ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. – With two nights of Pennsylvania Speedweek presented by Red Robin in the books, the overall picture of the week is beginning to come into focus.
However, despite the heavy favorites dominating the headlines at Lincoln Speedway, three other takeaways came out of the Kevin Gobrecht Memorial as well.
Our on-site reporter, Kyle McFadden, takes a look at those topics below and sets up the third race of nine coming Sunday night at the half-mile Selinsgrove Speedway as well.
1. Lucas Wolfe is trying to right the ship.
Last year, Lucas Wolfe finished fourth or better in five of the eight Pennsylvania Speedweek races and hoisted his fourth series championship at the end of the week.
Through two Pennsylvania Speedweek races this year, however, Wolfe hasn’t raced with the same top-flight steadiness and speed.
While the week remains young, with seven events still to unfold, Wolfe sits fifth in the Pennsylvania Speedweek standings among drivers expected to race the entire week. He’s 85 points off the de facto pace and trying to right the ship during the frenzy of races.
“We’ve made improvements, but it’s nowhere near where it needs to be,” said Wolfe, who has finished eighth at Williams Grove and ninth at Lincoln thus far. “We’re working on it. We have to find better speed and better improvement.
“Ongoing overall performance and speed is my biggest focus,” Wolfe added. “We’ve made some improvements over the last two nights. As far as that relates to the accumulated points, I just need good race results one night at a time. It doesn’t hardly register at this point. It’s a long week.”
In 16 races in Central Pennsylvania combined this season, Wolfe has yet to finish on the podium. Granted, nothing has gone drastically wrong for the four-time Pennsylvania Speedweek champion, like a devastating mechanical failure or early-race exit.
But Wolfe knows the path to regaining his traditional speed, pace, and results comes in time. It’s something that could come as soon as Selinsgrove on Sunday night, or perhaps later in the week. Or, as frustrating as it may be, it may come after Speedweek all together.
“We haven’t had much of a concern about patience or methodical approach,” Wolfe said. “We’ve tried many different things. We just haven’t found anything that’s hit and stuck yet. It continues to be a work in progress.”
Wolfe said Saturday’s ninth-place effort at Lincoln showed “brighter spots” than most of his races to date this season. He timed second in his flight of time trials, rolled to a heat win, but slipped from fifth to ninth in the feature.
The lack of desired results to date is also due to the stiff fields. On Saturday, 51 cars entered, including the likes of Kyle Larson, Sammy Swindell, Rico Abreu, Brent Marks and Brock Zearfoss.
“Outside of the Outlaws, this is the toughest local racing we could ever have here,” Wolfe said.
But now, Wolfe has set his focus on Selinsgrove, the very place he scored one of his five career Pennsylvania Speedweek wins in 2018.
“It’s a process,” Wolfe said. “It’s an incredibly tough field. Good cars, good fields. I’m certainly in a good car, a good team. We just have to find a way to make it happen.”
2. Rico Abreu bounced back in a big way.
He endured tough sledding to open PA Speedweek on Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway, but Rico Abreu got his ship going in the right direction Saturday at Lincoln.
Abreu, who was the fastest qualifier at the Grove before an incident in the Friday main event with TJ Stutts relegated him to a 20th-place finish, bounced back in a big way by winning his heat race on Saturday and recording a top five in the feature by crossing the line fifth.
It bolstered Abreu to ninth overall in the standings and eighth among the PA Speedweek full timers. He sits 115 markers back of de facto PA Speedweek point leader Danny Dietrich.
“Our guys have been working really hard to get our car back going,” Abreu said. “I feel like we’re really close. Now it’s just a matter of putting the whole night together.
“It was a solid night for us,” Abreu added. “Lincoln’s one of the toughest tracks in the country. The line changes so much throughout the race. With that crown up top, it can really get the bottom going towards the end; it’s just about knowing when to move around.”
3. Through two races, it’s been all Larson, Dietrich and Rahmer.
At this point, the battle for the PA Speedweek championship runs through the trio of Kyle Larson, Danny Dietrich and Freddie Rahmer.
Those three hold the top-three positions in the mini-series standings, with Dietrich second overall to Lance Dewease but ahead of Larson in the adjusted points when factoring in that Dewease does not plan to compete in all nine events.
Larson is 14 markers back of Dietrich, with Rahmer 36 adrift of the Gettysburg, Pa., veteran who won Saturday’s $9,200-to-win Kevin Gobrecht Memorial Race at Lincoln.
That win catapulted Dietrich ahead of Larson, who has finished second in both races thus far.
PA Speedweek continues Sunday night at the half-mile Selinsgrove Speedway.
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