Solid debut for Scarborough, Countryman and Colleran in USF Juniors at Nola Motorsport Park
- VIVIEN STREBELOW
- Apr 17
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 22
Emma Scarborough, Kaylee Countryman and Maddie Colleran made a solid debut in the USF Juniors Championship at NOLA Motorsport Park, scoring their first points and gaining valuable experience in their first race in the feeder series on the ladder to IndyCar.
The USF Juniors season kicked off last weekend at NOLA Motorsports Park with a competitive 22-car grid and growing interest in the entry-level step of the Road to Indy ladder, featuring three female drivers making their formula racing debuts after stepping up from karting in 2025.
Maddie Colleran is driving the #29 car for Zanella Racing. Having only started karting in 2023, the 15-year-old participated in several Lucas Oil School of Racing events in 2024 and now makes her full-series debut.
Kaylee Countryman joins the grid with Exclusive Autosport in the #90 entry. She, too, comes from a karting background and gained experience in the Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series before stepping up to USF Juniors this year.
Emma Scarborough lines up in the #26 car for InterMS and likely brings the most experience of the trio, having raced with the team in select YACademy Winter Series events events with the team ahead of the season as well as completing a test program with Spanish F4 team Campos Racing at the end of 2024. Stepping up from highl-level national karting, this event marks her debut in the USF Juniors championship.
In qualifying, the first session played out smoothly for Oliver Wheldon (Velocity Racing Development), who set the fastest lap in the final minutes to snatch pole from Leonardo Escorpioni (Zanella Racing), who had returned to the pits unaware of Wheldon’s final push. Vilho Aatola (DEForce Racing) rounded out the top three. Kaylee Countryman and Emma Scarborough qualified mid-pack, placing 16th and 17th respectively, while Maddie Colleran continued to gain experience and qualified 22nd for her first-ever race weekend.
In the second qualifying session, Liam Loiacono (JHDD) posted the fastest lap ahead of Wheldon and Ty Fisher (Zanella Racing). Emma secured P15, Kaylee took 17th once again, and Maddie would start from 22nd.
Race 1 went green with pole-sitter Wheldon immediately dropping to third as Escorpioni launched into the lead ahead of Joao Vergara (Velocity Racing Development). Vergara pushed hard to take the lead, triggering a fierce three-way battle with Escorpioni and Wheldon. By lap 10, the fight had turned into a two-car duel as Escorpioni dropped back.
Wheldon attempted to challenge Vergara but couldn't find a way through and eventually settled for second behind his teammate. Escorpioni completed the podium in third.
Emma Scarborough encountered issues at the start and dropped to 16th, but steadily recovered and climbed back into 15th. Countryman held 17th early on but later slipped to 18th as the midfield battles intensified. Maddie Colleran, in the meantime, ran in 21st, improving her lap times and settling into a consistent rhythm.
Emma continued her progress by closing in on Matan Achituv (Velocity Racing Development) and made a successful pass on lap 8 to take 14th. Meanwhile, Kaylee also gained ground as Connor Aspley (Pole Position Motorsports) spun, and the midfield remained tightly contested.
At the chequered flag, Emma finished in 13th position, with Countryman coming home in 16th and Maddie Colleran completing her first USF Juniors race in 21st — all three drivers wrapping up a positive debut contest.
Race two took place later in the day, with Scarbrough starting from P15, Countryman lining up in P17, and Maddie Colleran in P22. Loiacono started from pole, but it was Wheldon who snatched the lead at the start, followed closely by Escorpioni.
On the second lap, Scarbrough unfortunately spun. Just one lap later, Countryman also went off into the gravel but managed to rejoin, and the race stayed green.
By lap 4, Maddie Colleran had moved up to P19, followed by the recovering Emma and Kaylee. The trio needed a safety car to catch back up to the main pack.
In the attempt to recover, Scarbrough was putting in strong laps, clocking a 1:39.7—good enough for top-10 pace—and was gaining around 3 seconds on Colleran, though she still had a 9-second gap to close. Within three laps, Scarbrough had caught Colleran, helped by a quick 1:39.3 lap. The InterMS driver made the move stick to take P18, with another 7-second gap ahead to the next group of cars as she began her next chase.
Countryman also dipped below the 1:40 mark for the first time on lap 10. Maddie set a personal best of 1:42.119, showing steady improvement throughout the race and significantly reducing her gaps from earlier in the weekend.
When Aspley dropped down the order, both Scarbrough and Colleran gained a position. Emma crossed the line in P16, just running out of time to catch Nordquist ahead. Kaylee Countryman, who had gained nearly 10 seconds on the midfield group after her early incident, took the chequered flag in P19. Despite the setback, she showed solid pace in recovery.
On Sunday afternoon, Emma Scarbrough started P14, Countryman needed to recover from P17, and Colleran lined up in P22 for the final race of the weekend.
At Lights out, it was a clean getaway throughout the field; Scarbrough however dropped to P16, Countryman to P18, while Colleran moved up into P20 as both Aspley and Nordquist went off.
Meanwhile, Leonardo Escorpioni passed Ty Fisher to take the lead, but his car came to a halt, triggering full course yellow at the end of lap 1.
Scarbrough had regained P14 on lap 2, with Countryman in P17 and Colleran up to P18 under the safety car.
Fourteen minutes later, the race went back to green. Countryman immediately made a move on Lincoln Day to climb into P16—as everyone was making moves in the mid-pack. Scarbrough began battling Matan Achituv for P13 and briefly got ahead, but had to back off and try again.
Countryman was also closely chasing Harry Moss for a spot inside the top 15. Colleran meanwhile was running 1:43.1 laps, staying close behind the pack and showing consistent pace.
On lap 9, Scarbrough got a better exit out of the final corner and went side-by-side with Achituv. The two unfortunately made contact, and Emma ended up in the gravel, triggering another full course yellow.
Countryman capitalized on the incidents ahead—Straut also dropped back—moving up into P13.
Colleran picked up two positions from the Scarbrough-Achituv incident, climbing to P16. With the field bunched up and two laps remaining, the race ended under caution.
Kaylee Countryman took the chequered flag in P13—in a very solid finish for the Exclusive Autosport driver. Colleran made another step forward with a P16 result, in her personal best of the weekend.
Scarbrough was unfortunate again, but showed plenty of pace on her debut. This season will be about building racecraft and capitalizing on her speed.
After the first triple-header round, the three female drivers in the 2025 USF Juniors Championship collected valuable track time and experience. Emma Scarbrough emerged as a potential solid top-10 contender, while Kaylee Countryman matched Emma's best result with a P13 and also showed promising speed that could see her climb the order as the season progresses.
Maddie Colleran steadily closed the gaps throughout the weekend, made a good step forward, and will be eyeing more progress at the next round, scheduled for May 1–3 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
