PETERSEN MEDIA
Rico Abreu put on quite the show at the Stockton Dirt Track on Saturday night as the Rutherford, CA driver won the 410 “Tribute to GP” just after finishing second in the 360 feature event.
“I can’t say enough about my guys,” Rico Abreu said. “We had two extremely fast cars all night, and if I would have drove a little better in traffic in the 360, should have won both features.”
In the 410 show, Abreu kicked his night off by timing his Abreu Vineyards/ButlerBuilt/FK Rod Ends machine in fourth fastest against the 35 cars checked in.
Heat race action saw Abreu make a wicked move on the start, to rocket his way into the lead, as he proceeded to win the race by over a second, earning a berth in both the feature and the Dash.
Starting eighth in the Dash, Abreu was able to work his way up into sixth spot, putting him in the third row for the 30-lap feature event.
As he had done all night, Abreu had another monster start in the feature that saw him work his way up into the second spot, as he chased after early leader, Kyle Hirst.
At the halfway point, Abreu had passed Hirst for the lead on two occasions, but a red and a yellow flag both negated his passes.
Following an open red on the 16th lap, Abreu made his winning pass, as he got by Hirst, and began to leave the field behind him in a hurry.
The final few laps saw Abreu roll on to pick up his second consecutive ‘Tribute to GP’ in dominating fashion.
On the 360 side of things, Abreu was a top competitor again, as he timed in second fastest against the 39 cars that were in attendance for that race.
Finishing third in his heat, Abreu advanced to the Dash, where he finished in the second spot, putting him on the front row for the feature event.
When the race went green, it was Abreu getting the jump as be drove off into the lead after the first two starts were negated to a yellow and red.
Out in front, Abreu turned great laps, as he found himself in lapped traffic early, and soon had Tim Kaeding breathing down his neck.
Battling with TK, Abreu would like to the second spot on the 10th lap, as he chased him down.
With 26 laps going non-stop, Abreu had three lapped cars between himself and the leader on a restart with four to go, and wasn’t able to get up to challenge Kaeding, and settled for second.
“All in all it was a great night,” Abreu said. “To score two top-two finishes is huge, and to run second to TK isn’t all that bad considering the year he is having.”
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-98, Wins-12, Top 5’s-44, Top 10’s-61
ON TAP: Abreu will now have a week off before heading to the Western World’s on November 15th-16th to compete in a Keith Kunz Motorsports midget.
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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