Barber USF2000: Askew takes pole for Race 1
Cape Motorsports’ Oliver Askew grabbed pole for USF2000’s first race at Barber Motorsports Park by as he seeks to extend his championship lead.
Oliver Askew, Cape Motorsports
Art Fleischmann
Askew, who scored a runner-up finish and a win in the series’ opening rounds at St. Petersburg, lapped the 2.38-mile Barber road course in 1min23.5715sec to snare pole by 0.32sec ahead of Team Pelfrey’s Kaylen Frederick.
Askew’s first pole in the series was a startling performance as that same margin covered the next six Tatuus USF-17 Mazdas. But afterward he said the delay before the session started, caused by barrier repairs following a Mazda MX-5 shunt, had not helped.
“It’s very tough because when I get in the car, I immediately get in the zone,” he said, “so to sit there for an hour and overthink things is not good! I had to get myself back into the zone.
“But once the engines fire, all the negative thoughts go away and you push as hard as you can. I tried to trick myself into thinking it’s a practice session.”
Rinus VeeKay, currently Askew’s closest title rival, took third for Pabst Racing, with Round 1 polesitter and winner Robert Megennis P4 in a second Pelfrey entry.
Two teams new to the series, Newman Wachs Racing and Exclusive Autosport, will start from Row 3, with Dakota Dickerson fifth for NWR and Parker Thompson, last year’s series runner-up, sixth for Exclusive.
Ayla Agren will start this afternoon’s race P7 in her Pelfrey entry, ahead of Calvin Ming (Pabst), Kory Enders (DeForce Racing) and Andre Castro (Newman Wachs).
Flinn Lazier, son of 1996 Indy 500 winner Buddy Lazier, was 22nd in his first race weekend in the series.
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