MADISON, Ill. – Braden Eves put behind him a sequence of mediocre results of late in Saturday’s Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Oval Challenge of St. Louis at a sweltering World Wide Technology Raceway.
After moving into the lead at the start, Eves went on to secure his third win of the season, thrusting himself and the Exclusive Autosport team back into contention for the Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and a scholarship valued at over $718,000 to graduate into Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires in 2022.
Current championship leader Christian Rasmussen finished second ahead of New Zealand’s Hunter McElrea.
Qualifying yesterday afternoon for the second and final race oval event of the year saw Irishman James Roe secure the first Cooper Tires Pole Award for both himself and Turn 3 Motorsport. But Roe was unable to hold that advantage for long as Eves, who qualified second, blew past him on the outside line to take the lead into turn one on the opening lap.
Rasmussen, too, was on a charge early. After starting an uncharacteristic seventh, the Dane overtook several cars around the outside line in turns one and two, then gained another couple of positions in three and four to emerge in third place after just one circuit around the egg-shaped 1.25-mile oval.
Eves edged clear of Roe in the opening stages, while Rasmussen piled on the pressure in third with McElrea easing clear of a jostling group led initially by Reece Gold, who had started third.
Eves’ Russian teammate Artem Petrov also was in the midst of that battle, as was Jack William Miller until they made contact at turn one on lap seven before sliding helplessly, and hard, into the outside retaining wall. Cue the caution flags as both badly damaged cars were removed. The drivers were taken to medical and subsequently released.
Rasmussen was on the move again at the restart, overtaking Roe and immediately tucking under Eves’ rear wing. McElrea followed him through into third place.
Eves remained under pressure throughout the remainder of the 55-lap race, but maintained his slim advantage expertly to take the checkered flag .7313 of a second ahead to secure a fourth PFC Award for Exclusive Autosport’s Michael Duncalfe as the winning team owner.
Rasmussen had to be content with second and both the Tilton Hard Charger Award and The Ticket Clinic Fastest Lap Award.
McElrea, who had won the most recent race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in early July, ran a relatively lonely race to finish third, well clear of Roe, who held off a determined challenge from Indy Pro 2000 debutant Nolan Siegel.