PORTLAND, Ore. – USF Pro 2000 Presented by Continental Tire hosted the final two rounds of the season this past weekend at Portland International Raceway. TJ Speed Motorsports drivers Liam Sceats and Cooper Becklin showed pace but had mixed luck on the final weekend of the 2024 season, bringing home one top-10 finish.
In practice, both Sceats and Becklin set solid times, with Sceats ending the session in sixth and Becklin ending the session in 10th on Friday morning. Building off their test day on Thursday, the focus would shift to qualifying and the first wheel-to-wheel action of the weekend.
The TJ Speed duo continued to show top-10 speed in qualifying. Becklin set the eighth-fastest time and Sceats was not far behind setting the ninth-fastest time. In race one, Sceats was involved in contact on the opening lap, bringing his race to an early end. Becklin drove a clean and solid race, finishing in the 10th position.
“Race one was tough for us,” Team Owner Tim Neff said. “Cooper drove a good race and grabbed a top-10 finish, but it was unfortunate to see Liam out so early. He didn’t really get a chance to show what he was capable of, but thankfully, we have one more chance tomorrow to showcase our true speed.”
For race two on Saturday, the TJ Speed teammates started alongside one another, with Sceats starting seventh and Becklin eighth. On lap two, Sceats went off the track and he was able to rejoin but fell to the tail end of the field. Sceats was able to move forward a few positions, finishing in 12th. Becklin battled in the top-10 for much of the race before crossing the finish line in 11th.
“We were hoping for more to close out the season, but it just didn’t go our way,” Neff said. “After that off-track moment, Liam did his best to fight forward, but because the entire race ran green, he didn’t have much of a chance to gain positions with the field spread out. Cooper drove another solid race but dropped just outside the top 10 near the end.”
“While this wasn’t the exact end we hoped for, I’m still extremely proud of the entire TJ Speed team for all of their hard work this weekend and the entire season. And it was great to see how Liam and Cooper grew in their time with us. I'm very proud of both of them and their progress.”
With a short break, TJ Speed will now begin their winter test program as they begin to prepare for the 2025 race season.