ALGER, Wash. — The west coast swing for Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing ended with a bang on Saturday night as the $126,000-to-win Angel of the Winds Casino Resort Skagit Nationals sent fans home with plenty to talk about.
The front-page headlines belong to Rico Abreu, who earned his third consecutive Skagit Nationals crown following a back-and-forth battle with Tanner Thorson.
The noteworthy side-story, however, was shared by Aaron Reutzel and Trey Starks, who collided on Lap 31 and resulted in a vicious flip for Starks.
At the beginning of the story, Thorson was in control from the pole position and chasing the richest win of his life aboard the JST Motorsports No. 88. The Minden, Nevada native led the opening 14 laps before Abreu pounced with a slider to steal the top spot on Lap 15. He held serve for five laps until the first caution at halfway allowed Thorson to fire off and re-gain command on Lap 21.
Abreu kept his composure inside the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing, Waste Connections #24 and rallied back to overtake Thorson once more when Lap 26 ticked across.
From there, he survived one last nine-lap stint as Reutzel stormed past Thorson and began to approach Abreu in the closing circuits before the St. Helena, California native sealed the deal with a few bold lap traffic moves.
The $126,000 victory for Abreu – who had already won $100,072 the week prior at Silver Dollar’s Gold Cup Race of Champions – marked his sixth High Limit win in nine series events at Skagit Speedway.
With his fourth-career six-figure victory, Abreu joined an elite list including Donny Schatz (13), Kyle Larson (7), David Gravel (5), Steve Kinser (4), Mark Kinser (4), Danny Lasoski (4), and Buddy Kofoid (4).
Beating Reutzel to the stripe, the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing No. 24 team extended their championship lead to 46-points as Rico Abreu continues to chase a second consecutive title with Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing.
Scoring a sixth-to-second run worth $40,000, Aaron Reutzel and the Ridge & Sons Racing, PowerPlus No. 87 took runner-up honors following a Lap 31 run-in with Trey Starks, which resulted in Starks’ No. 55x flipping wildly into the turn three fence and causing a 30-minute fence repair.
Starks was OK and climbed from the car, but didn’t mince words afterwards and the Washington crowd made their voices heard when the Texan had the mic post-race.
Finishing third after leading 19 of the 40 laps, Tanner Thorson felt the agony of defeat but still recorded the richest payday of his career with a $26,000 check for the JST Motorsports No. 88 team.
Closing out the top five were Justin Sanders and Giovanni Scelzi.
The finish:
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu[2]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel[6]; 3. 88-Tanner Thorson[1]; 4. 2X-Justin Sanders[5]; 5. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[11]; 6. 24D-Danny Sams III[9]; 7. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[8]; 8. 4-Kasey Kahne[10]; 9. 13-Tanner Holmes[4]; 10. 26-Justin Peck[7]; 11. 19-Brent Marks[14]; 12. 21-James McFadden[18]; 13. 9-Daison Pursley[21]; 14. 26R-Levi Hillier[15]; 15. 10-Dominic Gorden[16]; 16. 55-Kerry Madsen[12]; 17. 9R-Chase Randall[20]; 18. 2XM-Max Mittry[13]; 19. 21P-Robbie Price[17]; 20. 10L-Tyler Thompson[24]; 21. 18-Jason Solwold[19]; 22. 8-Devon Borden[22]; 23. 5-Dominic Scelzi[23]; 24. 55X-Trey Starks[3]
