Yeany becomes third USF Pro 2000 winner in as many races at NOLA

The new USF Pro 2000 Presented by Continental Tire season is off to another intensely competitive start, evidenced by Hunter Yeany this afternoon becoming the third different winner – representing three different teams – from the opening three races of the campaign.

Driving for TJ Speed Motorsports, Yeany, from Virginia Beach, Va., added his name to the roster following a hard-fought race in which he muscled past polesitter Jace Denmark (Pabst Racing), of Brownsburg, Ind., on the opening lap and then held off a determined challenge in the closing stages from VRD Racing’s Nikita Johnson, from Gulfport, Fla.

Denmark had to be content with a third-place finish.

It was a different story earlier in the day as Denmark emerged fastest from a close-fought qualifying session – which saw the top 12 drivers separated by less than 0.5s – to claim his first Continental Tire Pole Award since Sebring last year. Yeany occupied the other position on the front row of the grid with Taiwanese-American Ethan Ho (Turn 3 Motorsport), from Los Angeles, Calif., and last year’s USF2000 champion Simon Sikes (Pabst Racing), from Augusta, Ga., making up Row Two.

A fraught opening few corners saw Yeany battle his way to the front following some wheel-to-wheel contact with Denmark at Turn 3, while Sikes fought his way past Ho into third. Unfortunately, Ho’s hopes of a high finish were dashed just a couple of laps later when he clipped the wall at the exit of Turn 13 and spun off the road with damaged suspension.

A couple more incidents served to break up the race into a series of short sprints, caution periods and restarts. On each occasion Yeany managed to successfully defend his position to ensure a well-judged victory.