Forum: Northern California Sprint Car (go)
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Rico Abreu scores 14^th Outlaw Kart victory of 2010 Saturday night at Cycleland Speedway

By Gary Thomas

Chico, CA – August 3, 2010…Continuing his ultra strong season in the Outlaw Kart ranks this past weekend St. Helena, California’s Rico Abreu charged to his 14^th overall win of the year on Saturday night at the Cycleland Speedway.

Abreu’s victory came in the open intermediate division after also setting fast time to begin the evening, during what was point race number 14 at Cycleland. It also marked his seventh straight win in the open intermediate class at the track.

“It feels good to be getting so many wins this year, but I know it’ll all mean nothing if I don’t stay on top of my game and keep doing the best I can each night,” said the 18-year-old. “Right now we’re in a heated championship race for the open intermediate title so if we continue putting the wins together hopefully the points will take care of themselves.”

A total of 18-karts were on hand in the open intermediate division last Saturday and Abreu kicked off the night by turning a quickest lap of 11.198 during qualifying to just beat out good buddy Kyle Larson for fast time. He then brought home a third place finish in the dash after trading slide job after slide job with Larson, before taking to his customary high-line when the green flag waved in the 20-lap main event.

Showing no intimidation whatsoever Abreu placed his Abreu Vineyards, Stadelhofer Construction No. 24 on the ragged edge of the Cycleland Speedway and quickly moved up to third by lap-three and then second on lap-seven. Pounding the cushion of the well prepared 1/8 mile clay oval the youngster proceeded to move his way to the lead with eight-circuits complete and sit out front the rest of the way to tally another feature victory on the season.

Also competing in the intermediate division Abreu clocked the second quickest lap out of 24-karts in qualifying and recorded a third place finish in the dash, which put him in the fifth row for the main event. The St. Helena throttle-masher methodically picked his way forward when the green lights came on and was able to crack the top-five within 10-laps, before fighting it out for position over the final couple laps to score fifth at the checkered flag.

“This definitely isn’t just a one man effort because I have a lot of great people that support me including my crew chief Karen Bloom and my uncle’s Jimmy and Greg who are always a big help,” commented Abreu. “Gonzalo and Chetto are also two others who come a long way to become great outlaw kart mechanics. There are also a lot of great sponsors that are supporting me like Abreu Vineyards, Stadelhofer Construction, Zumwalt Ford and George Becker Motors.”

Abreu will return to the Cycleland Speedway this Saturday night for point race number 15, with the track having just six more races left in the season. “I had a lot of fun last weekend getting to race with my good pal Kyle Larson on his birthday and it’s just been a great year overall so we couldn’t be happier,” he said. “We only have six races to go at Cycleland so hopefully we can come back this weekend and get back into victory lane to keep the momentum rolling.”


Later on this month Abreu will also be in action at the Butte County Fairgrounds in Gridley for “Pistol Pete’s Gridley Fair Challenge.” The event takes place on Friday August 27 and features the Beginner Box, Box Stock, 250 Intermediate and Open Division on hand.

More info on “Pistol Pete’s Gridley Fair Challenge" can be found at http://www.rboutlaws.com/wp-content/uploads/GridleyFairRace.pdf

For more information on St. Helena's Rico Abreu visit http://www.ricoabreuracing.com/index.html and for info on the Cycleland Speedway log onto http://cyclelandspeedway.com/

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www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

Gary, is Rico any relation to the legendary Tom (and/or Ron) Abreu?

I always get asked that, but Rico said he isn't related to Tom or Ron.

www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

Wow, unusual "racing name" in NorCal to not be related...