WHEATLAND, Mo. — Rico Abreu took command on lap 11 and led the rest of the way to earn Friday night’s Kubota High Limit Racing Diamond Classic feature win at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Abreu, of St. Helena, Calif., picked up his series-leading sixth feature win of the season. He was the third and final leader of the event and beat Tyler Courtney by just over one second at the checkers.
“It’s really good. Determination beats talent,” Abreu said in victory lane, noting some recent struggles. “This sport becomes really humbling at times. You can get up top really easily and you can get beat down to the ground.
“We get to race so many times a year that there are so many highs and lows. Things change. These four tires are the only things that touch the race track. You work with spring rates and things can change throughout the season and you have to stay up to pace with everything and not get too hard on yourself.”
Abreu started fourth and sat behind the early pace-setters as Ashton Torgerson beat Courtney to the lead as the race started. Those front-row starters were running 1-2 when the first caution flew after two lap, with Abreu in third.
As action resumed, Courtney caught and passed Torgerson for the lead on lap eight, using an inside pass coming out of turn four. Abreu soon moved around Torgerson and set his sights on the lead and took on lap 11, sliding past Courtney on the inside of turn two.
Abreu quickly opened a 1.3-second lead by lap 16 with Courtney a second clear of Torgerson. Abreu gradually expanded his lead, opening it to 1.6 seconds by lap 20, weaving his way through lapped traffic with no issues.
It appeared Abreu was on his way to a comfortable win when a lap 26 caution, as Landon Crawley’s motor went up in smoke, erased his 1.4-second lead. That left a four-lap sprint to the finish as Abreu led Courtney, Brent Marks, Tanner Thorson and Torgerson comprised the top five.
Abreu was able to win that race to the finish, beating Courtney by 1.038 seconds at the finish.
“I was pretty confident in my car there,” Abreu said of the final restart. “I was running the bottom at the end of the race and knew the entries were getting quite free. You just have to hit your marks. This is a real momentum-based track and you have to keep this engine up on the pipe and that’s what I wanted to do.”
Thorson backed up his runner-up finish on Thursday with a third. Marks finished fourth and Thursday winner Aaron Reutzel wound up fifth.
“We’re just missing a little bit, but we’re close,” Courtney said. “Rico has arguably been one of the best in the country all year, so a great rebound for us. We’re good, we just can’t quite get that top step yet but we’ve got 25 grand tomorrow and have put ourselves in great position for that.”
The top three finishers locked themselves into the heat races and will get to bypass qualifying ahead of the $25,000-to-win finale.
Thorson, with back-to-back podium finishes, heads into the final night as confident as anyone in the pits. His last six High Limit finishes have been fourth, third, second, sixth, second and third.
“I think we have probably the most-consistent race car in the country probably,” Thorson said. “It’s good. We’ve gained a lot over this year, especially the past couple of months and rewarding for me and everyone involved. We’re gonna keep on trucking.”
Reutzel captured the Diamond Classic victory on Thursday night and just as he did on night one, set the fast qualifying lap with a circuit of 12.869. That was just off the track record of 12.829 set by Abreu on June 29, 2024.
The finish:
Feature – 1. 24-Rico Abreu[4]; 2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[2]; 3. 88-Tanner Thorson[6]; 4. 19-Brent Marks[3]; 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel[8]; 6. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[1]; 7. 49-Brad Sweet[7]; 8. 13-Daison Pursley[5]; 9. 9-Kasey Kahne[11]; 10. 9R-Chase Randall[9]; 11. 19H-Kevin Thomas Jr[20]; 12. 42-Sye Lynch[15]; 13. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[14]; 14. 5-Brenham Crouch[13]; 15. 40-Howard Moore[19]; 16. 74-Xavier Doney[12]; 17. 26-Justin Peck[16]; 18. 21X-JJ Hickle[10]; 19. 20G-Noah Gass[21]; 20. 75-Tyler Blank[24]; 21. 77-Jack Wagner[23]; 22. 45X-Landon Crawley[17]; 23. 98P-Miles Paulus[22]; 24. 14-Spencer Bayston[18]
