Abreu Wins Hard Knocks Feature at Knoxville

(l to r) Anthony Macri, Brock Zearfoss, Rico Abreu, and Shane Stewart. (T.J. Buffenbarger photo)

By T.J. Buffenbarger

KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 13, 2021) – For the second time in his career Rico Abreu was victorious during the “Hard Knox” program during FVP Preliminary Night at the 60th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s. Abreu raced side by side with his teammate Jac Haudenschild during the opening stages before pulling away for the victory.

The win was Abreu’s first of the 2021 season after running strong in four previous appearances at Knoxville this season.

‘My guys work so hard. We all believe in each other,” said Abreu. “It’s just a matter of time when these things start clicking. It’s just great chemistry, great communication. It’s just the bumps you go through in sprint car racing. These last two years have been a lot of ups and downs, a lot of inconsistency, and I feel like that’s what I’ve been keen to work on.”

Central Pennsylvania standout Anthony Macri, World of Outlaws driver Brock Zearfoss, and veteran driver Shane Stewart joined Abreu locked into Saturday’s finale as the top four finishers in the feature event.

Haudenschild and Abreu started on the front row for the 25 lap feature with Haudenschild leading Abreu to turn one and initially pulls away from the field. Macri passed Reinhard for third position, leving Zearfoss and Macri to battle for the fourth position.

Abreu quickly closed on Haudenschild by lap five and began putting pressure on him for the lead. The pair raced side by side until Abreu took the lead from Haudenschild on lap six.

Macri also passed Haudenschild during the eighth circuit on the backstretch while Reinhardt, Zearfoss, and 11th starting Stewart created a three-car race for the final lock in position.

After a caution on lap 11 for Ayrton Gennetten slowing with mechanical issues Abreu pulled away as the three-car race for the lock in position with Reinhardt, Zearfoss, and Stewart continued. Stewart was able to slide by Reinhardt and set out after Haudenschild.

In the closing stages Zearfoss began pressuring Stewart for fourth while both drivers closed on Haudenschild in third. One lap later Stewart drove by Haudenschild for third. With two laps to go Zearfoss did the same thing, bumped Haudenschild from the locked in positions.

Up front it was all Abreu taking the victory. Stewart and Macri exchanged second position with Macri getting back by Stewart on the final lap. Zearfoss held down the fourth and final locked in position to Saturday’s main event.

After his second place finish and locking into his first Knoxville Nationals A-Main, Macri was nearly speechless in victory lane explaining how his nerves were full throttle before Friday’s feature.

“I’m ecstatic. I’m kind of speechless. Right before the feature I could have puked, shit myself, or something. This is honestly a dream come true. We had to wait until Friday to put it in the show, but we’re in the show. This is unreal.”
Stewart indicated the caution midway through the race came out at just the right time for him to setup the last portion of his charge to the front.

“I’m very thankful for everyone that works hard on this 71 car,” said Stewart. “We searched for speed all week. Felt really good in my heat race tonight and fine tuned it a little bit from there. We were just fortunate to get up there. The yellow came out at the right time for me and I was able to regain my composure and realize I was in sixth and had a shot.”

Even though he secured starting position in the very back of the field, Zearfoss was delighted to make the show.

“Last or not it doesn’t matter, you are in the show. The only way you can go now is forward”

60th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s
FVP Preliminary Night
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville, Iowa
Friday, August 11, 2021

Qualifying Flight A:
1. 39-Daryn Pittman, 15.583[12]
2. 22-Jac Haudenschild, 15.686[3]
3. O9-Matt Juhl, 15.700[25]
4. 39M-Anthony Macri, 15.706[29]
5. 40-Clint Garner, 15.732[31]
6. 11-Roger Crockett, 15.736[5]
7. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 15.757[17]
8. 17B-Bill Balog, 15.765[18]
9. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, 15.767[32]
10. 71-Shane Stewart, 15.787[8]
11. 25-Scott Bogucki, 15.832[19]
12. 49J-Josh Schneiderman, 15.869[15]
13. 55K-Robbie Kendall, 15.877[16]
14. 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips, 15.890[7]
15. 5V-Colby Copeland, 15.899[9]
16. 1Z-Logan Wagner, 15.920[26]
17. 73A-Scotty Thiel, 15.927[13]
18. 20-A.J. Moeller, 15.946[4]
19. 17A-Austin McCarl, 15.970[33]
20. N47-Marcus Dumesny, 15.977[10]
21. 13-Mark Dobmeier, 15.999[27]
22. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 15.999[23]
23. O7-Skylar Gee, 16.020[6]
24. 2KS-Chad Kemenah, 16.022[14]
25. 24-Terry McCarl, 16.022[30]
26. 2DC-Dylan Cisney, 16.030[21]
27. 1M-Don Droud Jr., 16.073[34]
28. 21W-Riley Goodno, 16.201[28]
29. 9JR-Derek Hagar, 16.252[20]
30. 7C-John Carney II, 16.268[11]
31. 2M-Matt Moro, 16.278[22]
32. 97-Greg Wilson, 16.298[24]
33. 7S-Jason Sides, 16.322[35]
34. 14K-Tori Knutson, 16.652[2]
35. 13S-Tyler Esh, 16.928[1]

Qualifying Fight B:
1. 24R-Rico Abreu, 15.874[16]
2. 1A-Jacob Allen, 15.888[14]
3. 55W-Mike Wagner, 15.918[3]
4. 28-Tim Shaffer, 15.937[1]
5. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 16.031[18]
6. 83J-Lynton Jeffrey, 16.034[10]
7. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 16.037[17]
8. 70-Sammy Swindell, 16.046[6]
9. 17W-Shane Golobic, 16.073[11]
10. 55M-McKenna Haase, 16.075[8]
11. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 16.088[19]
12. 56N-Davey Heskin, 16.123[31]
13. 83T-Tanner Carrick, 16.179[13]
14. 27-Carson McCarl, 16.203[23]
15. 3P-Sawyer Phillips, 16.226[24]
16. 5XX-Zeb Wise, 16.343[33]
17. 11N-Harli White, 16.357[5]
18. 53-Jesse Attard, 16.360[20]
19. 20G-Noah Gass, 16.362[22]
20. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 16.403[2]
21. 7W-Dustin Selvage, 16.433[9]
22. 53D-Jack Dover, 16.477[21]
23. 18R-Ryan Roberts, 16.490[15]
24. 1X-Jake Bubak, 16.491[25]
25. 2K-Kevin Ingle, 16.494[28]
26. 11T-T.J. Stutts, 16.511[30]
27. 9G-Ryan Giles, 16.523[4]
28. 44-Chris Martin, 16.558[34]
29. 10-Jeff Swindell, 16.559[12]
30. 35P-Skylar Prochaska, 16.615[26]
31. 11TK-Tim Kaeding, 16.623[32]
32. 15M-Bobby Mincer, 16.690[27]
33. 83A-Austin Miller, 16.942[29]
34. 56-Joe Simbro, 16.998[7]

Heat Race #1 (8 Laps):
1. 71-Shane Stewart[1]
2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[2]
3. 39M-Anthony Macri[3]
4. 39-Daryn Pittman[4]
5. 55K-Robbie Kendall[5]
6. 21W-Riley Goodno[10]
7. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[8]
8. 14K-Tori Knutson[12]
9. 24-Terry McCarl[9]
10. 1Z-Logan Wagner[6]
11. 17A-Austin McCarl[7]
DNS: 2M-Matt Moro[11]

Heat Race #2 (8 Laps):
1. 17B-Bill Balog[2]
2. 25-Scott Bogucki[1]
3. 22-Jac Haudenschild[4]
4. 40-Clint Garner[3]
5. 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips[5]
6. 07-Skylar Gee[8]
7. 73A-Scotty Thiel[6]
8. 9JR-Derek Hagar[10]
9. N47-Marcus Dumesny[7]
10. 97-Greg Wilson[11]
11. 2DC-Dylan Cisney[9]
12. 13S-Tyler Esh[12]

Heat Race #3 (8 Laps):
1. 49J-Josh Schneiderman[1]
2. 3-Aryton Gennetten[2]
3. 20-A.J. Moeller[6]
4. 11-Roger Crockett[3]
5. 09-Matt Juhl[4]
6. 2KS-Chad Kemenah[8]
7. 5V-Colby Copeland[5]
8. 1M-Don Droud Jr.[9]
9. 13-Mark Dobmeier[7]
10. 7C-John Carney[10]
11. 7S-Jason Sides[11]

Heat Race #4 (8 Laps):
1. 55M-McKenna Haase[1]
2.55-Hunter Schuerenberg[2]
3. 24R-Rico Abreu[4]
4. 28-Tim Shaffer[3]
5. 53D-Jack Dover[8]
6. 11K-Tim Kaeding[12]
7. 5XX-Zeb Wise[6]
8. 83T-Tanner Carrick[5]
9. 20G-Noah Gass[7]
10. 44-Chris Martin[10]
11. 56-Joe Simbro[12]
12. 2K-Kevin Ingle[9]

Heat Race #5 (8 Laps):
1. 2C-Wayne Johnson[1]
2. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[3]
3. 27-Carson McCarl[5]
4. 1A-Jacob Allen[4]
5. 70-Sammy Swindell[2]
6. 11N-Harli White[6]
7. 10-Jeff Swindell[10]
8. 11T-T.J. Stutts[9]
9. 65-Jodan Goldesberry[7]
10. 15M-Bobby Mincer[9]
11. 18R-Ryan Roberts[8]

Heat Race #6 (8 Laps):
1. 56N-Davey Heskin[1]
2. 83J-Lynton Jeffrey[3]
3. 17W-Shane Golobic[2]
4. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[5]
5. 9G-Ryan Giles[9]
6. 1X-Jake Bubak[8]
7. 55W-Mike Wagner[4]
8. 7W-Dustin Selvage[7]
9. 53-Jesse Attard[6]
10. 83A-Austin Miller[11]
11. 35P-Skylar Prochaska[10]

B-Main #1
1. 39-Daryn Pittman[1]
2. 40-Clint Garner[3]
3. 11-Roger Crockett[4]
4. 09-Matt Juhl[2]
5. 5V-Colby Copeland[7]
6. 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips[6]
7. 24-Terry McCarl[14]
8. N47-Marcus Dumesny[9]
9. 13-Mark Dobmeier[10]
10. 73A-Scotty Thiel[8]
11. 2KS-Chad Kemenah[13]
12. 07-Skylar Gee[12]
13. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[11]
14. 55K-Robbie Kendall[5]
15. 9JR-Derek Hagar[18]
16. 97-Greg Wilson[21]
17. 1M-Don Droud Jr.[16]
18. 21W-Riley Goodno[17]
19. 7S-Jason Sides[22]
20. 7C-John Carney II[19]
21. 2DC-Dylan Cisney[15]
22. 14K-Tori Knutson[23]
23. 13S-Tyler Esh[24]
DNS: 2M-Matt Moro[20]
DNS: 1Z-Logan Wagner
DNS: 17A-Austin McCarl

B-Main #2 (12 Laps):
1. 70-Sammy Swindell[4]
2. 11N-Harli White[8]
3. 28-Tim Shaffer[3]
4. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[6]
5. 55W-Mike Wagner[2]
6. 11TK-Tim Kaeding[22]
7. 83T-Tanner Carrick[5]
8. 5XX-Zeb Wise[7]
9. 53D-Jack Dover[13]
10. 7W-Dustin Selvage[12]
11. 53-Jesse Attard[9]
12. 44-Chris Martin[19]
13. 20G-Noah Gass[10]
14. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[11]
15. 1X-Jake Bubak[17]
16. 18R-Ryan Roberts[14]
17. 10-Jeff Swindell[20]
18. 11T-TJ. Stutts[17]
19. 83A-Austin Miller[24]
20. 56-Joe Simbro[25]
21. 1A-Jacob Allen[1]
22. 15M-Bobby Mincer[23]
23. 2K-Kevin Ingle[16]
DNS: 9G-Ryan Giles[18]
DNS: 35P-Skylar Prochaska[21]

A-Main (25 Laps):
1. 24-Rico Abreu[2]
2. 39M-Anthony Macri[3]
3. 71-Shane Stewart[11]
4. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[5]
5. 25-Scott Bogucki[13]
6. 22-Jac Haudenschild[1]
7. 17W-Shane Golobic[10]
8. 17B-Bill Balog[7]
9. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[4]
10. 83J-Lynton Jeffrey[6]
11. 49J-Josh Schneiderman[15]
12. 56N-Davey Heskin[16]
13. 39-Daryn Pittman[21]
14. 70-Sammy Swindell[22]
15. 2C-Wayne Johnson[14]
16. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[8]
17. 11N-Harli White[21]
18. 28-Tim Shaffer[24]
19. 11-Roger Crocket[23]
20. 20-A.J. Moeller[17]
21. 27-Carson McCarl
22. 55M-McKenna Hasse
23. 3-Ayrton Gennetten
24. 40-Clint Garner