Littleton, Colo. – Hello everyone, welcome to my blog! Quite a lot has happened since my last post so I’m going to review some of the highlights of this season so far, starting off with my announcement of joining Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda shortly after my Team USA Scholarship experience in England. We are currently seven race weekends into the season and sitting second in the points championship. The first few races of the season at St. Petersburg and Barber went well after finishing on the podium in both events but I was still very eager to win my first race. I came so close to doing that in the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Having the opportunity to race at Indianapolis was nothing short of amazing. It’s always been my dream to race at one of the most famous racetracks in history and now I can check that box off! On race day, the weather threw a bit of a curve ball with a heavy rain shower just before the start. Once the green flag waved I immediately moved from third to second in Turn One then made the pass for first place on the back straight. In the closing laps of the race my excitement began to grow thinking I was about to win my first race in the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Sadly I was passed by another car that went to slicks early in the race and as the track dried out he had a greater advantage. I finished the race in second, more eager than ever to taste victory.
The next race was the only oval track that we would race for the season at Lucas Oil Raceway. Even though it was my first time racing on an oval track I was getting the hang of turning left pretty quickly. We were the quickest in several testing and practice sessions, and seemed to be in good shape for qualifying. Unfortunately when I went out for my two-lap average qualifying session I had a huge moment on my first lap. I almost lost the car, which killed my first lap time and meant I had to start way back in P17. During the race I made good progress even with how hard it is to pass on an oval to finish ninth.
During the time between Lucas Oil Raceway and the next race at Toronto, I was able to move back to my hometown in Colorado from Florida and had the opportunity to go back to my roots in racing and compete in a go-kart race at The Track at Centennial where I had my first ever race. I want to thank Mike Weatherman and Mark Lubischer at Karting Coach for helping me get my kart race ready. I was able to race a Mazda MX-5 during a Skip Barber weekend at Mid-Ohio for the first time, too, which was a blast! On top of this, I also went down to Birmingham, Ala., to visit my sister who graduated from Air Force officer training. After being away from home for three months, we were all very excited to see her.
After the long break, I couldn’t wait to get back in the car at Toronto for rounds 8 and 9 in the USF2000 Series. This was my first time racing in the streets of Toronto and after walking the track I already knew the racing was going to be pretty exciting! Qualifying went very well as I started in third position. Race 1 was rescheduled from Saturday to Sunday due to hazardous conditions from constant rainfall all day. Sunday morning the track was still wet from yesterday and we went out on rain tires with the possibility of changing over to slicks midway through the race. The opening laps of the race were very difficult to learn the track in those conditions because it was everyone’s first time driving on the track in the wet. I was able to figure the track out pretty quickly after making the pass for second and kept pressure on the leader. With a couple laps left I got a good run going into Turn One and went for the inside as the leader locked up his tires and went into the run off giving me the lead. Once I got the lead there was a good gap to second so all I had to do was keep the car off the walls to finally win my first race! After coming so close to wining several races this year it was a very rewarding feeling to be able to secure my first win.
Just 10 days after Toronto, I packed my bags again to head out to the tricky track otherwise known as Mid-Ohio. The weekend was an overall success after finishing with a top-five and grabbing my second win of the season in race two under very difficult full rain conditions. It was a very stressful few days since it was the second to last race weekend of the season and the championship is coming to an end. We’re currently second in the Cooper Tires USF2000 championship going into the last weekend of the year at Sonoma Raceway in California. I want thank my team (Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing) for their nonstop hard work and dedication this year. I would also like to thank my parents for all their support and my sponsors Bell, OMP, and 1st Bank. Knowing that anything can happen, I’ll give everything I’ve got to end up victorious!
Thanks for reading!
Jake
