PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — It was a situation of being in the right place at the right time for Rico Abreu in Saturday’s seventh annual Dean Knittel Memorial at Portsmouth Raceway Park.
After taking the lead on lap 21, the No. 24 pilot controlled the remaining 10 circuits to cash a $25,554 payday with his third Kubota High Limit Racing win of the season.
The story of the night, however, was Chris Windom and the Vermeer Motorsports, NOS Energy Drink No. 55 team.
A solid effort in Capitol Renegade Qualifying set them up for a win in BR Motorsports Heat 3, which led to an FK Rod Ends Dash win, netting them the pole position of the A-Main.
Windom, a storied veteran of the USAC non-winged sprint car ranks in the midst of a transition to full-time winged action with Kubota High Limit Racing, paced the opening 20 laps of the A-Main before the smallest bobble in dirty air behind lap traffic caused him to go over the cushion and lose ground, letting two cars by.
Ultimately, Abreu capitalized on the moment and seized the lead with 10 laps left. The Rothwell Hyde No. 24 survived a pair of restarts after assuming the lead and held on for the Dean Knittel Memorial championship — scoring $25,554 with his third win of the year.
Abreu’s seventh-career victory with Kubota High Limit Racing now puts him past Kyle Larson and Brad Sweet as the winningest driver in the young history of the series.
Another remarkable story on Saturday at Portsmouth was the runner-up finisher in Canada’s Skylar Gee.
The No. 99 pilot earned a career-best second-place result with Kubota High Limit Racing, earning more than $10,000 for his Logan Fenton Racing team.
Windom ultimately rounded out the podium with a heap of Dean Knittel Memorial bonuses bumping his payday to $9,603.33 for the Vermeer No. 55.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu[3]; 2. 99-Skylar Gee[2]; 3. 55-Chris Windom[1]; 4. 9P-Parker Price Miller[6]; 5. 8-Cory Eliason[8]; 6. 13-Justin Peck[11]; 7. 26-Zeb Wise[7]; 8. 19-Brent Marks[13]; 9. 1-Brenham Crouch[4]; 10. 14-Corey Day[12]; 11. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[5]; 12. 49-Brad Sweet[17]; 13. 42-Sye Lynch[10]; 14. 9-Kasey Kahne[14]; 15. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek[16]; 16. 32-Bryce Lucius[21]; 17. 78-Justin Clark[24]; 18. 88-Tanner Thorson[9]; 19. 83-James McFadden[18]; 20. 5-Spencer Bayston[19]; 21. 1D-Nate Dussel[22]; 22. 4X-Cale Stinson[23]; 23. 1A-Jacob Allen[15]; 24. 22-Cole Duncan[20]