PETERSEN MEDIA
Rico Abreu continues to run very well with the King of the West Series, as he scored another podium finish on Saturday night, as he tallied a third place finish at the Petaluma Speedway in Petaluma, CA.
Abreu continued to flex his muscle during time trials, as he set the standard early, and ultimately fell to the third quick spot when the session ended.
Starting in the second row of his heat, the Rutherford, CA driver scored a third place finish, good enough to put his Abreu Vineyards/ButlerBuilt/FK Rod Ends backed entry in the dash.
After having the one and two pills taken from him during the grudge draw, Abreu lined up in the fourth spot for the six-lap shootout.
On what was a very hooked up track, Abreu was able to get by Shane Golobic on the start, and scored a third place finish, which put him on the inside of the second row for the 30-lap feature event.
As the race went green, Abreu was hard on the throttle as he worked into the third spot for the first five laps, as he chased down Jonathan Allard, and Willie Croft.
The yellow flew on the fifth lap, and Abreu again got a good restart, and worked in the third spot.
With the track rough in spots, Abreu got out of shape in turns three and four, and lost a spot to Shane Golobic, but he answered back and took the third spot, and chased back after Croft and Allard.
With Allard being penalized two spots on the lap 17 yellow, Abreu took over the second spot, and restarted on the front row.
With Croft getting the jump, Abreu stayed glued to his rear bumper, as they battled through lapped traffic.
With one final shot at Croft on a lap 27 restart, Abreu got back on the throttle too hard, and ‘wheelied’, up, and slipped back to the fourth spot.
Chasing after Golobic again, Abreu would get under him on the last lap, and secured his third podium finish with the series in four races, and took over the points lead.
“We were good in the feature, but I got too excited on the last restart, and did a huge wheelie,” he said. “We’ve been good, I’m just really tired of racing on heavy race tracks, and am hoping it is good and slick this weekend in Reno.”
Friday night, Abreu and his team were in action at the Silver Dollar Speedway, and he tallied a fifth place finish, on what was a blistering fast track.
Rico and his team would like to thank Abreu Vineyards, ButlerBuilt, FK Rod Ends, Schoenfeld, Keith Kunz Motorsports, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, and Factory Kahne Shocks for their support.
2013 BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-32, Wins-2, Top 5’s-11, Top 10’s-16
ON TAP: Rico and his Abreu Vineyards Racing team will head to the Reno Tahoe Fernley Speedway this Friday and Saturday night in Fernley, NV for two more KWS races.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay updated with Rico by visiting his website at www.ricoabreuracing.com, ‘liking’ him on facebook at www.facebook.com/
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