PETERSEN MEDIA
Fresh off of POWRi midget week in Illinois, Rico Abreu and his Keith Kunz Motorsports team headed to Indiana for the ever popular, USAC National Midget Series Indiana Midget Week.
‘Overall as a team we had a great week,” Abreu said. “My car itself was really strong, but I had some bad luck a couple of nights.”
The strongest night during the action packed week for the young gasser came on Saturday night at the Lawrenceburg Speedway.
In qualifications, Abreu earned quick time honors by over .3 of a second, before storming to a heat race win. In the feature event, the Rutherford, CA driver worked his way forward and took over the lead at the halfway point, and looked to clean sweep the night. However, late in the race, Abreu broke a shock, and lost the handle of his machine and his night was over.
The night before at the Bloomington Speedway, Abreu put together a very strong run, as he led the race early before getting in a slide job battle with Bryan Clauson fighting for the lead. Abreu would ultimately finish third behind Clauson and teammate, Christopher Bell.
Abreu opened up the week on a rough note, as a late spin at Gas City knocked him back to the 18th spot, and on Thursday, he rebounded and scored a fifth place finish in Putnamville. The week came to a close on Sunday night at the Kokomo Speedway in Kokomo, IN, and crashed while running fifth.
“Our car had a ton of speed all week long, and I can’t thank Keith, Pete, and all the guys enough,” he said. “I would of like to have picked up a win, but it wasn’t in the cards. We picked up two quick times, and three top five finishes, so that’s nothing to hang our heads about.”
Like much of the country, Abreu competed all week long with a heavy heart as the racing community was shocked to lose Jason Leffler tragically on Wednesday night during a on-track accident.
“All week long I had Jason Leffler on my mind,” he said. “There is no feeling like losing a friend, and I actually think racing all week helped ease the pain. He was a great guy, and I will miss him dearly.”
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-44, Wins-3, Top 5’s-19, Top 10’s-26
ON TAP: Rico will now head back to the West Coast, where he will head to the Skagit Speedway in Alger, WA, and compete in the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup this Thursday through Saturday.
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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