Minor Fends Off Jenks at Pittsburgh
Wampum, PA - After a near three-year hiatus from F2000 Championship Series competition, two-time Champion Tim Minor returned to take the victory in round nine of the 2017 season at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. Minor led all 17 laps of Saturday's race and held off a determined Steve Jenks for the race distance. Jenks would finish second by .454 seconds in the No. 68 while Mid-Ohio winner John McCusker completed the podium. Points leader Brandon Dixon started on pole, fell back to ninth on the opening lap and recovered to finish fourth.
Quotes from the Top Finishers:
Tim Minor:
"It is certainly a different track than the last time I was here. My hat is off to the track, they did a fantastic job. I need to thank Hoosier Tire, what a great job those guys do for the F2000 Series and for racing in general. It's been a great experience coming back, I have missed coming here, but we have to pick where we go to. On the start, it was a little tight, I knew I was going to be stuck on the outside. I was able to get a decent start. I got in the dirt a bit on the exit of turn one, there was nowhere else to be. In the end I needed to keep the second place guy at bay and save my right side tires for tomorrow morning."
Steve Jenks:
"I really appreciate all the work the team put into the car this weekend. I made a mistake in the second practice yesterday and tore off the wing. Then we had a part break in qualifying, there was a lot of time repairing the car. The No. 68 was really good, I was every bit as fast but couldn't get aside Tim. He drove a great race, I thought I had a run on him a few times, but he's done this before. We were due for a good run, we've had really fast cars."
John McCusker:
"There was a lot of back and forth at the start and then people kind of started doing the shuffle. After that the brake zones got slick and people were going off the track, it was pretty entertaining. It was a solid finish, I need to thank the team at DotWorks Racing."
Brandon Dixon:
"I had an electrical issue on the first lap. When I went to roll onto the gas coming out of turn one there was nothing. I power-cycled the car two or three times going up the hill and probably did it another few times that lap. After that lap it cleared up but happened again with a few laps to go. I think we set fastest lap; I just need to find my issues."
Full results are available on www.F2000Series.com. Round 10 of the 2017 season takes place on Sunday from Pittsburgh International Race Complex.