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Abreu Ends West Coast Outlaws With Two Top Fives At Calistoga
Kokomo Grand Prix Midgets Up Next

St. Helena, California.  April 7, 2014.  Continuing his impressive early season success that has seen him win national sprint car events with both the World of Outlaws and American Sprint Car Series, Rico Abreu again showed he belongs in the conversation of the sport’s best pilots with another dazzling display, this time over two nights at his home track at Calistoga Speedway.  

After taking his first WoO win in dominating fashion at Tulare’s Thunderbowl Raceway in mid-March, Abreu welcomed the WoO stars into his backyard.  The little leadfoot started the weekend with a fifth place finish on a surface that saw track record speeds, then came back the next night to show his adaptability on a dryer track with a fourth place effort, outpointed only by the three car Kasey Kahne superteam. 

On Saturday night at the picturesque half mile located in the heart of the Napa Valley wine country Joey Saldana smashed the 1997 track record set by Mark Kinser, lowering it to 15.731.  Abreu qualified 10^th fast in the 28 car field.  With the lightning fast speeds the newly reconfigured track produced heat race action as follow the leader affairs, which Abreu did in winning heat one from the pole.  He started fifth in the dash before finishing sixth, placing him outside the third row for the feature.

The main event was action packed as Brian Brown and Brad Sweet traded the lead several times in front of a packed grandstand.  Abreu battled nearly race long with Saldana, point leader Donny Schatz, and defending WoO champion Daryn Pittman.  As high as fourth near the mid-point of the race, Abreu settled for fifth by holding off Pittman, while Sweet led Brown, Saldana, and Schatz to the lap 25 checkered.

“The track was really demanding tonight,” said Abreu at the conclusion.  “I got going real good there early in the race, but you have to run so hard with these guys that I got a little winded there and gave back the pass I made on Donny for fourth.  I really enjoy running in front of my family and friends when I’m here, whether in a midget or sprint car, and I’m really looking forward to getting back here tomorrow night.”  

With temperatures 10 degrees higher on Sunday, Sweet set fast time of 16.457 on a drier and wider racing surface, while the Abreu Vineyards Paul Silva wrenched number 24 stopped the clock with fourth quick time of the 27 entrants.  Although the heat races were once again won from the front row, passing was in plentiful supply.  Abreu started third and finished fifth in the first heat, again transferring to the headliner event.

Starting seventh at the outset, Abreu found himself fighting to maintain his pace with the leaders.  Ninth starting Paul McMahan dropped him to eighth after lap one, but Abreu began to find the well prepared track to his liking.  As pole starter Cody Darrah led in the early going with teammates Pittman and Sweet in tow, Abreu surged back by McMahan and set out for Saldana and fifth starting Logan Schuchart.  By the mid-point of the race he had disposed of both and was tracking down two time WoO champion Jason Meyers for fourth place. 

As the race approached 10 laps to go Abreu was the fastest car on the very racy track.  With seven to go Abreu raced by Meyers and began to reel in the top three, who were led in order by Pittman, Darrah and Sweet.  Sweet got into second with 5 to go, just before a yellow appeared for Schuchart.  On the restart Abreu nearly made the pass on Darrah a couple of times, but cleared the checkered flag in fourth, while Pittman held on for the win over Sweet and Darrah to complete the KKR sweep of the podium.  

“Man that was a fun race,” said Abreu as he emerged from his machine.  “Paul really had the car nice and I could run the top and bottom really good.  I had a great battle there with Meyers for quite a few laps and when I finally cleared him I thought I had something for the top three.  That last yellow that came out kind of hurt my momentum, but I gave it all I had to the finish.” 

As the national leader in winged sprint car wins at five – two night sweep of ASCS at Cocopah, AZ, Chico Silver Cup, Tulare WoO, and Stockton Open Comp 360 - Abreu now leaves the Golden State to head to Kokomo, Indiana for the Kokomo Grand Prix that will see nearly 50 wingless midgets on hand in the co-sanctioned event between USAC and POWRi.  The two day affair, at the track that Abreu holds the qualifying record, will also be the season opener for the USAC regulars.  

Abreu is intending to focus on capturing this year’s title, once again steering a potent car within the Keith Kunz Motorsports stable.  He will go up against a multitude of strong contenders, including teammates Tanner Thorson and Christopher Bell, the defending series champion.  Also challenging for the title will be Chili Bowl champion Bryan Clauson, New Zealander Michael Pickens, Darren Hagen, and Tracy Hines.

“I can’t wait to get back there,” said the St. Helena, CA driver.  “Kokomo is one of the best tracks in the country.  The competition level for this race is going to be unbelievable, and I’d love to get me a win or two to start the USAC midget season off with some good momentum.  I know Keith will have a great car for me and I’m really looking forward to getting the championship chase underway.”      

Abreu’s racing efforts are sponsored by Abreu Vineyards, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Stadelhofer Construction, Alpinestars, FK Rod Ends, Schoenfeld Headers, Brown & Miller Plumbing, BR Motorsports, All Star Performance, Lucas Oil, Wilwood Disc Brakes and XYZ Machining, Inc.

For more information and news on Rico Abreu please visit www.ricoabreuracing.com.

Press Release:  April 7, 2014

The only California local that came to play. An extremely disappointing showing from the left coast locals this year after an outstanding year against the WoO last year. Hopefully, more than just Rico is locked and loaded when Gold Cup comes around...

And the new paint scheme is sharp. 

Here we go again with the misinformation.

Yes Rico was the top "local" performer on most nights of this WoO spring swing but lets not forget the facts. Kyle Hirst finished 3rd at Merced and local Cali car owner Rod Tiner saw victory lane with Gravel driving and TK finished 2nd, yes he is a traveler now but always will be a hugely popular Californian. So the facts are that California cars finished 1, 2, 3. Lets look at Stockton, the travelers got the top spots but you still had 4. Jason Meyers; 5. O-Bud Kaeding; 6. 83-Tim Kaeding(yes he is WoO now). At Tulare obviously Rico won but local low budget racer Craig Stidham finished 6th which is a pretty good accomplishment considering the budgets he is racing against. Meyers had a 3rd at Las Vegas too. I realize Meyers was an Outlaw for years but fact is he is racing locally in California not unlike Hodnett who is claimed as a regional local now even though he too had spent time with the Outlaws. Look through the results and its clear that Outlaws like TK, Paul McMahan and Brad Sweet who learned their trade on California bullrings are all top performers. It says something about the quality of the racing scene and how good the future looks.

Look at it this way, the local cars have done pretty damn well against the Outlaws once again and at a large variety of tracks. We still have Kings Speedway and Perris this week to see how things finalize in this Outlaw swing. Allard is with his new team this year and its obvious they are struggling to get all the pieces of the puzzle together. He and the Williams team were super tough, in time that will be the case with the Tri-C team. Bud Kaeding has had a few solid performances since joing the Williams teams but lets face it they're going to need some time to gel together and get consistant. Bud is a top notch talent that is better in a winged car than most people realize so once they get cohesive things will be a whole lot different.

Like Logan Schuchart said when interviewed in Calistoga, they knew coming to California that they would have a tough time as the locals race hard. I have respect for those that respect the local scene. That kid impressed me over and over. He will be a contender with the Outlaws for years to come if they can keep the budget flowing.

Cheers!

Compared to last year, this has been a down year, considering CA drivers accounted for more wins last year; Tim won twice (Vegas and Tulare), and winning each were Paul McMahan (Mini Gold Cup), Kyle Larson (Stockton) and Shane Golobic (Antioch), in addition to numerous other top 10 finishes for these and other Ca teams. This year, Ca guys have had good runs, but, not the wins like they had last year, aside from Sweet at Stoga and Rod Tiner's car at Merced.  Also, Jonathan Allard switched rides, and they are still sorting things out, and with the Mini Gold Cup raining out, so we didnt see some other drives, who run well at Chico, compete this year. Has it been a terrible year for Ca drivers? No, but hasnt been anywhere near as good as it was last season, via win count. The WoO teams brough their "A" game this season.

Alot of KWS 410 winged sprint regulars didn't go up to Calistoga to run with WOO.

Now you have a WOO race on friday @ Handford so how many KWS guys will run that show?

Then the WOO are going south to PAS,but KWS is running Saturday @ Tulare.

How many winged cars will be running @ PAS saturday ? (18 maybe)

How many KWS  will be at Tulare Saturday ? (24 maybe)

USAC/CRA will have more 410's then WOO @ PAS.

Cars and fans are split once agin.

Ur kidding right? Cause i believe history was made saturday night when brad sweet won. Pretty sure he is the first cali driver to beat the outlaws at stoga being a local

Here is a recap of top 10 finishes Ca drivers/Car results this 2014 WoO swing:

Vegas 1- Paul 1st, Sweet 3rd, Rico 7th, Meyers 9th & TK 10th

Vegas 2- Meyers 3rd, Paul 6th & Sweet 7th

Tulare 1- Paul 3rd, TK 6th & Bud Kaeding 9th

Tulare 2- Rico 1st, Sweet 5th, Stidham 6th, Paul 9th and Gravel in Rod Tiner's car 10th

Stockton- Meyers 4th, Bud 5th, TK 6th, Hirst 10th

Merced- Gravel in Rod Tiner's car 1st, TK 2nd, Hirst 3rd, Paul 5th, Sweet 7th & Rico 10th

Calistoga 1- Sweet 1th, Rico 5th

Calistoga 2- Sweet 2nd, Rico 4th, Paul 7th, TK 8th

Recap of Ca drivers top 10 finishes for 2013 Spring WoO swing:

Vegas 1- Kyle Larson 3rd, TK 4th, Meyers 8th

Vegas 2- TK 1st, Kyle 5th

Tulare 1- TK 1st, Rico 9th

Tulare 2- Allard 2nd, Paul 5th, TK 6th, Meyers 10th

Stockton- Larson 1st, TK 2nd, Paul 5th

Chico Mini Gold Cup- Paul 1st, Shane Golobic 4th, Hirst 7th, TK 10th

Merced- TK 3rd, Paul 5th, Golobic 6th

Antioch- Golobic 1st, TK 4th, Larson 5th, Allard 7th, Hirst 9th

Hanford- Paul 8th, Hirst 9th

There was no misinformation, you just chose to look at things differently than I do. I said "local" so that means (to me) they are not following the WoO tour - so throw out TK, McMahon, and Sweet. Hell when was the last time, Paul McMahon and Brad Sweet ran local 410 shows in Northern California. They were born and raised in California and got their feet wet out here and now looking at how successful their racing careers are speaks volumes about the California racing scene. But that doesn't change the fact that they are no longer local California drivers. If a driver follows the entire King of the West series and was born and raised in Arizona, I would consider them a California local when the WoO come to town. With California being a massive state, you rarely have that occurance as you would say on the other side of the country where you have Posse local drivers Rick Lafferty, Davey Sammons (New Jersey), JJ Grasso (Delaware), and this year - and hopefully more in the future - Justin Barger (New York). You will find those drivers week in and week out in the heart of Posse country. While on the flip side, Pennsylvania resident Tim Shaffer runs mostly in Ohio, so in my opinion he is considered an Ohio local. I refer to locals as drivers you see on a regular basis. So in California's case Jason Meyers, now off the WoO tour, is a local, but TK now back on the full-time tour isn't. That doesn't change the fact that most of California will cheer for TK when he's in town, just like Logan Schuchart will receive a nice ovation when he returns to PA. That's simply how I look at it.

I always enjoy talking with ya Henry, because unlike some others out west you seem to have your head on straight and understand there is racing outside of the Golden State. Looking forward to your response...