Schrage, from Bethel, Ohio, padded his championship points lead with a fine win this morning in his first ever race at the famed 4.014-mile road course set in the rural Kettle Moraine countryside near Elkhart Lake, Wis. Musella, from Orlando, Fla., came through for second ahead of Pabst Racing’s G3 Argyros, from Newport Beach, Calif.

Later in the day, Musella held off a concerted challenge from Exclusive Autosport’s Evan Cooley, from Mokena, Ill., for his long overdue maiden USF2000 victory. Harley Keeble, from Grimsby, England, capped a memorable debut by finishing third for Jay Howard Driver Development.

Regularly among the fastest cars during the recent series test at Road America, Exclusive Autosport carried on its good work when the Elite Engines Grand Prix began in earnest. Jack Jeffers, from San Antonio, Texas, snagged his first-ever Continental Tire Pole Award during qualifying on Friday, while teammate Cooley circulated only 0.0347 of a second slower to ensure a front row lockout for the Brownsburg, Ind.-based team.

Jeffers maintained his lead at the start but remained under intense pressure as a gaggle of cars squabbled in his wake. Musella immediately jumped into second place on the opening lap, followed by Pabst Racing’s Caleb Gafrarar, from Charlotte, N.C., Cooley and a third Exclusive Autosport entry driven by on-form Brazilian Lucas Fecury. Schrage, who experienced a suspension breakage in qualifying, and Ayrton Houk (Benchmark Autosport), from McCordsville, Ind., also were locked in combat.

Drafting always plays a significant role at the ultra-fast Road America venue, so it came as no surprise on Lap Four to see Musella vault his way into the lead as the pack jostled for position on the long front straightaway.

Unfortunately, while Jeffers clung gamely to the outside line at Turn One, contact with Musella at the exit of the corner sent the title contender’s car hard into the tire barriers and out of the race. Miraculously, no one else was involved as the pack ducked and dived in avoidance. Cue the first of two full-course cautions.

Schrage used the draft at the start to nip past teammate Musella on the approach to Turn One, with Gafrarar also following him through. Gafrarar then took his turn out in front before another incident a little further down the field resulted in the Honda Civic Type R Safety Car being scrambled again.

There was time for only one lap of racing once the track had been cleared, and poor Gafrarar was a sitting duck as the snarling pack raced toward Turn One for the final time. Schrage timed his run to perfection and moved clearly into the lead, followed by Fecury, but behind there was chaos as Gafrarar was tipped into a spin. 

Schrage was free and clear as he romped away for his second win of the season. Musella fought past Fecury for second at Turn Six as Argyros, aboard the second Pabst Racing Tatuus, took advantage of the shuffling to complete the podium in third.

Christian Cameron, from Sonoma, Calif., the youngest driver in the field at age 15, completed a magnificent morning for VRD Racing by finishing a career-best fourth ahead of Fecury and Houk.

A little further back in 10th, South African rookie Wian Boshoff rebounded from a major accident during testing to claim the Tilton Hard Charger Award for the hard-working Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development team after starting 19th.

Race Two this afternoon saw Jeffers once again starting at the front of the field with his second straight Continental Tire Pole Award by virtue of setting the best of every driver’s second-fastest laps during the sole qualifying session on Friday. That was the good news. The bad news was that he would be driving a different car – that of teammate Brenden Cooley (younger brother of Evan) – after his primary chassis had been badly damaged earlier in the day.

The change of car didn’t seem to faze Jeffers – at least in the early stages – as he maintained his lead at the start and, along with teammate Cooley, Gafrarar and Musella began to edge away from the rest of the field.

That luxury didn’t last for long as the race once again was interrupted by a couple of brief cautions due to various incidents among the extremely competitive 21-car field.

Following some remarkably swift work by the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team, the final restart came with a couple of laps remaining. Musella held the lead at this stage, and even though he immediately came under intense siege – due to the draft – at the restart, a brave late-braking maneuver on the inside line enabled him to somehow retain his slight edge at Turn One. He never looked back.

Cooley raced home close behind in second for his career-best result, while Keeble not only impressed, he also drew perhaps the biggest cheer of the day as he arrived at the podium celebrations.

Gafrarar had to be content with fourth, while series leader Schrage chose to play things safe, finishing in 13th after having been obliged to line up 15th on the grid following his qualifying woes. 

Schrage’s main title rival, Jeffers, made a couple of mistakes in the closing laps, costing him valuable championship points as he slipped from third to eighth, although he was able to regain one of those positions on the final lap.

Colombia’s Sebastian Garzon earned the Tilton Hard Charger Award for DEForce Racing after rising from 16th on the grid to ninth.

VRD Racing’s Dan Mitchell claimed both PFC Awards as the winning car owner. Mitchell’s fruitful day also saw his team vault into the lead of the Teams Championship for the first time this year.

USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire will return to action in two weeks’ time, once again in support of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, on July 4-6.

Provisional championship points after 10 of 18 races:

1. Thomas Schrage, 228

2. Jack Jeffers, 201

3. Teddy Musella, 192

4. G3 Argyros, 175

5. Liam McNeilly, 163

6. Evan Cooley, 153

7. Caleb Gafrarar, 139

8. Anthony Martella, 129

9. Sebastian Garzon, 115

10. Ayrton Houk, 107.

Race 1:

Thomas Schrage (#2 Doug Mockett & Company/Airport Electric Service/Boys & Girls Clubs-VRD Racing Tatuus USF-22): “I don’t know if we truly had a car to win. The dirty air was really bad and I had a terrible start and that’s all on me. I just stayed cool and I knew I had a lot of laps left. I just picked them off one by one and then Jack was in that huge accident and I was sorry to see that. I was second on that last restart and put myself in a good position. Once I cleared him [Gafrarar], I had an easy run from there. I want to thank Doug Mockett first off – he is the reason why I can race – my dad, Girls and Boys Club of Greater Cincinnati, the Team USA Scholarship and everyone on the VRD team.”

Teddy Musella (#25 Triarsi Competizione/Don’t Sleep Energy Drink-VRD Racing Tatuus USF-22): “I had a really good start. I think we had the quickest car in the first half of the race. And then after the first Safety Car, I got P1. This track is so hard from restarts. I just got freight-trained on the main straight and fell back to fourth. After the second restart, I had a really good start and got through the first turn quite cleanly. Then going to Turn Six, was able to pass Lucas Fecury for second. From there on it was just about keeping the car on track and getting a nice finish for the team with a one-two.”

G3 Argyros (#23 Positive Energy/Elephant Cooperation-Pabst Racing Tatuus USF-22): “It was a real exciting race. We started pretty deep in the field in ninth and it was just hectic. I battled with some of the Jay Howard cars in a cat fight, and that lost us a bunch of time. That first restart was our saving grace. We moved up, moved back into contention – just a lot of really intense fighting and that's what Road America breeds. That's why I love it here. And then we were making places up, and I think we would have had a good shot at going forward. That final restart, I mean, I was sweating in the car. It's hot, and, restarts can bring restarts. I knew it was going be a hectic one and I just protected the car. So we went from seventh to third on the last lap and the last lap is the only one that matters.”

Race 2:

Teddy Musella (#25 Triarsi Competizione/Don’t Sleep Energy Drink-VRD Racing Tatuus USF-22): “It’s definitely hard starting on the outside of the front row at this track. I think I fell back to fifth or sixth, but I kept my head cool. I knew I had the pace, and I was getting through the field. And then we had the last restart and it was really hectic. Having to stay at the front at this track, it's just horrible – the draft is so much. We went three-wide into Turn One and I sent it deep on the brakes and kept moving on from there.”

Evan Cooley (#90 Brown Brothers Harriman-Exclusive Autosport Tatuus USF-22): “The race was pretty good, a good points haul. I got the lead pretty early on and me and my teammate ran first and second. Then the pace car came out and I fell back on the restart just because of the draft. Nothing I could really do; I got swallowed. But, I ground my way back up and just held P2 for the rest of the race. I just want to thank the whole team. They have done an amazing job this whole weekend.”

Harley Keeble (#7 JHDD/CSU One Cure/Lucas il Products-Jay Howard Driver Development Tatuus USF-22): “It was a great race. The start was a bit messy, like Turn One was a bit dirty. I'm inexperienced compared to these guys, so I've just been taking one corner at a time, hitting my marks, just doing the best as I can. I got a really good restart off that last restart, which created a gap and I was able to stay there in P3. Teddy and Evan did a really good job to stay out front. I was slowly coming, but not quite fast enough.”