TORONTO, Ont., Canada – Lochie Hughes this morning took a big step toward his ultimate goal of winning this year’s USF Pro 2000 championship title by virtue of dominating the second leg of the Continental Tire Grand Prix of Toronto for Turn 3 Motorsport. Hughes, from Gold Coast, Australia, followed a fine recovery drive yesterday by leading throughout today’s 25-lap race for his fifth win of the season.
New Zealand’s Liam Sceats rebounded from a first-lap incident on Saturday to secure his fifth podium of the year for TJ Speed Motorsports after relegating championship contender Jace Denmark (Pabst Racing) to third place with a late pass.
After being pipped to the pole for yesterday’s race by Turn 3 Motorsport teammate Danny Dyszelski and then being caught up in a first-corner melee, Hughes made sure there would be no repeat by snaring the extra championship point for this morning’s race during a second qualifying session on Saturday morning. Hughes also took full advantage of his fourth Continental Tire Pole Award by maintaining his lead into the first corner, although behind him there was more drama as Dyszelski, from Belmont, N.C., who this time started in eighth, once again was involved in an incident along with BN Racing teammates Alessandro De Tullio, from Miami, Fla., and Mexico’s Ricardo Escotto.
Hughes again took off into the lead once the cleanup had been completed, while Denmark initially led the chase having overtaken championship rival Nikita Johnson (VRD Racing), from Gulfport, Fla., at Turn One on the initial start.
Johnson was able to redress the balance with a bold move at Turn Five on the eighth lap, then quickly closed on Hughes. The pair was rarely separated by more than a car length or two for the next dozen laps, until Johnson made a mistake at Turn 10 and spun into one of the unforgiving concrete walls. His day was done.
Hughes once again took off confidently at the restart with three laps remaining, pulling away to an emphatic victory, leaving Denmark to come under attack from Sceats and a large pack of cars behind. Denmark parried an attempt by Sceats to take a pass at Turn Five, only to make a mistake under braking for Turn 10, running wide and allowing the Kiwi through into second, where he remained until the finish.
Mac Clark, from nearby Milton, Ont., Canada, matched his best result of the season for DEForce Racing with fourth, while an incident on the final lap at Turn One involving Sceats’ teammate Cooper Becklin, from Portland, Ore., Mexico’s Jorge Garciarce (DEForce Racing), Logan Adams (Comet/NCMP), from Greenfield, Ind., and Dutch debutant Glenn van Berlo (Pabst Racing) allowed Garciarce to emerge in fifth ahead of Jay Howard Driver Development’s Frankie Mossman, from Newport Beach, Calif., who vaulted from 11th to sixth at the checkered flag.
Garciarce’s best result of the year also earned him the Tilton Hard Charger Award after lining up 13th on the grid.
Hughes’ dominant drive not only secured a fifth PFC Award for Peter Dempsey as the winning car owner, it also brought him a healthy 35-point advantage heading into the final doubleheader event of the season at Portland International Raceway, in Portland, Ore., on the weekend of August 27/28.
Provisional championship points after 16 of 18 rounds:
1. Lochie Hughes, 354
2. Jace Denmark, 319
3. Nikita Johnson, 291
4. Liam Sceats, 241
5. Christian Brooks, 232
6. Simon Sikes, 224
7. Danny Dyszelski, 203
8. Ricardo Escotto, 191
9. Mac Clark, 187
10. Frankie Mossman, 185
Lochie Hughes (#44 The McGinley Group/Private Wealth Planning/Grip Auto Timepieces-Turn 3 Motorsport Tatuus IP-22): “This win was really important with only two races to go. The season has gone by so quickly. I feel like we were just at St. Pete. I was happy to just not do any overtaking in that race. The last two races, we ended up being in the pits and had to do a bunch of overtaking the rest of the race. It was nice to just stay out in front and I can’t thank the Turn 3 crew enough for giving me an amazing car.”
Liam Sceats (#26 Tony Quinn Foundation/Omega Rental Cars-TJ Speed Motorsports Tatuus IP-22): “It feels really good to be here to be honest. Yesterday was a tough day getting caught up in an incident out of our control. I knew this weekend we had good pace, good enough for the podium and we showed it today. In the race, I just kept cool, calm and smart and made good moves at the start of the race and had good pace to keep in the fight and keep the pressure on and that’s what gave me the result today.”
Jace Denmark (#20 3-Dimensional-Pabst Racing Tatuus IP-22): “It was a frustrating race really. The start was really good. We had a good jump, Lochie had a good jump and after that I had to defend quite a bit. Our cars weren’t trimmed out as much as everyone else. I couldn’t draft up on anyone which makes it really hard to pass. Nikita was super quick and he got a run on me and was able to get a nose under up the inside of Turn Five so we lost a bit of time. On the restart he fell off the island and broke his car. For us it was something with the bumps and we never really got the run into Turn One and a few lock ups really ruined our chance of fighting for a win. Frustrating, but really good points.”