KNOXVILLE, Iowa — The next two weeks at Knoxville Raceway are critical for any sprint car driver, and St. Helena, California’s Rico Abreu is as ready as anyone to tackle both the 360 and 410 Knoxville Nationals.
Abreu was victorious in a 410 main event here for the third time this year, and tenth overall on Weiler Border Battle No. 2 Night Saturday.
The driver of the Rico Abreu Racing No. 24r earned $7,000 for his win. pocketed $2,000 and confidence heading into a busy week for the 360s.
A 410 point invert of six put Abreu outside row one for the 20-lap feature, and he led early over Brian Brown, Spencer Bayston, James McFadden and Ryan Timms. McFadden moved by Bayston for third, and Austin McCarl entered the top five on lap two.
Up front, Brown gained on Abreu and took the lead on the fourth circuit. A bobble on the following lap was all Abreu needed to recapture the point before Parker Price-Miller slowed on the backstretch, bringing the only caution of the event.
Abreu led Brown, McFadden, Bayston and McCarl back to green. McCar quickly gained fourth, but Ryan Timms showed speed in the second half of the race, taking fifth from Bayston on lap seven and then using the low side of the track to pass McCarl for the fourth spot.
Abreu entered traffic on lap 12, and began extending his lead over Brown. Timms was good in traffic and passed McFadden with a slider in turn three coming for the white flag to secure the show position behind Abreu and Brown at the line. McFadden, Austin McCarl, Bayston, Kerry Madsen, Carson McCarl, Jack Anderson and Justin Peck rounded out the top 10.
“First I want to thank Weiler for putting this one every year and Knoxville Raceway,” said Abreu. “This track was beautiful. They make the right decisions here and do the right things at the right time to it. Ricky Warner does an amazing job just guiding my team. Track position was pretty crucial tonight. I just wanted to keep it up top and get flying, but the bottom came in. I was a little bit too free to be down there, and let Brian Brown get to my outside. Brownie is one of the best here. You have to think about what he’s thinking when you’re here. It’s like a game of cat and mouse. You have to run where he’s not and make sure your car is good.”
Tasker Phillips clinched his first Randall Roofing 360 track championship by leading from start to finish in the main event in that class.
The finish:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 24R-Rico Abreu (2); 2. 21-Brian Brown (3); 3. 10-Ryan Timms (6); 4. 21T-James McFadden (4); 5. 88-Austin McCarl (5); 6. 14-Spencer Bayston (1); 7. 55-Kerry Madsen (7); 8. 27-Carson McCarl (9); 9. 17A-Jack Anderson (13); 10. 26-Justin Peck (16); 11. 27B-Jake Bubak (8); 12. 42-Sye Lynch (12); 13. 22-Riley Goodno (22); 14. 44-Chris Martin (21); 15. 18T-Tanner Holmes (20); 16. 6K-Kaleb Johnson (23); 17. 40-Clint Garner (10); 18. 45X-Landon Crawley (15); 19. 95-Tyler Drueke (24); 20. 88T-Tanner Thorson (19); 21. G5-Gage Pulkrabek (18); 22. 4W-Jamie Ball (14); 23. 71X-Parker Price Miller (11); 24. 24-Terry McCarl (17).
