Brandon Dixon Wins at NJMP to Close Season
Millville, NJ - Brandon Dixon delivered a solid finish to his 2017 title-winning F2000 Championship Series season, winning the final race of the season on Sunday at New Jersey Motorsports Park. It was Dixon's fourth win in 14 starts in 2017, and fifth career F2000 win, as he charged from fourth to first on the opening lap.
"This is a great way to finish the year," said Dixon. "I'm leaving with a smile on my face. We seem to have a thing for Sundays. All our wins have come on Sundays. Steve (Jenks) had a shifting issue at the start and it was just Tim (Paul) and I going into turn one. I came out ahead and we had good pace from there. It was great.
John McCusker, driving the No. 01 DotWorks Racing entry, finished second, improving from his third place run on Saturday in New Jersey. McCusker also closed out his best season yet, with two victories to his credit and second place in the points.
"It was a little bit of an uneventful race, we got a good start, and got it done, second place in the Championship," said McCusker.
Tim Paul ran second for most of the race, but failed to finish after his best year yet in F2000 competition. Paul started on the pole position for round 14 in the R-Sport No. 6 following a strong performance in mixed conditions during morning qualifying.
While Dixon earned the Masters Class win, the actual Masters Class result matched Saturday's round 13, with Dixon ahead of Steve Jenks and Peter Gonzalez in the season finale. Jenks finished third overall for Tumenas Motorsports.
After a morning incident, a car switch for Michael d'Orlando saw the Team Pelfrey driver finish fourth following his second place run on Saturday.
In the Atlantic Championship Series, 2017 title winner Peter Portante returned from a one-race sabbatical to dominate the season finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Coming off a F2000 win on Saturday, Portante led every lap to win the 2017 season-closing race.
"It was a good race," said Portante. "The idea was to go break the race lap record and we did. We were trying to go for the qualifying record too, that would have been interesting if we got that."
After a win on Saturday, Comprent's Richard Zober finished second with Ted Zorbas in third place.
Full results are available on www.F2000Series.com and www.AtlanticChampionshipSeries.com.
Formula Race Promotions 2017 Champions: Matthew Cowley (F1600), Brandon Dixon (F2000), Peter Portante (Atlantic).
With the 2017 season in the books, Formula Race Promotions will announce its 2018 schedule in the near future.