From Gary Thomas
Fernley, NV — (May 17, 2013) — St. Helena’s Rico Abreu made a final corner charge on the high side of the speedway to get by Kyle Hirst in thrilling fashion and score his second King of the West 410 Sprint Car main event win of the year on Friday night in Fernley, Nevada. Hirst hung on for second with Sacramento’s Willie Croft, the night’s fastest qualifier Craig Stidham of Fresno and defending KWS champ Jonathan Allard from Chico rounding out the top five.
“That was pretty awesome right there and I hope you fans enjoyed that show,” said Abreu on the front stretch. “I was just hoping that Kyle (Hirst) would follow those lappers and I’d get a chance to make something happen up high. Luckily for us that’s how it worked out and we are standing here in victory lane again. Big thanks to Paul Silva and all my guys. We’ve been running strong and hopefully we can come back tomorrow and do it again.”
A total of 28-cars signed into the pits on Friday at Reno Tahoe Fernley Speedway, for what was the first of 10-nights of racing for the King of the West 410’s at the track this season. The 30-lap main event came to the line with Dash winner Craig Stidham and Kyle Hirst on the front row. After a few spins and a red flag during the early portion things got going after one-lap was complete, in fact the final 29-circuits were clicked off caution free.
Hirst led the fast moving field once green flag laps ticked away and weaved his way by lapped cars with perfection, as he looked for his second win of the year. All along however, Rico Abreu stayed within striking distance of the Roth Enterprises No. 83 jr mount. With the race winding down Abreu closed right up to the bumper of Hirst and when the white flag waved, he looked to make his move. Going into the final set of corners a big gaggle of lapped cars was just ahead of Hirst, which gave the 21-year-old Abreu the opportunity he needed.
Abreu blasted to the high scary side and got the momentum he needed to charge around Hirst and score the thrilling victory. It marked the fourth career win with the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series for the talented St. Helena youngster. Abreu also continues to lead to lead the KWS points going into tonight’s action at the Reno Tahoe Fernley Speedway. For Hirst the runner up finish was another consistent effort with the series and was his fourth podium in the first five races of the season. After his win last week Croft rounded out the podium in Fernley on Friday to continue his impressive start to the year.
Craig Stidham capped a strong night by earning his best finish of the KWS season in fourth and Jonathan Allard rebounded nicely from an opening lap incident to complete the top-five. The remainder of the top-10 was filled by Grass Valley’s Jason Statler, Sydney, Australia’s Peter Murphy, Campbell’s Brent Kaeding, Washington driver Jared Ridge and Des Moines, Iowa’s Chris Martin, who started last on the grid.
Racing continues tonight for the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series at Reno Tahoe Fernley Speedway for round six of the 2013 season. Qualifying is slated for 6:30pm with racing at 7pm.
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King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series Results – Reno Tahoe Fernley Speedway Friday May 17, 2013
28 cars
Fast time: Craig Stidham 13.781 New Track Record
Heat one: 1. 69 Brent Kaeding, 2. 3 Craig Stidham, 3. 7n Jared Ridge, 4. 1nz Peter Murphy, 5. 17 Doug Gandy, 6. 6up Danielle Simpson, 7. 15 Pat Harvey
Heat two: 1. 5h Justyn Cox, 2. 83jr Kyle Hirst, 3. 00x Cory Eliason, 4. 7c Andy Forsberg, 5. 7x Kevin Smith, 6. 55 Bud Walberg, 7. 2w Adam Walters
Heat three: 1. 3c Willie Croft, 2. 38n Mark Tabor Jr, 3. 00 Jason Statler, 4. 91ri Eli Deshaies, 5. 3d Carl Droivold, 6. 44 Chris Martin, 7. 5 Brian Boswell
Heat four: 1. 24 Rico Abreu, 2. 21j Richard Brace Jr, 3. 0 Jonathan Allard, 4. 09s Geoffrey Strole, 5. 49 Mike Monahan, 6. 69c Chad Compton, 7. 44r Rusty Baglan
Dash: 1. Craig Stidham, 2. Kyle Hirst, 3. Brent Kaeding, 4. Rico Abreu, 5. Justyn Cox, 6. Cory Eliason, 7. Willie Croft, 8. Peter Murphy
LCQ: 1. Adam Walters, 2. Doug Gandy, 3. Mike Monahan, 4. Carl Droivold, 5. Danielle Simpson, 6. Chris Martin, 7. Bud Walberg, 8. Kevin Smith, 9. Pat Harvey, 10. Chad Compton, 11. Brian Boswell
A-main: 1. Rico Abreu, 2. Kyle Hirst, 3. Willie Croft, 4. Craig Stidham, 5. Jonathan Allard, 6. Jason Statler, 7. Peter Murphy, 8. Brent Kaeding, 9. Jared Ridge, 10. Chris Martin, 11. Richard Brace Jr, 12. Eli Deshaies, 13. Doug Gandy, 14. Geoffrey Strole, 15. Danielle Simpson, 16. Carl Droivold, 17. Adam Walters, 18. Mike Monahan, 19. Cory Eliason, 20. Justyn Cox, 21. Mark Tabor Jr, 22. Andy Forsberg