Beasley Sweeps F2000 at Mid-Ohio
Lexington, OH – Sam Beasley fell back twice, but fought back on both occasions to take a charging F2000 Championship Series win at Mid-Ohio and complete his second straight weekend sweep of the season. Beasley’s victory was at his home race, as he took the lead from Trent Walko with three laps to go. Robert Allaer finished third to round out the podium on Sunday afternoon at Mid-Ohio.
“It wasn’t an easy race; there were a couple close calls. I’m fortunate everything is in one piece,” said Beasley, who swept the weekend in front of a large gathering of friends and family and extends a quickly growing points lead on five wins in a row in the No. 4 Legacy Autosport Mygale.
“Sam was really, really quick, I didn’t have anything for him after that second restart,” said Walko of his best finish to date in F2000 which included his first laps in the lead. “To lead my first time in the Series was awesome. A really good day and we made good progress here at Exclusive Autosport on the Spectrum”
Allaer completed the podium and won the Masters Class with his third place overall finish.
“It was certainly not expected but I’ll take it,” said Allaer, the 2014 National Runoffs Champion in Formula Continental. “The restarts were key.”
Quinlan Lall challenged for the podium mid-race but settled for fourth to end a rough weekend that saw a Thursday night testing crash and a throttle linkage that broke during Saturday's race. Eric Filgueiras completed the top five in a race that included two cautions due to incidents involving the leaders.
Austin McCusker was sixth for Dotworks Racing, ahead of Kevin Kopp, while Steve Jenks, finished eighth and Robert Wright got the better of Bob Reid and Dan Denison for ninth in the closing laps, taking the final Masters Class podium spot. Wright's run included a pit stop under caution to change the nose on his No. 95 ADSA/Wright Racing Radon, with the crew getting him out on the lead lap.
Pole sitter John LaRue hoped to make it three wins in three years in F2000 competition at Mid-Ohio. The local track expert couldn’t do it though, despite starting from pole, as contact with Sam Chastain ended both drivers’ days in the opening turn after taking the green flag.
Of note, Steve Bamford finished four laps down, getting stuck in the gravel and bringing out a full course caution while he was hassling Walko and Beasley at the front of the field mid-race.
Brandon Dixon also failed to finish despite getting himself near the top five after the opening laps.
A car on loan didn’t help John McCusker either, as a borrowed RFR chassis from Fatboy Racing retired with mechanical problems.
Results are available on www.F2000Series.com under the Results tab.
The F2000 Championship Series season continues from a brand-new three-mile road course in Pittsburgh, with rounds nine and 10, July 31 – August 2.