Weekend Sweep for Beasley
Wampum, PA – Sam Beasley started third and moved to the front on the opening laps, pulling a gap and making it two wins in two days, sweeping rounds nine and 10 of the F2000 Season at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. The No. 44 Polestar Van Diemen was the car to beat, as Bealsey dominated for his second career win, easily leading pole-sitter Skylar Robinson and 2013 Champion Tim Minor to the checkered flags.
“It was a great weekend, I need to thank Polestar for the car,” said Beasley. “I’m really looking forward to the next rounds at Thompson. We had a good car all weekend.”
While Robinson ran fast lap on Saturday’s race and got the best of the field in wet Sunday morning qualifying, he had to settle for two straight second-place finishes. Robinson brought the field to the green flag slowly, abruptly losing the lead to Minor. To his credit, he quickly recovered and got the point back in the No. 6 Eric Langbein Citation, but Bealsey ultimately got ahead and disappeared into the distance.
Said Robinson: “Sam has been quick all weekend, but it was great to get pole this morning in the wet, that felt pretty good. We have more work to do as we go into Thompson.”
Minor bounced back from a rare non-podium result on Saturday to finish third, citing car issues that left him repairing the No. 88 Ski Motorsports machine into the night at Pittsburgh.
“I haven’t driven the same car twice throughout the weekend,” Minor added. “We were off just a tick on the setup.”
David Grant, driving the Polestar No. 29 Spectrum, finished fourth after a near race-long dual with the Exclusive Autosport Spectrum of Thomas McGregor, who wound up completing the top five.
The No. 66 Kopp Motorsports entry of Kevin Kopp finished sixth, while Jim Libecco and John McCusker had better days to come home seventh and eighth, respectively. Dan Denison was the second Masters Class finisher behind Minor, with the No. 51 Polestar machine in ninth overall while Steve Bamford rounded off the top ten at Pittsburgh.
While weather was on everyone’s minds following wet morning qualifying, a major storm system narrowly missed the track, letting the F2000 field get in 26 green-flag laps.
Robert Wright ended his record-streak of starting every F2000 Championship Series race since the start of this particular series in 2006. Wright lost the motor in the No. 95 entry during qualifying earlier in the day.
With just two weekends and four races left, the Championship battle is heating up for the F2000 drivers and teams. The Series next heads to Thompson Speedway on the new road course, labor day weekend, before the season finale at Watkins Glen International in October.
Full results are available on www.F2000Series.com.