From Tyler Altmeyer
Orrville, OH — (June 20, 2016) — After missing the main event on Sunday night at Millstream Speedway, finishing sixth during the evening’s C-main, St. Helena, California’s Rico Abreu made an impressive rebound and nearly swept round four of Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio. Abreu earned victories during his respective heat race and dash on Monday evening at Wayne County, all before leading all 30 circuits of the feature program. The $5,000 Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket victory was the fourth Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions win of his career, going back-to-back at Wayne County Speedway in 2016.
“I just love being a part of this team. It’s all about preparation and these guys certainly make that happen,” explained Rico Abreu. “I love to watch my guys work. Even after a tough night like last night, they stayed focused and knew what they had to do to turn things around. Really glad to be up here again. Wayne County Speedway reminds me so much of racing back home.”
Rico Abreu took command of the feature field immediately after the initial green flag, winning the drag race into turns one and two with Andrew Palker and Jac Haudenschild in tow. The 30-lap main event was halted five times, two of which for red flag conditions during the first five circuits. Despite the frequent cautions, and a needed fuel stop on lap 22, Abreu kept his pace on the point, never feeling pressure from those racing behind him. Kyle Larson, who started third on the feature grid, maintained a top-five running position the entire distance, eventually finishing second at the checkers. Sheldon Haudenschild finished third, followed by fifth row starter Danny Holtgraver and California native Carson Macedo.
“I’m just so comfortable here,” said Rico Abreu. “The turns were completely different here tonight. It really reminds me of Tulare back home in California. My style really fits this place. I’m just really happy for my team. I think we are all excited to get back to this place.”
Night five of the 34th edition of Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket will be contested at the Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio, on Tuesday evening, June 21. Local favorite and defending Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions titlist Dale Blaney is the defending event winner, scoring $5,000 over a pair of Aussie invaders. James McFadden finished second in 2015, followed by Jamie Veal.
Sharon Speedway will allow Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket teams to enter the pit area as early as 10:00 am on Tuesday morning, June 21. The Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions drivers meeting will be conducted at 5:30, followed by warm ups and qualifying time trials at 6. For more information, please visit Sharon Speedway live on the Web at www.sharonspeedway.com.
Contingency Awards/Results – Wayne County Speedway – Monday, June 20, 2016:
Event: Ohio Sprint Speedweek Night #4
EMi Driver’s Meeting: 48 Entries
State Water Heaters Warm-Ups: Rico Abreu – 14.487
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Sheldon Haudenschild – 14.237
Kistler Racing Products Heat #1: Kasey Kahne
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Jac Haudenschild
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Rico Abreu
Kistler Racing Products Heat #4: Daniel Harding
JE Pistons Dash: Rico Abreu
Daido Engine Bearings Main Event Winner: Kyle Larson (2nd)
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Paul May (+15)
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 5th Place Finisher: Carson Macedo
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 10th Place Finisher: Dean Jacobs
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 15th Place Finisher: T.J. Michael
(Lincoln Electric, Daido Engine Bearings, MSD Performance, Outback Steakhouse; Need decal to qualify for contingency award)
Qualifying
1.93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 14.237; 2.57X-Andrew Palker, 14.283; 3.70-Danny Holtgraver, 14.510; 4.57-Kyle Larson, 14.541; 5.4-Kasey Kahne, 14.588; 6.09x-Carson Macedo, 14.590; 7.24-Rico Abreu, 14.609; 8.49-Tim Shaffer, 14.627; 9.8M-TJ Michael, 14.644; 10.71m-Paul May, 14.674; 11.17W-Bryan Clauson, 14.675; 12.1-Dale Blaney, 14.688; 13.40-Caleb Helms, 14.728; 14.10H-Chad Kemenah, 14.736; 15.81-Lee Jacobs, 14.796; 16.6M-Jac Haudenschild, 14.836; 17.48-Danny Dietrich, 14.878; 18.71-Jamie Veal, 14.902; 19.26-Tayler Malsam, 14.921; 20.17-Josh Baughman, 14.926; 21.5-Byron Reed, 14.930; 22.21-Cap Henry, 14.944; 23.5T-Travis Philo, 14.967; 24.41X-Dominic Scelzi, 14.971; 25.2-Parker Price-Miller, 14.986; 26.12-Daniel Harding, 15.083; 27.11K-Kraig Kinser, 15.104; 28.60-Kory Crabtree, 15.132; 29.97-Dean Jacobs, 15.134; 30.22S-Brandon Spithaler, 15.141; 31.91-Cale Thomas, 15.238; 32.46-Michael Bauer, 15.274; 33.D12-Jason Dolick, 15.352; 34.49H-Bradley Howard, 15.395; 35.16M-Danny Mumaw, 15.421; 36.9-Jordan Ryan, 15.445; 37.27Z-Sean Zemunik, 15.452; 38.11-Shawn Hubler, 15.574; 39.AUS96-Andy Caruana, 15.652; 40.O7-Jacob Wilson, 15.685; 41.46AU-Stuart Williams, 15.724; 42.23-Nick Patterson, 15.753; 43.24P-Alex Paden, 15.904; 44.1B-Aaron Middaugh, 16.045; 45.7-Troy Kingan, 16.093; 46.51-Roger Campbell, 16.179; 47.33D-Tyler Dunn, 17.141; 48.38K-Brandon Wimmer, 99.750;
Heat 1, Group A – (8 Laps)
1. 4-Kasey Kahne[2] ; 2. 09x-Carson Macedo[1] ; 3. 70-Danny Holtgraver[3] ; 4. 17W-Bryan Clauson[8] ; 5. 57X-Andrew Palker[4] ; 6. 49-Tim Shaffer[5] ; 7. 8M-TJ Michael[6] ; 8. 71m-Paul May[7] ; 9. 40-Caleb Helms[9] ; 10. 16M-Danny Mumaw[12] ; 11. 49H-Bradley Howard[11] ; 12. 48-Danny Dietrich[10]
Heat 2, Group B – (8 Laps)
1. 6M-Jac Haudenschild[1] ; 2. 57-Kyle Larson[3] ; 3. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[4] ; 4. 10H-Chad Kemenah[2] ; 5. 5-Byron Reed[5] ; 6. 21-Cap Henry[6] ; 7. 5T-Travis Philo[7] ; 8. 27Z-Sean Zemunik[8] ; 9. 24P-Alex Paden[11] ; 10. 23-Nick Patterson[10] ; 11. 1B-Aaron Middaugh[12] ; 12. 11-Shawn Hubler[9]
Heat 3, Group C – (8 Laps)
1. 24-Rico Abreu[4] ; 2. 81-Lee Jacobs[2] ; 3. 71-Jamie Veal[1] ; 4. 97-Dean Jacobs[7] ; 5. 1-Dale Blaney[3] ; 6. 26-Tayler Malsam[5] ; 7. 17-Josh Baughman[6] ; 8. 22S-Brandon Spithaler[8] ; 9. 9-Jordan Ryan[11] ; 10. D12-Jason Dolick[10] ; 11. 46-Michael Bauer[9] ; 12. 33D-Tyler Dunn[12]
Heat 4, Group D – (8 Laps)
1. 12-Daniel Harding[2] ; 2. 41X-Dominic Scelzi[4] ; 3. 11K-Kraig Kinser[1] ; 4. 91-Cale Thomas[6] ; 5. 2-Parker Price-Miller[3] ; 6. AUS96-Andy Caruana[7] ; 7. 46AU-Stuart Williams[9] ; 8. 7-Troy Kingan[10] ; 9. 51-Roger Campbell[11] ; 10. O7-Jacob Wilson[8] ; 11. 60-Kory Crabtree[5] ; 12. 38K-Brandon Wimmer[12]
Dash 1 – (6 Laps)
1. 24-Rico Abreu[2] ; 2. 57X-Andrew Palker[1] ; 3. 57-Kyle Larson[4] ; 4. 6M-Jac Haudenschild[6] ; 5. 09x-Carson Macedo[3] ; 6. 4-Kasey Kahne[5] ; 7. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[7] ; 8. 81-Lee Jacobs[8]
C-Main 1 – (10 Laps)
1. 16M-Danny Mumaw[1] ; 2. 9-Jordan Ryan[2] ; 3. 27Z-Sean Zemunik[3] ; 4. 23-Nick Patterson[8] ; 5. 24P-Alex Paden[9] ; 6. 11-Shawn Hubler[4] ; 7. AUS96-Andy Caruana[5] ; 8. O7-Jacob Wilson[6] ; 9. 46AU-Stuart Williams[7] ; 10. 1B-Aaron Middaugh[10] ; 11. 51-Roger Campbell[12] ; 12. 7-Troy Kingan[11] ; 13. 33D-Tyler Dunn[13] ; 14. 38K-Brandon Wimmer[14]
B-Main 1 – (12 Laps)
1. 8M-TJ Michael[2] ; 2. 49-Tim Shaffer[1] ; 3. 40-Caleb Helms[4] ; 4. 71m-Paul May[3] ; 5. 48-Danny Dietrich[5] ; 6. 5T-Travis Philo[9] ; 7. 22S-Brandon Spithaler[11] ; 8. 21-Cap Henry[8] ; 9. 26-Tayler Malsam[6] ; 10. 16M-Danny Mumaw[15] ; 11. 49H-Bradley Howard[14] ; 12. 46-Michael Bauer[12] ; 13. 17-Josh Baughman[7] ; 14. D12-Jason Dolick[13] ; 15. 9-Jordan Ryan[16] ; 16. 60-Kory Crabtree[10]
A-Main 1 – (30 Laps)
1. 24-Rico Abreu[1] ; 2. 57-Kyle Larson[3] ; 3. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[7] ; 4. 70-Danny Holtgraver[11] ; 5. 09x-Carson Macedo[5] ; 6. 4-Kasey Kahne[6] ; 7. 11K-Kraig Kinser[13] ; 8. 10H-Chad Kemenah[15] ; 9. 71m-Paul May[24] ; 10. 97-Dean Jacobs[16] ; 11. 91-Cale Thomas[17] ; 12. 57X-Andrew Palker[2] ; 13. 41X-Dominic Scelzi[9] ; 14. 12-Daniel Harding[10] ; 15. 8M-TJ Michael[21] ; 16. 21-Cap Henry[25] ; 17. 2-Parker Price-Miller[20] ; 18. 71-Jamie Veal[12] ; 19. 6M-Jac Haudenschild[4] ; 20. 1-Dale Blaney[19] ; 21. 17W-Bryan Clauson[14] ; 22. 48-Danny Dietrich[26] ; 23. 5-Byron Reed[18] ; 24. 49-Tim Shaffer[22] ; 25. 40-Caleb Helms[23]
Current Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket Standings (6/20/2016):
1. Kyle Larson: 586
2. Chad Kemenah: 566
3. Sheldon Haudenschild: 530
4. Dean Jacobs: 522
5. Cale Thomas: 520
6. Dale Blaney: 518
7. Jamie Veal: 500
8. Kraig Kinser: 494
9. Tim Shaffer: 486
10. Travis Philo: 482
Current Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions Standings (6/20/2016):
1. Dale Blaney: 2038
2. Chad Kemenah: 2032
3. Sheldon Haudenschild: 1912
4. T.J. Michael: 1824
5. Cap Henry: 1822
6. Danny Holtgraver: 1816
7. Kraig Kinser: 1774
8. Lee Jacobs: 1772
9. Caleb Helms:1692
10. Andrew Palker:1610