Rico Abreu scores $10,000 in Attica Ambush finale at Attica Raceway Park

Photo Credit: Mike Campbell

Rico Abreu scores $10,000 in Attica Ambush finale at Attica Raceway Park

ATTICA, Ohio (September 5, 2020) – It did not come easy, but St. Helena, California’s Rico Abreu left the home of “Ohio’s Finest Racing” on Saturday evening as an Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 winner, scoring the Attica Ambush finale at Attica Raceway Park for a $10,000 payday. Abreu, who started second on the feature grid, led the final 27 circuits to nail down the five-figure winner’s share, but was forced to fend off the likes of Trey Jacobs and Aaron Reutzel along the way.

His first since cashing in for $5,000 at Muskingum County Speedway in July, Abreu is now a two-time All Star winner in 2020, bumping his career total to nine in the process.

Two-time and defending Series champion, Aaron Reutzel, finished second in the Ambush finale, followed by Cap Henry, Ian Madsen and Trey Jacobs.

“That’s an intense 40 laps here,” an elated Rico Abreu said in victory lane, driver of the Rico Abreu/Curb Agajanian Racing/Abreu Vineyards/Curb Records/Lucas Oil Products/Whistle Stop Bar and Grill/Self Made Racing/Salty’s BBQ/Dancer Logistics/J. Davidson Scrap Metals/Wiser Golf/ShopRico.com/No. 24 sprint car. “You really have to be patient and know that your car is going to keep coming to you. Wow, what a crowd. This is great for Attica.”

Although starting from the outside-pole position, it was polesitter and Wooster, Ohio-native Trey Jacobs who earned the initial jump, driving away from Abreu and Cale Thomas to lead the first circuit. A caution on lap two would freeze the running order the first time giving Abreu a second chance at snagging command. The ensuing restart would prove to do Abreu a favor, ultimately utilizing his momentum to sneak up on Jacobs and capture the lead by lap five.

Despite Abreu’s attempts in maintaining a quick pace around the outer edge of the speedway, it was Jacobs who kept his focus on the bottom and eventually tracked down the leader, first losing a drag race on the frontstretch before regaining control officially on lap 12. A caution on lap 13 would pause the race yet again giving Abreu another chance to restart on the tailtank of Jacobs. As displayed before, Abreu took advantage of the restart and worked up enough momentum to slingshot around Jacobs on lap 14.

In the meantime, Aaron Reutzel was on the move, powering his way to third from sixth by lap 15 before getting by Jacobs to take second with 25 circuits in. By lap 30, the heat was on between Abreu and Reutzel, racing nearly nose-to-tail for the next several circuits. The Baughman-Reutzel Motorsports entry showed Abreu its nose on a few occasions, and even with periods of slower traffic playing in Reutzel’s favor, Abreu never faltered. At the finish, Abreu and Reutzel were separated by a mere-1.08 seconds.

“I knew Reutzel was pressuring me, or somebody was pressuring me. You can kinda sense those things,” Rico Abreu continued. “I moved around, but I was just way too free on the bottom. I could keep my car really propped up on the top. Just hats off to my team. We enjoy coming to Attica and we’re already looking forward to coming back.”

“That was all I had,” Aaron Reutzel said after finishing second. “I didn’t realize the race was about to end when it did. I’m not sure what more I could have done. I got to where I could run the top really hard and he started to get tight. I tried to move to the bottom with the intent to get him to move to the bottom, which he did for a little bit, but I didn’t capitalize. I felt like my car was getting better and better, but it was so hard to get runs.”

What’s Next:
The Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will continue the month of September with a three-day stay at Port Royal Speedway on Thursday through Saturday, September 10-12. The 53rd running of the Tuscarora 50 is on the weekend agenda awarding a top prize equaling $53,000 on Saturday night. The All Star blockbuster, the highest paying program on the 2020 schedule, will kick-off with a pair of $6,000-to-win preliminary main events on Thursday and Friday. For more information, please visit Port Royal Speedway online at www.portroyalspeedway.com.

Contingency Awards/Results: Attica Raceway Park – September 5, 2020:
Event: Attica Ambush Finale

Entries: 32

C&R Racing Warm-Ups: Aaron Reutzel – 13.289

Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Jac Haudenschild – 13.344

Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Aaron Reutzel

All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Rico Abreu

Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Cale Thomas

Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Trey Jacobs

Kear’s Speed Shop Dash #1 Winner: Trey Jacobs

Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash #2 Winner: Rico Abreu

Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Jordan Ryan

Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: DJ Netto

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Rico Abreu

Hercules Tire A-Main Hard Charger: DJ Foos (+8)

Qualifying

Group (A)

1. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 13.344; 2. 28-Tim Shaffer, 13.344; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 13.368; 4. 4-Cap Henry, 13.398; 5. 97-Max Stambaugh, 13.451; 6. 19R-Jordan Ryan, 13.470; 7. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.485; 8. 23-Cole Macedo, 13.492

Group (B)

1. 24-Rico Abreu, 13.349; 2. 17-Ian Madsen, 13.863; 3. 49D-Shawn Dancer, 13.868; 4. 55m-McKenna Haase, 13.896; 5. 5T-Travis Philo, 13.931; 6. W20-Greg Wilson, 14.264; 7. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 14.657; 8. 88N-Frank Neill, 14.810

Group (C)

1. 26-Cory Eliason, 13.513; 2. 71-Shane Stewart, 13.768; 3. 15k-Chad Kemenah, 13.835; 4. 70-Cale Thomas, 13.951; 5. 11-Zeb Wise, 14.037; 6. 11N-DJ Netto, 14.129; 7. 21N-Frankie Nervo, 14.811; 8. 3C-Cale Conley, 99.220

Group (D)

1. 13-Paul McMahan, 13.928; 2. 99-Skylar Gee, 14.007; 3. 77I-John Ivy, 14.273; 4. 3J-Trey Jacobs, 14.289; 5. 16-DJ Foos, 14.317; 6. 9Z-Duane Zablocki, 14.508; 7. 8M-TJ Michael, 14.641; 8. 5R-Byron Reed, 14.715

Heat #1 – Group (A) (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer

1. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 2. 4-Cap Henry [1]; 3. 28-Tim Shaffer [3]; 4. 3-Jac Haudenschild [4]; 5. 97-Max Stambaugh [5]; 6. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [7]; 7. 19R-Jordan Ryan [6]; 8. 23-Cole Macedo [8]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer

1. 24-Rico Abreu [4]; 2. 17-Ian Madsen [3]; 3. W20-Greg Wilson [6]; 4. 35-Stuart Brubaker [7]; 5. 5T-Travis Philo [5]; 6. 49D-Shawn Dancer [2]; 7. 88N-Frank Neill [8]; 8. 55M-McKenna Haase [1]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer

1. 70-Cale Thomas [1]; 2. 71-Shane Stewart [3]; 3. 26-Cory Eliason [4]; 4. 3C-Cale Conley [8]; 5. 15K-Chad Kemenah [2]; 6. 11-Zeb Wise [5]; 7. 11N-DJ Netto [6]; 8. 21N-Frankie Nervo [7]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer

1. 3J-Trey Jacobs [1]; 2. 99-Skylar Gee [3]; 3. 77I-John Ivy [2]; 4. 8M-TJ Michael [7]; 5. 13-Paul McMahan [4]; 6. 5R-Byron Reed [8]; 7. 16-DJ Foos [5]; 8. 9Z-Duane Zablocki [6]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)

1. 3J-Trey Jacobs [2]; 2. 70-Cale Thomas [1]; 3. 28-Tim Shaffer [4]; 4. 3-Jac Haudenschild [5]; 5. 26-Cory Eliason [3]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)

1. 24-Rico Abreu [2]; 2. 17-Ian Madsen [1]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel [3]; 4. 4-Cap Henry [4]; 5. 13-Paul McMahan [5]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer

1. 19R-Jordan Ryan [1]; 2. 5R-Byron Reed [5]; 3. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [2]; 4. 16-DJ Foos [7]; 5. 11N-DJ Netto [6]; 6. 11-Zeb Wise [4]; 7. 49D-Shawn Dancer [3]; 8. 9Z-Duane Zablocki [10]; 9. 55M-McKenna Haase [9]; 10. 88N-Frank Neill [8]; 11. 21N-Frankie Nervo [11]

A-Main (40 Laps)

1. 24-Rico Abreu [2]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [6]; 3. 4-Cap Henry [8]; 4. 17-Ian Madsen [4]; 5. 3J-Trey Jacobs [1]; 6. 28-Tim Shaffer [5]; 7. W20-Greg Wilson [13]; 8. 26-Cory Eliason [9]; 9. 71-Shane Stewart [11]; 10. 70-Cale Thomas [3]; 11. 8M-TJ Michael [15]; 12. 3C-Cale Conley [17]; 13. 97-Max Stambaugh [18]; 14. 19R-Jordan Ryan [21]; 15. 99-Skylar Gee [12]; 16. 16-DJ Foos [24]; 17. 5T-Travis Philo [20]; 18. 5R-Byron Reed [22]; 19. 15K-Chad Kemenah [19]; 20. 11-Zeb Wise [25]; 21. 3-Jac Haudenschild [7]; 22. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [23]; 23. 13-Paul McMahan [10]; 24. 77I-John Ivy [14]; 25. 35-Stuart Brubaker [16] Lap Leaders: Trey Jacobs (1-4), Rico Abreu (5-11), Trey Jacobs (12, 13), Rico Abreu (14-40)

2020 All Star Circuit of Champions Driver Standings: (As of September 5, 2020)
1. Aaron Reutzel – 4978
2. Cory Eliason – 4868
3. Zeb Wise – 4614
4. Paul McMahan – 4434
5. Skylar Gee – 4352
6. Greg Wilson – 4216
7. Josh Baughman – 3858
8. Danny Dietrich – 2770
9. Brock Zearfoss – 2652
10. Kyle Larson – 2642

Contact: Tyler Altmeyer

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1

(724) 954-4915, pr@tonystewart.com