Beasley Scores First Win with Pittsburgh Drive
Wampum, PA – From pole, Sam Beasley led all 26 laps en route to his first career F2000 Championship Series win, driving the No. 44 Van Diemen for Polestar at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. Beasley marked the first Van Diemen win of the 2014 season, surviving rain showers in the closing stages of the race and getting the best of Skylar Robinson and Trent Walko, who finished second and third.
“That went pretty good,” said Beasley, as rain came down in victory circle. “Polestar gave me a great car and everyone ran clean. I couldn’t be happier. The rain definitely made it a bit sketchier at the end.”
After setting the fastest lap and new track record at VIR in June, Beasley led most of race one at Mid-Ohio but missed a victory. Today, he put his momentum together to grab his first F2000 victory in style with a dominating performance.
Robinson finished second, the same position he started in for Eric Langbein Racing.
“It’s nice to make up some points, the track was getting slippery there at the end with the rain,” said Robinson.
In his third ever F2000 pro race, Trent Walko completed the podium in the No. 91 RFR.
“I don’t have as many laps around here as people might think,” added Walko, who is a local and was one of the few drivers in the field with experience at Pittsburgh heading into the weekend.
Numerous development days at Pittsburgh led to the season-best RFR finish as the chassis’ third generation update kit was tested extensively at the venue and delivered a podium finish.
Thomas McGregor brought the Spectrum home in fourth, making it four different chassis and four aspiring drivers in the top four. David Grant, Beasley’s Polestar teammate, was fifth in the second Spectrum in the field.
Tim Minor had an uncharacteristic day, starting fifth and falling back to seventh before recovering to pass Kevin Kopp with the laps winding down for sixth position. Kopp wound up seventh in his No. 66 Van Diemen, while Minor retains an already huge points lead.
Quinlan Lall put in a drive for eighth over 26 green flag laps in the Momentum Motorsports No. 1, dueling with Kopp but unable to get by in the closing laps of the race. Steve Bamford and John McCusker completed the top ten.
Three cars failed to finish: Jim Libecco, Robert Wright and Brendan Puderbach, while the fast lap of the event was turned it at 56.098 by Robinson in the No. 6 Citation.
The F2000 field goes for round 10 of 14 on Sunday at Pittsburgh International Race Complex with an early qualifying session followed by a 2:40pm race start.
Full results can be viewed on www.F2000Series.com under the results tab.