PETERSEN MEDIA
During one of the biggest race weekends of the year, with undoubtedly the most intriguing format, Rico Abreu thrilled the crowd all weekend long as he charged from 14th to win on Friday and backed it up with a 19th to third place run, and he closed the weekend third in Trophy Cup Standings.
In what was his first trip to the Thunderbowl in Tulare, CA since the middle of May, the young Abreu was quick each time he hit the track, starting with hotlaps on Friday night.
Qualifying 24th quick against 85 competitors checked into the pit area, and would go on to score a second place finish in his heat.
With points lining up the feature event, Abreu found himself 14th in points, and just missed out on making the inversion, but the St. Helena, CA driver wouldn’t let that deter him as he would put on quite the show for the fans.
Though the race got off to a slow start, Abreu had found himself up to the sixth spot by the sixth lap, as he ran the ragged edge of the Thunderbowl Speedway.
On a lap six restart, Abreu was able to drive around Henry Van Dam and Andy Forsberg, as he over took the third spot by the 11th lap, as he began chasing down Roger Crockett and Jason Meyers.
Continuing to test his limits against the Thunderbowl wall, Abreu and Meyers traded the second spot for several laps, with Abreu finally taking over the second spot on the 20th lap, with just 10 laps to go.
On the 25th lap, the leader, Roger Crockett, tangled with a spinning lap car handing Abreu the lead, with Shane Stewart and Jason Meyers on his tail.
Though lap 26 saw Abreu bounce of the wall a couple of times, he was able to motor away aboard his Abreu Vineyards/Outlaw Wings/ButlerBuilt backed entry and score a very impressive win.
Abreu’s performance had him sitting fifth in points heading into Saturday’s finale where a heat race, and the feature event were the last two races of Trophy Cup to be ran.
Starting in the 10th spot of his fully inverted heat, Abreu avoided near disaster as slight contact was made with a spinning Trevor Turnbull on the start, and he was able to keep racing.
The second year driver was able to grab a second place finish, but a missing muffler gave him six place points and he saw himself sixth in event points after all heats were completed.
With the filed fully inverted, Abreu would roll off for the 50-lap feature event in the 19th spot.
When the race went green, he seem to be buying his time as he wasn’t able to get moving forward. As laps clicked off Abreu struggled to get around the track, as the yellow flew on lap 17, which turned to red, for the mandated fuel stop.
Back underway, Abreu was able to get his machine moving forward, as he finally broke into the top-ten on the 30th lap.
Following a red on the 32nd lap, Abreu was able to get around Crockett and McMahan, as he took over the fourth spot on the 40th lap. With the leader getting a flat on the same lap, Abreu inherited the third spot as he began battling with Jason Meyers for the second spot.
At the stripe Abreu would hold on to the third spot, and would end up third in Trophy Cup points.
“Overall it was a great weekend for us,” said a jubilant Abreu. “Friday night Paul Silva gave me a great racecar, and we were able to run one-two with Shane Stewart in Paul’s personal car. Saturday we got off to a slow start, but we really got rolling towards the end. This was a fun event, on a fun track.”
Rico and his team would like to thank Abreu Vineyards, Toyota, ButlerBuilt,, Outlaw Wings, and Petersen Media for their partnership.
ON TAP: Abreu will be back in action this weekend at the Calistoga Speedway for the track’s 75th anniversary race.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay updated with Rico by visiting his website at www.ricoabreuracing.com, ‘liking’ him on facebook at www.facebook.com/ricoabreuracing or following him on twitter @RicoAbreu.