PITTSBORO, Ind. – TJ Speed Motorsports and the rest of the USF Pro 2000 Presented by Continental Tire paddock traveled north of the border to Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the penultimate event in the 2024 season. Entering Liam Sceats and Cooper Becklin, the TJ Speed duo showed speed qualifying fourth and sixth for race two and earning a podium result at the hands of young Liam Sceats.
“Toronto is always a challenging event with walls and a tight racecourse,” said Tim Neff. “We come with team experience but a pair of rookie drivers here this weekend, however, we were confident that we could perform well.”
With only one practice session on the temporary circuit, it was straight into qualifying for race one on Friday afternoon. Setting the grid for the race on Saturday afternoon, the 20-minute session ended with Sceats earning the sixth-fastest lap time while Becklin lined up outside row seven in 14th. Returning to the track Saturday morning for the second qualifying session, Sceats matched his performance to earn a P6 starting position for race two. Becklin jumped to gain the best qualifying result for TJ Speed of the weekend in fourth and would line up on the outside of row two for race two.
“Toronto is a difficult track and for two rookies to qualify inside the top six is a great accomplishment,” said Neff. “The goal is simple now, keep the cars clean, be cautiously aggressive, and complete every race lap.”
Unfortunately, the start of race one was not ideal as contact up front resulted in a chain reaction effect, causing Sceats to be driven over from behind. The result of the contact pushed Sceats into the outside tire wall, causing significant damage and out of the race. Becklin, starting 14th, avoided the first corner melee and ended lap one in 11th. Pushing hard for the 25-lap affair, Becklin was able to advance to the ninth position, adding another top-10 result for TJ Speed.
Race two would roll off the grid Sunday morning and after a brief caution period due to an incident on the opening lap, it was back to racing. With Becklin starting fourth on the grid and Sceats in sixth, the two drivers swapped positions on the opening lap before the caution flag flew. Continuing to run fourth and sixth throughout the race, an incident by a fellow competitor in front of them caused another caution, but advanced Sceats to third and Becklin to fifth with five laps to go. Going back to green with a short dash to the finish, Sceats was able to get by the driver in front of him to advance to second. However, a late-race incident for Becklin dropped him down the running order and into the ninth position.
“It was a solid weekend,” said Neff. “Some of our results do not represent the true speed that we showed but very happy for Liam to rebound Sunday and get the finish he deserved and to see the progress from Cooper is incredible. On to the next one.”
Next up for TJ Speed will be a trip to the Portland International Raceway for the final event weekend of the season taking place August 22-25.