved race win. Rowe became the first black driver to win an IndyCar sanctioned race, and not only wrote his name in the history books, but demonstrated his superb skill. Race 3 was an unusual race for the series, as cars started on wet tires, but the drying track offered other options. Several of the twenty cars pitted on lap 1 for dry tires, but since USF2000 races do not traditionally have live stops, it was a race-ending decision for those teams. The cars that pitted, including previous winner Rowe, finished outside of the top 10. The race was won by Nolan Seigel, who became the second first time USF2000 winner.

Indy Pro 2000 had three races as well, with three different winners, and its own first time winner. Reece Gold won race 1, holding off a charging Hunter McElrea to win his first Indy Pro 2000 race. With a much smaller field than usual, as only 10 cars entered, the field became spread out quickly. Race 2 was a wet race, and Artem Petrov put in a masterclass in wet driving, winning by 15 seconds. Race 3 took place Sunday afternoon, on a track that was almost entirely dried out. McElrea, after recording two second place finishes, took control of the race and won by 12 seconds.