Dixon Closes VIR Weekend with Victory
Alton, VA - For the second day in a row, the F2000 Championship Series race at VIR came down to the last lap. This time it was Brandon Dixon who went to the inside of Matt McDonough at the end of the back straight to take the win. Dixon started fifth and drove through the field to the lead, only to trade it back and forth with McDonough, who finished second ahead of Steve Jenks.
Dixon worked his way to first, passing McDonough mid-way through the race. But a restart with a handful of laps saw him slide wide, dropping to third place.
By the last lap, Dixon had caught McDonough again. He tried in turn one with an outside move, but ran out of real estate. A few corners later he had mounted another assault, and got past McDonough at the end of the back stretch to take his second career F2000 victory.
"On the restart I just out braked myself," Dixon explained in victory circle. "I went in there too deep and slid off wide and dropped back a few positions. I was just pushing as hard as I could. I got a good run out of Oak Tree and got a good draft. I knew he wasn't going to give it up, we both went into the turn at the top of the hill really deep. The surface wasn't good there and he went out wide, and I did the over under move. The door opened and I took it."
McDonough took the lead at the start of the race, and executed two other passes for the top spot as there was plenty of action at the front of the field.
"We had a fantastic race. That is what it's all about in the end really," McDonough noted.
Jenks marked two podiums in two days with a drive to third place in a strong weekend for the No. 68.
"It was hard racing out there. We had a good run. I watched a lot in front of me too. It was a fun race. My team did a great job all weekend and I think we may be leading in points," Jenks said.
Tim Paul finished fourth for Momentum Motorsports and Screaming Monkey Racing, coming from seventh on the grid, while Peter Gonzalez had a good run to a top five spot.
Dave Weitzenhof recovered from a lost wheel that ended his Saturday race to finish sixth with Dan Denison following in seventh spot for Polestar.
Saturday winner Nicolas Palacio failed to finish with a retirement mid-way through the race. Palacio started from pole and lost the lead on the opening lap. He took it back a few laps later with a late braking move on McDonough in turn one and led a couple more laps before surrendering the position back to McDonough and eventually Dixon, before retiring with a reported mechanical problem.
Reece Everard, who finished second on Saturday and led the duration of that race, moved from sixth to third in a matter of laps, but went off early in the race, ultimately retiring on lap eight.
Rob Allaer did not make the start of the race.
The F2000 Championship Series next takes to the track at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for a two-day event along with F1600 and the Atlantic Championship Series, scheduled for May 12-13.