SARVER, Pa. — Wednesday’s Don Martin Memorial came down to the wire at Lernerville Speedway between the current Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing championship leader and a NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series regular for Hendrick Motorsports.
Leading the first 33 laps of the 35-lap main, Rico Abreu looked poised for his second Silver Cup XXXV title before Corey Day stole the lead coming to the white flag.
The Jason Meyers Racing No. 14 held on by two-tenths to score the $25,000 payday over the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing No. 24.
The moment of the race came on Lap 25 when Aaron Reutzel — Abreu’s closest championship contender — had risen to second-place and was tracking him down for the lead before jumping the cushion twice and ultimately stalling the Ridge & Sons Racing No. 87 against the wall.
Reutzel’s misfortune allowed Day the chance to restart on Abreu’s tail and stalk him down the final stretch. While Abreu elected to carefully float the middle through traffic, Day was comfortable against the curb and rocketed by once the white flag was in the air.
It was Day’s fifth score in 12 sprint car starts this year with Jason Meyers Racing. He also became the first repeat winner at Lernerville Speedway under High Limit sanction.
At 20-years-old, the Clovis, California native now sits at 14 career wins with Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing – only out-done by Abreu (29) and Kyle Larson (15).
Settling for his third runner-up result in the last week, Abreu was still pleased with championship-extending performance. While he hasn’t won since Big Sky Speedway in June, the St. Helena, California native has found a rhythm in the Carquest Auto Parts No. 24 with nine-straight top-six runs to his credit.
Rounding out the podium at Lernerville was Tanner Holmes, who kicked off a big week in Buch Motorsport’s home state of Pennsylvania with a third-place finish in the No. 13.
Closing out the top five in the Don Martin Memorial were Kings Royal winner Anthony Macri and Justin Peck.
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 14-Corey Day[6]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu[1]; 3. 13-Tanner Holmes[2]; 4. 39M-Anthony Macri[8]; 5. 26-Justin Peck[10]; 6. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[7]; 7. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[3]; 8. 55-Kerry Madsen[13]; 9. 21-James McFadden[22]; 10. 88-Tanner Thorson[20]; 11. 5-Brenham Crouch[12]; 12. 17GP-Brock Zearfoss[11]; 13. 9-Daison Pursley[15]; 14. 19-Brent Marks[21]; 15. 98-Ricky Peterson[9]; 16. 9R-Chase Randall[25]; 17. 42-Sye Lynch[24]; 18. 5J-Jeremy Weaver[5]; 19. 22-Brandon Spithaler[23]; 20. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[18]; 21. 55W-Logan Wagner[17]; 22. 24D-Danny Sams III[26]; 23. 87-Aaron Reutzel[4]; 24. 66-Ryan Newton[19]; 25. 3J-Jacob Begenwald[14]; 26. 2-AJ Flick[16]
