PETIERSEN MEDA
Staying hot with the King of the West Series, Rico Abreu scored his second series win of 2013 on Friday night, before backing it up with a second place finish on Saturday night at the Reno Tahoe Fernley Speedway in Fernley, NV.
“I cant thank my guys enough for their work all weekend,” Abreu said. “They bust their butts in the shop all week, and it really shows when we get to the track night in and night out.”
With 28 cars on hand for the first KWS race at the newly configured RTF Speedway, Abreu kicked his weekend off by timing his Abreu Vineyards/ButlerBuilt/FK Rod Ends backed entry in fourth fastest, putting him in the fourth heat.
Starting in the fourth spot in his heat, the Rutherford, CA driver capitalized on the lead duo of Richard Brace, Jr and Jonathan Allard making contact on the last lap and took the win, propelling him to the night’s dash.
A fourth place finish in the dash put him in the second row for the feature event, though he quickly jumped to the second spot, when it got underway.
In what was a fast paced feature event, Abreu stalked leader, Kyle Hirst as they ripped through lapped traffic at will.
With laps winding down, Abreu closed in even more on Hirst, and as the white flag flew, Abreu went to the top side of the track, and blew past Hirst as the duo came to take the checkered flag.
“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.”
Looking to complete the weekend sweep, Abreu and his team were back in action at the RTF Speedway on Saturday night, and he continued to flex his muscle as he timed in third quickest.
A second place effort in his heat, put him in the dash, where he started and finished seventh on the very slick, and abrasive track, putting him in the fourth row for the 30-lap feature event.
Working up into the fourth spot early in the feature, Abreu and a strong group of cars put together a hard nosed battle for positions one through five, just as the caution flew on lap 13.
Getting up to third on the restart, Abreu would take over the second spot as Cory Elliason broke.
Abreu would hold the second spot over the final laps, as he capped off a very strong weekend that saw him extend the series points lead.
“Overall it was a great weekend for the Abreu Vineyards team,” he said. “To get a first and second is pretty stout, and hopefully we can continue to be strong at Tulare this coming weekend.”
Rico and his team would like to thank Abreu Vineyards, ButlerBuilt, FK Rod Ends, Schoenfeld, Keith Kunz Motorsports, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, and Willwood for their support.
2013 BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-34, Wins-3, Top 5’s-13, Top 10’s-18
ON TAP: Rico and his Abreu Vineyards Racing team will head to the Thunderbowl this Friday and Saturday night in Tulare, CA 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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