Rico Abreu Wins “The Knight Before” And $25,000

Rico Abreu competing at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, OH (Photo: Trent Gower | World Racing Group)

ROSSBURG, Ohio — Continuing on with the King’s Royal weekend festivities, the World of Outlaws sprint car series took over from High Limit Racing to host a 30-lap, $25,000-to-win race called “The Knight Before.”

Tyler Courtney and Rico Abreu led the 28-car stacked field to the starting zone in Turn 4. Courtney shot out to the lead initially, but Abreu got on the bottom of Courtney and got by him coming down the backstretch to jump into the lead entering the corner.

Just as Courtney was recovering from such a quick first-place loss, David Gravel came up on his inside and was side-by-side with him throughout the straightaways and corners. It took him four more laps, but Courtney messed up by hitting the cushion a little bit strange and Gravel capitalized on it, passing him to claim second and put two car lengths between himself and Courtney.

Lap 13 saw a three-wide battle for fourth with Parker Price-Miller, Logan Schuchart and James McFadden. Coming off of Turn 2, Price-Miller went down low and swept himself up in front of Schuchart, taking over fourth. Schuchart went low going into Turn 3 to try and get back under him, but could not do it because McFadden was right there and stuck his nose in between the two of them. Eventually, Schuchart got by both of them by staying on the bottom.

On Lap 18, Abreu lost the lead to Gravel. As they raced side-by-side down the backstretch, Gravel went down low coming into the corner and got by Abreu for the lead. And instead of sliding up in front of him to seal the deal and cut him off, Gravel stayed on the bottom and maintained the lead coming out of Turn 4 to lead Lap 19.

David Gravel competing at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, OH (Photo: Trent Gower | World Racing Group)

Turns 3 and 4 seemed to be the passing zone of the night as Abreu returned the favor to Gravel coming out of Turn 3 and into Turn 4 to lead Lap 20. But coming into the next corner, Gravel went up high and got him up there going into the second turn. Abreu and Gravel kept sliding each other, but it was Gravel who came out victorious and put three car lengths between himself and the badass midget.

With four laps remaining, Abreu knew he had to do something to get the lead back. He watched as Gravel passed two lap cars and followed suit. Once he had some clean air in front of him, he fired on all cylinders and pushed the pedal to the metal to chase after Gravel for the lead. Coming down the front chute they were neck-and-neck and going into the corner Abreu went up high and got Gravel going into Turn 2, putting five car lengths between them.

One lap remaining, Gravel tried a last gasp attempt by trying to split a lap car with Abreu, but it did not work out in his favor and he finished runner-up to Abreu. Schuchart, Donny Schatz and Courtney rounded out the top five.

“These moments get intense while you’re out there racing,” said Abreu during an emotional Victory Lane speech. “You just gotta be really patient with your feet and really consistent and just understand the balance of your car. It makes me really emotional to race with these guys.”