7/6/2015
Badger Midget Auto Racing Association
"Abreu last lap Pepsi Nationals Winner "
Rico Abreu scored a thrilling victory leading the final few hundred yards to win the 34th Pepsi Midget Nationals, Sunday Night at Angell Park Speedway. The event was co-sanctioned by the USAC Honda National Midget, POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget,and Zimbrick Chevrolet of Sun Prairie/Mid-State Equipment Badger Midget Series. Abreu joins Dan Boorse as the only driver to win the event and the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in the same year. Boorse turned the feat in 1999.
Pole sitter Ryan Robinson jumped into the lead at the start but was passed by teammate Tanner Thorson before the completion of the opening lap. Fast qualifier Bryan Clauson moved into second place on Lap 3, one lap Clauson slowed bringing out the caution flag. Clauson moved to the tail of the 21-car field on the restart, passing four cars on the first lap under green flag conditions and continued his march through the field, with Thorson in the lead.
At the midway point the four Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian cars ran in positions one through four, with Thorson leading Kevin Thomas Jr., Abreu and Robinson. One lap later USAC points leaderTracy Hines flipped bringing the event to a stop. Abreu moved into second place on Lap 17, with Clauson now running in fifth position.
With five laps remaining Thorson led Abreu by four-car lengths, one lap later the advantage was one-car length. The pair ran in lapped traffic the final two laps. Abreu drove under Thorson entering Turn 4 on the final lap. They exited Turn 4 even, with Abreu gaining a slight advantage on the bottom of the track for the dash to the start/finish line. Abreu finished one-half car length ahead of Thorson in the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Bullet-Toyota No. 97. Kevin Thomas Jr., Clauson and Darren Hagen completed the top five.
“This is a great event with a lot of history, one of the big midget races to win, the car was perfect and I got a run on Tanner coming off of Turn Four” commented Abreu afterwards.
The next event at the track will be Sunday July 19, “The 2nd annual Norm Nelson Classic” featuring IRA Bumper to Bumper Outlaw Sprint Car Series, Badger Midget Series,and Wisconsin Dirt Racing Legends.
SUMMARY
MIDGETS
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Bryan Clauson, 63, RKR/Curb-Agajanian-14.316; 2. Rico Abreu, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.333; 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 67k, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.372; 4. Bill Balog, 57, Ecker-14.467; 5. Austin Brown, 7, Brown-14.539; 6. Davey Ray, 33, Team RAY-14.600; 7. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.606; 8. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.620; 9. Jimi Quinn, 8, Quinn-14.647; 10. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-14.677; 11. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-14.699; 12. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Klaasmeyer-14.724; 13. Darren Hagen, 17, Brown-14.727; 14. Andrew Felker, 11a, Felker-14.776; 15. Kyle Schuett, 9k, Schuett-14.821; 16. Spencer Bayston, 39, Clauson-14.960; 17. David Budres, 31, Manic-15.061; 18. Katlynn Leer, 77, Leer-15.107; 19. Eric Johnson, 82, Johnson-15.345; 20. Brandon Waelti, 19, Triple H-15.552; 21. Kurt Mayhew, 21k, Mayhew-16.003; 22. Scott Zane, 77x, Zane-16.790; 23. Isaac Chapple, 52, Chapple-32.487; 24. Cody Weisensel, 20, Weisensel-NT.
10-lap Heat Race Winners: Bayston, T. Thomas, Quinn.
30-lap Feature: 1. Rico Abreu, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Bryan Clauson, 5. Darren Hagen, 6. Andrew Felker, 7. Spencer Bayston, 8. Ryan Robinson, 9. Tyler Thomas, 10. Kyle Schuett, 11. Isaac Chapple, 12. Kurt Mayhew, 13. Austin Brown, 14. Tracy Hines, 15. Katlynn Leer, 16. Eric Johnson, 17. Jimi Quinn, 18. Bill Balog, 19. David Budres, 20. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 21. Cody Weisensel.
Article Credit: Bryan Gapinski