Musella edges champion Jeffers in USF2000 finale

VRD Racing’s Teddy Musella claimed his second USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire victory in Sunday evening’s season finale at Portland International Raceway. Musella took the lead when Exclusive Autosport’s Jack Jeffers was obliged to give up the position per a call from race control.

Victory for Musella in the all-green 25-lap race was enough to elevate him to second in the championship standings after VRD Racing teammate Thomas Schrage was hit with a drive-through penalty.

Colombian Sebastian Garzon continued his strong end of season form for DEForce Racing, claiming his first career podium finish in third despite struggling with a broken front wing for much of the contest.

Jeffers, the newly crowned champion, once again started up front in the final leg of the Continental Tire Grand Prix of Portland tripleheader. The grid was set according to either each driver’s second fastest lap during the lone qualifying session on Friday or their fastest lap from yesterday’s race. Jeffers duly earned his fifth Continental Tire Pole Award of the season.

Unsurprisingly, there was some contact among the leaders at the heavy brake zone into Turn One at the start of the race. Jeffers, though, made it through unscathed in the lead. Musella tucked into second, while Jeffers’ teammate Evan Cooley followed in third ahead of Schrage, despite the rear of Cooley’s car having been lifted into the air due to inadvertent contact when Schrage – among many others – left his braking a tad too late. Both continued, although the contact was soon to have major implications.

Schrage cleanly outbraked Cooley for third place on lap 2 into Turn 1, then set about reducing a 1.4-second deficit to the leaders. Schrage posted a series of fastest race laps and was hot on Musella’s heels by the time five laps had been completed.

Just as Schrage caught the leaders, however, he was instructed by race cControl to take a drive-through penalty for the earlier incident with Cooley.

That left just Jeffers and Musella tussling for the race win. There seemed to be nothing to choose between the pair, with Jeffers holding on gamely despite intense pressure from behind. Finally, with 15 laps completed, Jeffers was adjudged to have blocked his rival unfairly and was instructed to allow Musella to pass.

Try as he did, there was no way for Jeffers to redress the balance. He had to be content with second.

“I knew once I was able to be by Jack that I would be able to keep in front of him," Musella said. "The dirty air around here made it so hard, especially how close Jack and me are on pace. After I was able to get by because of the penalty, I knew if I kept hitting my marks that he wouldn’t be able to get by. Thankfully that’s what I did and I got away with the win.”

Schrage, meanwhile, had fallen far behind the rest of the field, and there were no full-course cautions to help his cause, so he had to make do with a disappointing 12th-place finish. Even with the bonus point for fastest lap, he fell one place shy of being able to hold on to second place in the championship standings.

Garzon fought his way past Cooley for third on lap 6, and narrowly maintained his position to the finish, with Australian Brad Majman following them home in fifth for Jay Howard Driver Development. Majman’s effort from 13th on the grid to fifth earned him his third Tilton Hard Charger Award.

Dan Mitchell not only claimed another PFC Award as the winning car owner, he also celebrated a hard-fought teams' championship title by a slender 10-point margin over Exclusive Autosport..

Jeffers’ scholarship to progress onto the next step on the open-wheel development ladder, USF Pro 2000, in 2026, along with a host of other awards will be presented tomorrow night at the Championship Celebration hosted by USF Pro Championships Presented by Continental Tire promoter Andersen Promotions.

RESULTS

Provisional final championship standings:

1. Jack Jeffers, 438

2. Teddy Musella, 371

3. Thomas Schrage, 370

4. G3 Argyros, 289

5. Caleb Gafrarar, 288

6. Evan Cooley, 234

7. Anthony Martella, 220

8. Sebastian Garzon, 217

9. Lucas Fecury, 203

10. Eddie Beswick, 195.