By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA – April 19, 2014…When you’re hot, you’re hot and Rutherford, CA’s Rico Abreu has kicked-off 2014 like a blazing inferno. The 22-year-old, fourth year Sprint Car driver has started the year as well as anybody across the country and continued his stellar beginning in front of a packed house at Placerville Speedway on Saturday, racing to his sixth career King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series victory.
The triumph tied Abreu with Randy Tiner, Paul McMahan and Bobby McMahan for 19th on the all-time Golden State/ King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series win list. It also marked his first career triumph at the Placerville Speedway and came aboard the Paul Silva prepared, Abreu Vineyards/ Stadelhofer Construction No. 24 Sprinter.
“I’ve always wanted to get a win here at Placerville so to finally do it is pretty special,” Abreu commented on the front stretch. “I can’t thank Paul Silva and all my guys enough for giving me a great car as always. We’ve had an awesome start to the year and hopefully we can come back here soon and do it again. We always love racing Placerville and I’m pretty pumped to come out of here with a win tonight.”
When the green flag waved in the 30-lapper Abreu jumped into the lead as the rest of the field battled for position behind him. The race took a number of turns with various drivers charging through the field to try and challenge Abreu, but through it all the Rutherford driver was never fazed. Early on it was five-time Placerville Speedway champion Andy Forsberg charging by cars with authority. The Auburn native got up to as high as second at one point, before ultimately ending the race in sixth.
Lake Havasu, Arizona’s Logan Forler was arguably the surprise driver of the night and made lots of noise as the laps ticked down from his 14th starting spot. Forler did a tremendous job during the feature and made some fantastic moves throughout the contest. Forler rolled the corners as well as anyone in the main event and jumped into second late in the race. Despite a pair of double file restarts over the final laps however, Abreu was able to hit his marks and drive off to take the checkered flag by 0.774 seconds over Forler.
The runner up finish marked Forler’s career best King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series result aboard the Steve Forler Trucking/ Griffith Truck & Equipment No. 2l mount. The Washington native was very impressive during the main event and it was great to see him have a strong run. “We’re really happy to finish in second tonight and had a great run in the feature. I want to thank my team and all our sponsors for making this possible. This was a strong field of cars so to end up on the podium is an accomplishment.”
Visalia’s Cory Eliason rounded out the podium to cap a strong night for the driver of the Eliason Racing Composites/ Shell Shock Designs No. 00x machine. Eliason began the night by setting his second career fast time with KWS and battled up as high as second in the main event, before crossing the stripe in third. “This was a great night for us and I’m excited to be standing up here on the podium at Placerville. This is one of the more fun tracks we go to and if we keep running like this I know a win will be right around the corner.”
Campbell’s Brent Kaeding started 13th on the grid and finished fourth in the feature at the helm of the Al’s Roofing Supply No. 69, with defending KWS champ Kyle Hirst of Sacramento rounding out the top-five in the Roth Motorsports No. 83jr Sprint Car. Completing the top-10 in the 30-lap Hoosier Tires Gold Country Shootout were Auburn’s Andy Forsberg, Fremont’s Shane Golobic, Princeton’s Mason Moore, Campbell’s Bud Kaeding and Grass Valley’s Jason Statler.
The night’s 12 lap Last Chance Showdown was captured by Fresno’s Dominic Scelzi, with the six-lap Dash won by Kyle Hirst. The four 10-lap heat races were picked off by Mason Moore, Colby Copeland, Andy Forsberg and Bud Walberg. Cory Eliason began the night by setting fast time in the strong 35-car field by turning a time of 10.139 around the quarter mile. All of the action will be seen on MAVTV American Real in June, with the exact date and time to follow. The series will return to the Placerville Speedway on Saturday July 19 for the final time this season.
A-main finish: 1. 24 Rico Abreu, 2. 2l Logan Forler, 3. 00x Cory Eliason, 4. 69 Brent Kaeding, 5. 83jr Kyle Hirst, 6. 01 Andy Forsberg, 7. 121 Shane Golobic, 8. 22 Mason Moore, 9. 0 Bud Kaeding, 10. 00 Jason Statler, 11. 5v Colby Copeland, 12. 25 Bobby McMahan, 13. 33t Jimmy Trulli, 14. 26 Sean McMahan, 15. 53 Andy Gregg, 16. 3 Craig Stidham, 17. 35 Joey Magaruh, 18. 41 Dominic Scelzi, 19. 3c Jonathan Allard, 20. 55 Bud Walberg, 21. 35m Sean Becker, 22. 94 Steven Tiner
The King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series will have this coming weekend off, with the next scheduled event on Saturday May 3 at Silver Dollar Speedway being the 24th annual “Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial” race. The event is always a cornerstone showcase during the season for the series and will pack lap money and extra goodies on the line during the night. Lap money is still available for purchase and can be acquired by contacting Dave and Dianne Durica at Durica1414@sbcglobal.net or 916-988-5958.
All of the lap money goes back to the racers as always and helps make this event unique and special like it has been for so many years. The laps cost $100 and are split between the top 3 in the A-main and LCS each lap. The leader receives $50, 2nd place $30 and 3rd place $20. In addition to lap money if anyone has anything they would like to donate for the event don’t hesitate to contact Dave and Dianne to give them the details. In the past there has been money and awards on the line for fast time, hard charger, heat races and lots more. We currently have $200 in the pot for the “Carwash Mike Fast Time Award” courtesy of John Luther.
The Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial also features a 40-lap main event to conclude the night. Information and updates on the event will be found in the coming week at http://www.kwssprints.com/ & http://www.
A-Main: 1. Rico Abreu, 2. Logan Forler, 3. Cory Eliason, 4. Brent Kaeding, 5. Kyle Hirst, 6. Andy Forsberg, 7. Shane Golobic, 8. Mason Moore, 9. Bud Kaeding, 10. Jason Statler, 11. Colby Copeland, 12. Bobby McMahan, 13. Jimmy Truli, 14. Sean McMahan, 15. Andy Gregg, 16. Craig Stiham, 17. Joey Margaruh, 18. Dominic Scelzi, 19. Jonathan Allard, 20. Bud Walberg, 21. Sean Becker, 22. Seven Tiner, 23. Jake Morgan.