STOCKTON, Calif. — Rico Abreu won the Tribute to Gary Patterson event that concluded the Sprint Car Challenge Tour season at Stockton Dirt Track on Saturday night.
Abreu started on the pole and held off a fast closing Shane Golobic to pick up his second Series win of the season.
World of Outlaw invader Carson Macedo drove the Tarlton Motorsports No. 21x to round out the podium.
With Abreu and Willie Croft bringing down the 24-car field to the green, it was Abreu’s blue No. 24 who would take the lead.
The race would go five laps when the red lights would come on for a Justin Sanders’ flip in the second turn. His Larry Antaya Motorsports No. 16a looked destroyed after trying an inside pass of Cory Eliason.
With a double-file restart, Abreu would lead Ryan Robinson and Colby Copeland. The yellow flag would be thrown for Luca Romanazzi who cut through the infield in the first turn and came to a stop close to the racing surface.
Golobic had moved into the third position after starting in ninth.
Another yellow flag would come out one lap later resulting in Jake Hagopian going to the work area, where repairs were made and he was sent back out.
On the restart, there was a three-car spin in the fourth turn resulting in Jason Solwold and Tony Gualda being towed off and D.J. Netto being refired.
Fans had their eyes on Kyle Hirst and Sean Becker who were in a points battle for the SCCT championship. Hirst entered the feature 15 points ahead of his rival. Both cars started deep in the field and Hirst was able to maintain a safe margin ahead of Becker the entire race.
He would finish eighth while Becker ended up 13th. Hirst claimed his second straight SCCT championship in the two-year history of the Series.
With the laps winding down, Golobic was able to make up considerable ground by choosing the low groove while Abreu decided to run high. Once Golobic caught Abreu, the leader then decided to run the bottom of the track, but it made for an exciting finish.
The finish:
Rico Abreu, Shane Golobic, Carson Macedo, Ryan Robinson, Willie Croft, Tim Kaeding, Colby Copeland, Kyle Hirst, Kalib Henry, Jesse Love, Andy Forsberg, D.J. Netto, Sean Becker, Jake Hagopian, Kyle Offill, Zane Blanchard, Jason Solwold, Tony Gualda, Blake Carrick, Luca Romanazzi, Cory Eliason, Justin Sanders, Justyn Cox, Michael Faccinto