The 18 drivers that started the first Cooper Tires USF2000 powered by Mazda of Cooper Tires Winterfest race all made it through the first lap cleanly.  The top 3 at the end of the first lap were: Jake Eidson, Aaron Telitz, and Nico Jamin.

The big mover early on was Victor Franzoni who gained seven spots on the opening lap from his starting position of 14th.  By the 2nd lap he had moved up to 5th and passed Jordan Lloyd for 4th on lap 4.

Team Pelfrey’s Garth Rickards pulled in on the 6th lap with mechanical gremlins.

Eidson started to pull out a gap, lap by lap, that had swelled to 2.6 seconds over Telitz by the tenth lap.  Telitz, meanwhile, had his hands full fending off his teammate Jamin.  Further back in the field Lloyd got back by Franzoni.

By the fifteenth lap, Eidsen held a commanding 3.2 second lead over Telitz, who was still fighting for his life (and second place) with Jamin.  It was another ten seconds back to rookie Jordan Lloyd, who had his John Cummiskey Racing teammate,, Anthony Martin, who had just passed Franzoni, on his tail.

The top rookie was Jordan Lloyd from John Cummiskey Racing who edged out his teammate and Australian countryman Anthony Martin for 4th place. A very impressive showing from a pair of rookie drivers with a new team.

The 19 lap race ran clean the entire time as Eidsen led every lap on the way to his third career USF2000 win.  The win was the second in the last two years for Pabst Racing. (Will Owen won at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis last year).

Full results are below:

I willl have reaction from the drivers a little bit later, my current encampment is a bit of a haul from the paddock.