Garcia equals Kirkwood’s USF Pro 2000 record with Portland sweep

Max Garcia finished the USF Pro 2000 Presented by Continental Tire season in the best possible way with a pair of victories for Pabst Racing in the Continental Tire Grand Prix of Portland doubleheader. After clinching the championship – and a scholarship to move up to Indy NXT in 2026 – last month in Toronto, the youngster from Coconut Grove, Fla., equaled the record for the number of wins in a single season, nine, established by current NTT IndyCar Series star Kyle Kirkwood in 2019.

Alessandro de Tullio finished second for Turn 3 Motorsport, with Garcia’s teammate Jacob Douglas eventually prevailing after a spirited scrap for third.

Garcia was upset after the only qualifying session of the weekend on Friday, feeling that he had been impeded in the final stages which prevented him from improving upon his earlier lap times. That was a moot point so far as Race 2 was concerned with the grid set according to each driver’s second-fastest lap. Garcia thus claimed his ninth Continental Tire Pole Award of the year, albeit by a mere 0.0428s over Canadian Mac Clark (Exclusive Autosport).

Today’s race was little more than a demonstration run for Garcia. He took the lead at the start, and only really came under attack at restarts following a pair of brief full-course cautions during the middle stages. His eventual margin of victory was a comfortable 6.9s.

De Tullio vaulted from fourth on the grid to second at the first corner and maintained that position for the remainder of the 30-lap contest around the 1.964-mile Portland International Raceway road course. De Tullio put some pressure on his fellow Floridian following each of the two restarts, briefly obliging Garcia to make a couple of defensive moves, but aside from that he was never close enough to offer a serious challenge.

“This feels great. We knew we had the pace," said Garcia. "We knew we had the car. It’s just incredible that I could do it for the team. It feels great to end with a win and have more to celebrate in addition to the championship. It’s been a great year and thanks to everyone at Pabst.”

The battle for third was very different. Israel’s Ariel Elkin (TJ Speed Motorsports) managed to scrap his way from eighth on the grid to emerge from the first corner in third – even he had no clear explanation as to how – but thereafter he was always under siege.

Douglas led the chase initially, although he was usurped immediately after the first restart, with 11 laps completed, by VRD Racing’s Frankie Mossman. A couple of lapped cars also were firmly in the mix: Clark and Max Taylor (VRD Racing), both of whom had to make early pit stops after sustaining damage in a variety of different skirmishes.

Elkin continued to hang onto third place until lap 28, when Mossman took advantage of Elkin being pushed wide in Turn 7 by an aggressive Clark. Shortly afterward, Taylor, still a lap down to the leaders, overtook Clark in Turn 1 – with the battle for third place overall still raging all around.

Race control then instructed Taylor to cede a place to Clark after being found guilty of blocking, which he did, briefly, in the Turn 9/10 chicane. But he promptly regained the position with a late lunge under braking for Turn 11. It was fraught in the extreme. And thoroughly entertaining.

While all this was unfolding, Mossman’s fine run was upended with three laps remaining when his left-rear suspension abruptly broke. He did well to coax the car home a disappointed ninth.

Douglas, meanwhile, also slipped past Elkin to claim the final podium position. However, even fourth place was good enough – by a solitary point – to move Elkin up to second in the final championship standings.

Sebastian Manson netted a career-best fifth aboard a second TJ Speed Motorsports entry. Not far behind, Exclusive Autosport’s Carson Etter also enjoyed a fine run to sixth after what was by far his strongest run to date. Etter also claimed the Tilton Hard Charger Award having lined up 15th on the starting grid..

The PFC Award once again was taken by Augie Pabst as the winning car owner.

The 2025 season will be officially wrapped up at the Andersen Promotions Championship Celebration on Monday evening at a location just a mile or so from the racetrack on the banks of the Columbia River. After that, preparations for the 2026 season will begin in earnest, and as usual the first on-track action is slated for the Fall Combine Test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on Oct. 25-26.

Provisional final championship standings:

1. Max Garcia, 495

2. Ariel Elkin, 347

3. Mac Clark, 346

4. Alessandro de Tullio, 342

5. Jacob Douglas, 329

6. Max Taylor, 268

7. Michael Costello, 211

8. Frankie Mossman, 203

9. Cooper Becklin, 197

10. Nicholas Monteiro, 185.