TULARE, Calif. — A surprised Rico Abreu ended up in victory lane at the Peter Murphy Classic for the Fujitsu King of the West 410 Series sprint cars at the Thunderbowl Raceway on Saturday night.
Bud Kaeding had the lead coming to the checkered flag when he had an issue with the fourth-turn wall and ended up upside down causing a red flag and the race to go into overtime.
Abreu had just taken over second place from Jonathan Allard who had led the race he was passed by Kaeding. Allard and Colby Copeland made up the front row at the start with the recent series winner at Petaluma jumping to an early lead.
It was Copeland who would lead the first 10 laps until he slowed and who eventually cause a caution when he didn’t make it off the track. Allard would take over the lead on the restart and was closely followed by Kaeding who started in the third spot.
Kaeding passed Allard on the 17th circuit. The race would stay green with Kaeding comfortably up front until lap 24 when the caution would slow the race again when Matt Demartini stopped on the front stretch. With a clear track, it was Kaeding who appeared to be headed for another Murphy Classic title, only to first to bounce off the second turn wall and then climb the fourth turn wall and flip over, ending his chances at the $11,000 winner’s check.
Abreu and Allard didn’t change positions in the overtime laps, but it was Dominic Scelzi who went from third to fifth. Both D.J. Netto and Ryan Bernal got around the Roth Motorsports No. 83.
Scelzi won the 25-lap King of Thunder race just an hour before.
Tim Kaeding led the 25 cars entered with a 13:844 second qualifying lap.
The finish:
Rico Abreu, Jonathan Allard, D.J. Netto, Ryan Bernal, Dominic Scelzi, Jason Statler, Mitchell Faccinto, Colby Copeland, Willie Croft, Geoff Ensign, Chase Johnson, Tim Kaeding, Nathan Rolfe, Chelsea Blevins, Sean Watts, Kenny Allen, Mark Barroso, Bud Kaeding, Matt Demartini, Stephen Ingraham, Richard Brace, Craig Stidham, Kyle Hirst, Cole Macedo