Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda

Mar 15-16	Sebring	Road C.
Mar 24-25	St. Petersburg	Street
May 26	Indianapolis	Oval
Aug 4-5	Mid-Ohio	Road C.
Aug 17-18	Road America	Road C.
Sept 1-2	Baltimore	Street
Sep 14-15	VIR	Road C.

Cooper Tires Winterfest

Feb 6-7	Sebring	Road C.
Feb 11-12	Palm Beach	Road C.

Spencers Blog:

Two Wins to Start the Season at Sebring!

February 8, 2012

My 2012 season finally got started Monday and Tuesday at Sebring International Raceway for the first rounds of the Cooper Tires USF2000 WinterFest. It couldn’t have gotten off too much of a better start; I qualified on pole and won two of the three races!

The qualifying session was very difficult because it started to rain just before the start so we didn’t have time to put a full wet set-up on the car. We made a few changes, put the wet tires on and went out on track. The session was red flagged a few times for cars that had gone off in unsafe spots so it was tough to get into a rhythm. We all got about four green laps at the end and I was able to put the car on pole position by over two-seconds! I would have loved for the race to have been wet as well but the rain was gone and the track was completely dry. I was able to keep the lead on the start and keep it throughout the race. My teammate, Matt wasn’t too far behind but he never was close enough to challenge for the lead. It was the perfect way to start the season!

Day two of the event was for races 2 and 3 of the series. I started 2nd for the first race of the day. I got the lead around the outside of turn one on the start and opened up a pretty good gap over second. Towards the end of the race is started to rain a little. The track was very unpredictable and I never knew what the grip was going to be like every time I hit the brakes. Being in the lead is always the toughest place to be when the conditions are changing, you don’t have anyone to learn from or to see how someone’s car reacts before you get to the corner. On the last lap a car had gone off and thrown dirt onto the track. I couldn’t see it until it was too late to avoid it because of the rain. I locked the brakes and went wide of the apex in turn 7. Matt closed right up onto my gearbox. We went side by side through a few corners but I was able to hold on for the win.

Race three was a little less eventful. I started 3rd but got the lead again at the start around the outside of my teammates at turn one. I fell back to second later on the first lap. My car really came in towards the end and I was catching the leader pretty quickly. A few more laps and I think it would have been an exciting finish! But two wins and a second place was good enough to take the points lead into the final races this weekend at Palm Beach International Raceway. It was a fantastic weekend for my team, Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing. My teammates and I swept the podium in all three races.

Special thanks to my partners: Team Pelfrey, Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing, Mazda, E-merging Technologies Group, Parathyroid.com, California Scents, Silver Knight Racing and RaceLite Protection

Thanks for reading,

Spencer