PETERSEN MEDIA
Spending his holiday season in New Zealand competing in midget Speedweek for Aaron Drever Motorsports, Rico Abreu had a ton of speed in four nights of action, but unfortunately luck wasn’t on his side.
“I had a blast in New Zealand, and have to thank everyone who made it possible,” Abreu said. “It is a beautiful country, and the fans are amazing, but on the racing side of things, luck just was not on our side.”
Kicking the week off, Abreu lined up seventh in his first heat aboard his Dalton’s/Vernon Logistics/Ray White backed machine, and motored his way to a third place finish.
Lining up eighth in his second heat, the Rutherford, CA driver again put on a charge that saw him climb to the third spot, where he would finish, putting him fourth on the grid for the feature event.
In what was an action packed feature, Abreu, and fellow American, Christopher Bell diced it up for the lead numerous times, until Abreu was caught up in a mess, and he was taken out of contention.
The second night of action was not meant to be, as the speedway tried two nights to get it in, but unfortunately rain washed it out completely.
In action on New Years Day for the King of the Springs event featuring a 40-lap feature event, Abreu lined his Factory Kahne/Esslinger/Blacklabel backed entry up in the fifth row for his first heat, and he worked his way up to a fifth place finish.
In his second heat, Abreu raced from seventh to second putting his abcphotosigns/Seamount machine in the fourth row of the 40-lap feature event.
In an action packed feature event, the young California hot-shoe used up every inch of Western Springs Speedway real-estate as he worked forward to a fourth place finish.
The final night of action was the big 50-lap feature event, and Abreu and his Drever Motorsports team had speed all night.
Timing in fourth fastest during time trials, Abreu ran second in the Dash and lined up second on the grid for the main event.
When the race went green, Abreu jumped out to an early lead as he battled hard with New Zealand hero, Michael Pickens.
As the two stars battled, luck again was not on Abreu’s side as mechanical woes on the 23rd lap knocked him out of completion, and ended his trip on a less than desirable note.
“I can’t thank the entire Aaron Drever Motorsports team enough,” he said. “We had a great car every night, and I wanted nothing more than to get a win for them.”
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-2, Wins-0, Top 5’s-1, Top 10’s-1
ON TAP: Abreu will be back for the Chili Bowl on Wednesday, January 15th in Tulsa, OK.
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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