RPW Exclusive: Rico Wins First High Limit Racing Sprint Car Event Of ’24 At Utica In First Trip To NY

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Column By: MARTY CZEKALA / RPW – VERNON, NY – Rico Abreu entered this week having never raced a dirt car in the Empire State.
After this week? Batting .500 is not bad.

Abreu took home his first Kubota High Limit win of the season at Utica-Rome Speedway Friday in a green-to-checkered 25-lap feature.

“To be able to work through and process just shows the structure we have here,” Abreu told RPW post-race.

Abreu took the lead on lap seven from Brent Marks with a pass in turns three and four, followed by using Davie Franek as a pick to open up ground on Marks and Justin Peck.

“I waited for the pace to slow down,” Abreu says. “I didn’t want to show Brent my nose too early. I knew I was gaining on him off two and four and kept inching away at him.”

Marks and Peck brought the field to green. Marks started on the pole after winning the dash and recording the only 16-second lap in qualifying by a half second. Marks jumped out to the advantage with Abreu second after going three-wide underneath Peck and Spencer Bayston.

Abreu started chipping away at Marks’ lead, and once they started approaching backmarkers, Abreu wasted no time, taking the lead with 17 to go. That was all she wrote.

“It was a beautiful trip,” Abreu says. “Beautiful part of the country. Hope we can come back and race more.”

Peck recorded his best finish of the season in second after holding off James McFadden. When Abreu took the lead, there was a chance that Peck could overtake both Abreu and Marks, but unable to get it done.

“I put myself in pretty good spots, but there was one point where I tried to go high around a lapped car and got tricked up,” Peck told RPW post-race. “Even after that, I knew it was going to be smooth sailing. If I was able to get momentum, I think I would’ve had a shot. Happy with the way things turned out tonight.”

James McFadden continues to come close to that High Limit victory, finishing third for his third podium of the season.

“Solid night. I sometimes struggle on tracks like this, but I think we’ve found a package for slicker style tracks,” says McFadden. “I was really good before it took rubber, and then I got tight.”

A successful weekend for High Limit’s first trip to New York, with stacked crowds and a stacked field. Friday’s car count was 40, bringing the average in New York this week to 38. It is one of the highest car counts for 410 Sprint Car racing in recent years.

High Limit returns to action May 25-26 at Port Royal for a $75k to win show.

Kubota A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu[3]; 2. 13-Justin Peck[2]; 3. 83-James McFadden[5]; 4. 19-Brent Marks[1]; 5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[7]; 6. 49-Brad Sweet[9]; 7. 5-Spencer Bayston[4]; 8. 9P-Parker Price Miller[6]; 9. 14-Corey Day[8]; 10. 10B-Kerry Madsen[11]; 11. 39M-Anthony Macri[10]; 12. 79-Jordan Thomas[15]; 13. 66-Ryan Newton[16]; 14. 48-Danny Dietrich[14]; 15. 26-Zeb Wise[12]; 16. 55-Chris Windom[18]; 17. 28-Jordan Poirier[13]; 18. 1A-Jacob Allen[19]; 19. 88-Tanner Thorson[22]; 20. 42-Sye Lynch[23]; 21. 10-Mark Smith[20]; 22. 1-Brenham Crouch[17]; 23. 88C-Chad Miller[21]; 24. 28F-Davie Franek[24]

B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 88C-Chad Miller[1]; 2. 88-Tanner Thorson[4]; 3. 42-Sye Lynch[5]; 4. 28F-Davie Franek[3]; 5. 9-Kasey Kahne[2]; 6. 21-Jonathan Preston[6]; 7. 17-Dylan Norris[8]; 8. 8-Cory Eliason[7]; 9. 3-Denny Peebles[12]; 10. 10X-Reese Nowotarski[11]; 11. 2-Dave Axton[14]; 12. 3P-Parker Evans[16]; 13. 29-Logan McCandless[18]; 14. 4P-Chase Moran[13]; 15. 7NY-Matt Farnham[17]; 16. 10K-Joe Kata[20]; 17. 53-Shawn Donath[10]; 18. 01-Danny Varin[9]; 19. 66H-Jordan Hutton[15]; 20. 17R-Sammy Reakes IV[19]

FK Rod Ends Dash (7 Laps): 1. 19-Brent Marks[1]; 2. 13-Justin Peck[2]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu[3]; 4. 5-Spencer Bayston[4]; 5. 83-James McFadden[6]; 6. 9P-Parker Price Miller[5]; 7. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[7]; 8. 14-Corey Day[8]

TJ Forged Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Justin Peck[2]; 2. 19-Brent Marks[4]; 3. 10B-Kerry Madsen[1]; 4. 79-Jordan Thomas[5]; 5. 1-Brenham Crouch[3]; 6. 28F-Davie Franek[8]; 7. 42-Sye Lynch[6]; 8. 01-Danny Varin[7]; 9. 4P-Chase Moran[9]; 10. 7NY-Matt Farnham[10]

DMI Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9P-Parker Price Miller[6]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[1]; 3. 28-Jordan Poirier[2]; 4. 83-James McFadden[4]; 5. 1A-Jacob Allen[3]; 6. 88C-Chad Miller[5]; 7. 8-Cory Eliason[7]; 8. 10X-Reese Nowotarski[9]; 9. 66H-Jordan Hutton[8]; 10. (DNF) 17R-Sammy Reakes IV[10]

BR Motorsports Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu[1]; 2. 39M-Anthony Macri[5]; 3. 14-Corey Day[4]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich[2]; 5. 55-Chris Windom[6]; 6. 9-Kasey Kahne[3]; 7. 21-Jonathan Preston[7]; 8. 53-Shawn Donath[8]; 9. 2-Dave Axton[10]; 10. 29-Logan McCandless[9]

Winters Performance Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[1]; 2. 5-Spencer Bayston[4]; 3. 26-Zeb Wise[2]; 4. 66-Ryan Newton[7]; 5. 10-Mark Smith[5]; 6. 88-Tanner Thorson[3]; 7. 17-Dylan Norris[6]; 8. 3-Denny Peebles[9]; 9. 3P-Parker Evans[8]; 10. 10K-Joe Kata[10]

Capital Custom Trailers Qualifying A: 1. 19-Brent Marks, 00:16.790[2]; 2. 83-James McFadden, 00:17.364[13]; 3. 10B-Kerry Madsen, 00:17.428[3]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet, 00:17.488[18]; 5. 13-Justin Peck, 00:17.698[20]; 6. 28-Jordan Poirier, 00:17.724[1]; 7. 1-Brenham Crouch, 00:17.957[5]; 8. 1A-Jacob Allen, 00:18.126[11]; 9. 79-Jordan Thomas, 00:18.134[8]; 10. 88C-Chad Miller, 00:18.244[14]; 11. 42-Sye Lynch, 00:18.251[6]; 12. 9P-Parker Price Miller, 00:18.268[19]; 13. 01-Danny Varin, 00:18.400[17]; 14. 8-Cory Eliason, 00:18.431[10]; 15. 28F-Davie Franek, 00:18.790[4]; 16. 66H-Jordan Hutton, 00:18.931[15]; 17. 4P-Chase Moran, 00:19.209[7]; 18. 10X-Reese Nowotarski, 00:19.406[9]; 19. 7NY-Matt Farnham, 00:19.423[16]; 20. 17R-Sammy Reakes IV, 00:19.423[12]

Capital Custom Trailers Qualifying B: 1. 14-Corey Day, 00:17.252[1]; 2. 5-Spencer Bayston, 00:17.536[19]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu, 00:17.540[14]; 4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 00:17.645[15]; 5. 48-Danny Dietrich, 00:17.837[4]; 6. 26-Zeb Wise, 00:18.063[7]; 7. 9-Kasey Kahne, 00:18.092[16]; 8. 88-Tanner Thorson, 00:18.282[8]; 9. 39M-Anthony Macri, 00:18.289[9]; 10. 10-Mark Smith, 00:18.518[6]; 11. 55-Chris Windom, 00:18.909[2]; 12. 17-Dylan Norris, 00:18.949[3]; 13. 21-Jonathan Preston, 00:19.279[20]; 14. 66-Ryan Newton, 00:19.353[12]; 15. 53-Shawn Donath, 00:19.358[13]; 16. 3P-Parker Evans, 00:19.409[18]; 17. 29-Logan McCandless, 00:19.454[5]; 18. 3-Denny Peebles, 00:20.083[17]; 19. 2-Dave Axton, 00:20.134[10]; 20. 10K-Joe Kata, 00:20.433[11]

Dirt Draft Hot Laps: 1. 28F-Davie Franek, 00:17.377[4]; 2. 14-Corey Day, 00:17.483[21]; 3. 9P-Parker Price Miller, 00:17.536[19]; 4. 19-Brent Marks, 00:17.558[2]; 5. 1-Brenham Crouch, 00:17.575[5]; 6. 28-Jordan Poirier, 00:17.600[1]; 7. 42-Sye Lynch, 00:17.649[6]; 8. 79-Jordan Thomas, 00:17.924[8]; 9. 1A-Jacob Allen, 00:17.950[11]; 10. 01-Danny Varin, 00:18.063[17]; 11. 49-Brad Sweet, 00:18.132[18]; 12. 24-Rico Abreu, 00:18.132[34]; 13. 4P-Chase Moran, 00:18.140[7]; 14. 8-Cory Eliason, 00:18.146[10]; 15. 5-Spencer Bayston, 00:18.148[39]; 16. 83-James McFadden, 00:18.214[13]; 17. 88C-Chad Miller, 00:18.325[14]; 18. 10X-Reese Nowotarski, 00:18.332[9]; 19. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 00:18.349[35]; 20. 7NY-Matt Farnham, 00:18.386[16]; 21. 48-Danny Dietrich, 00:18.495[24]; 22. 26-Zeb Wise, 00:18.708[27]; 23. 88-Tanner Thorson, 00:18.741[28]; 24. 17-Dylan Norris, 00:18.775[23]; 25. 39M-Anthony Macri, 00:18.897[29]; 26. 21-Jonathan Preston, 00:18.938[40]; 27. 9-Kasey Kahne, 00:19.027[36]; 28. 53-Shawn Donath, 00:19.032[33]; 29. 13-Justin Peck, 00:19.048[20]; 30. 55-Chris Windom, 00:19.199[22]; 31. 66H-Jordan Hutton, 00:19.240[15]; 32. 10-Mark Smith, 00:19.312[26]; 33. 29-Logan McCandless, 00:19.353[25]; 34. 2-Dave Axton, 00:19.390[30]; 35. 66-Ryan Newton, 00:19.418[32]; 36. 10K-Joe Kata, 00:19.481[31]; 37. 3-Denny Peebles, 00:20.188[37]; 38. (DNF) 3P-Parker Evans, 00:20.188[38]; 39. (DNF) 10B-Kerry Madsen, 00:20.188[3]; 40. (DNF) 17R-Sammy Reakes IV, 00:20.188[12]

 
 
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