PETERSEN MEDIA: In his last race of the calendar year, Rico Abreu made his debut in Australia where he scored an impressive fifth place finish after falling as far back as the ninth spot early in the feature.
With 25 cars checked into the speedway for the Boxing Day event, Abreu timed in with the second fastest lap of the night, only behind fellow American, Donny Schatz.
The format down under features fully inverted dual heat races, with qualifying and heat race points making up the dash that sets the front of the feature event.
By way of his time, the St. Helena, CA youngster started seventh in his first heat race and proceeded to carve through the field and score a third place finish.
In his second heat race, Abreu again found his Abreu Vineyards/Kaeding Performance/Maxim lining up in the seventh spot, and this time he was only able to work his way up to a fifth place heat finish.
With qualifying and heat races completed, Abreu found himself top-six in points, and lining up fifth in the sixth car dash that would ultimately set the first three rows of the 30-lap feature event.
With the lightning fast track tough to pass on, Abreu, who turned the fastest lap in the event, wasn’t able to advance through the field and finished the sixth spot, where he would start the feature event at.
As the feature got underway, Rico held his spot through the early stages. As the youngster searched the speedway aboard his Stadlehofer Construction/Factory Kahne/Yak Graphics backed entry, the youngster began to lose several spots and found himself in the ninth spot at the halfway point.
Abreu then began wowing the crowd, as he impressed them during his maiden voyage at the speedway and worked his way back up to the fifth spot as the 30-lap contest came to a close.
“The car was awesome tonight, and I had a ton of fun,” said Abreu who was entertaining newly acquired Australian fans. “Skip and Brent had this thing dialed in, and the track got really good at the end and we were able to get back to fifth. I’m excited for our next race, and these Australian fans are awesome.”
Abreu would like to thank Abreu Vineyards, Kaeding Performance, Stadlehofer Construction, Factory Kahne Shocks, Sprint Car Innovations, Santomauro Racing Products, ButerBuilt, Swift Metal Finishing, and 7 Industries for their continued support.
ON TAP: Rico and his Abreu Vineyards team will return to the Brisbane Speedway on New Years Day.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay updated with Rico by visiting his website at www.ricoabreuracing.com, ‘liking’ him on facebook at www.facebook.com/ricoabreuracing or following him on twitter @RicoAbreu24.
VIDEO: Be sure to check out http://www.youtube.com/ricoabreuracing for video of Rico, as content is constantly being uploaded!
MERCH: Don’t forget to stop by and visit with Rico after the races and pick up a 2011 Rico Abreu T-shirt!
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- Petersen Media on Dec 26, 2011
- Article Date: 12/26/2011