Make It 10 For Abreu In A High Limit Thriller At The Burg

LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. – Rico Abreu capped arguably the biggest day in his professional life with one of the most dramatic victories in Kubota High Limit Racing history.

Barely six hours after announcing his move to Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing for 2026, Abreu brought his own sprint car to the fore by winning a Wednesday night photo finish at Lawrenceburg Speedway in the Driven2SaveLives Battle at the Burg.

Though Abreu led 25 of 30 laps at the high-banked, three-eighths-mile dirt track, it was the final revolution that brought fans in attendance and at home to their feet.

As he went to the middle lane to try and lap slower traffic coming to the checkered flag, Abreu lost a bit of momentum, allowing both Daison Pursley below him and third-running Aaron Reutzel – roaring up on the outside – to both get a look at the lead in the final corner.

Reutzel came steaming up on the top groove on the frontstretch, but simply ran out of racetrack before the start-finish line, with Abreu hanging on by a scant .026 seconds for his 10th High Limit victory of the year and the record-extending 22nd of his career.

Wednesday’s night’s race – also part of High Limit’s Roto-Rooter Midweek Series – was the second-closest finish in the three-year history of the sanctioning body.

“That was demanding,” said Abreu in Whiskey Myers Victory Lane. “The [No.] 14 [Corey Day] was setting a torrid pace there in traffic once he got past me for the lead, and I just misjudged a couple of slide jobs and let those guys catch up to me.

“It sucked for him to get a flat [tire] there [under red] because it would have been nice to race them out there at the end of the race, but I was doing all I could just to hold on,” Abreu added. “But to get our 10th High Limit win on the season and 17th overall … it’s pretty incredible for myself and my crew guys to continue following our dreams.

“It’s a bunch of passionate guys working on this race car and I’m very fortunate to have a bunch of hard-working people around me making all this possible.”

Abreu led from the initial jump, but tire issues quickly became the theme of the 30-lap feature, starting with the first caution on lap 12 when Cale Thomas slowed from eighth with a shredded right rear.

The restart saw Abreu initially get away, but as he again caught the back of the field, Day had worked his way into the second position and was ready to pounce as he scythed through traffic with ease.

A perfectly-timed run off the top of turn two with 12 to go allowed Day to slip through the middle – between Abreu and the lap car of Justin Clark – and take the top spot with authority.

Day then led laps 19 through 23, opening up more than a second on Abreu, before the latter made contact with Sterling Cling that sent Cling’s car onto its side in turn one.

That generated a red flag and all sorts of chaos in its wake, as first Day and then incoming Midweek Series point leader Tanner Thorson developed flat rear tires that required trips to the work area to be changed.

Both were able to return, but Day’s shot at the win was over and Abreu was left in control to the finish, despite Reutzel’s stunning last-gasp charge.

After coming up just short of a return to victory lane, Reutzel was matter-of-fact in his description of the final lap. Notably, he was more than a second behind the leader when he crossed under the white flag.

“Rico was protecting on the last lap, and [Daison] Pursley was still kind of going for it, so I had nothing to lose in trying to get the big run off the top,” Reutzel explained. “I wish there’d been a few more laps, as a lot of people say, but we were good in traffic and could move around throughout that race.”

Pursley ran second to Abreu for most of the final stint before having to settle for the final podium place. It gave him his third straight top three in High Limit action, including his recent breakthrough win at Pennsylvania’s Lernerville Speedway.

Birthday boy Justin Peck, who turned 27 Wednesday, was fourth and Brad Sweet closed the top five. Day clawed back all the way to sixth at the finish line.

With Abreu winning and Thorson finishing 10th, Abreu took over the Midweek Money Series point lead by six while also extending his overall High Limit advantage over Sweet as well.

The Midweek Money Series concludes Wednesday night, Oct. 15 at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., while the national tour heads to iconic Eldora Speedway on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 19-20, for two nights of racing during the annual 4-Crown Nationals.

RESULTS: Kubota High Limit Racing; Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway; Sept. 17, 2025

Capital Custom Trailers Qualifying (best of two laps): 1. 42-Sye Lynch, 12.333; 2. 13-Daison Pursley, 12.357; 3. 24-Rico Abreu, 12.390; 4. 26-Justin Peck, 12.411; 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 12.419; 6. 71-Parker Price Miller, 12.419; 7. 14-Corey Day, 12.542; 8. 21H-Brady Bacon, 12.546; 9. 1A-Ashton Torgerson, 12.559; 10. 7BC-Giovanni Scelzi, 12.571; 11. 49-Brad Sweet, 12.579; 12. 101-Kalib Henry, 12.580; 13. 5-Brenham Crouch, 12.583; 14. 34-Sterling Cling, 12.599; 15. 19-Brent Marks, 12.608; 16. 49X-Cale Thomas, 12.625; 17. 24D-Danny Sams III, 12.660; 18. 9-Chase Randall, 12.662; 19. 19JR-Joel Myers Jr., 12.721; 20. 5J-Jeremy Weaver, 12.768; 21. 19P-T.J. Michael, 12.789; 22. 78-Justin Clark, 12.881; 23. 88-Tanner Thorson, 12.902.

TJ Forged Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. 14-Corey Day [2]; 2. 26-Justin Peck [1]; 3. 42-Sye Lynch [4]; 4. 49X-Cale Thomas [6]; 5. 7BC-Giovanni Scelzi [3]; 6. 5-Brenham Crouch [5]; 7. 19JR-Joel Myers Jr. [7]; 8. 78-Justin Clark [8].

DMI Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel [1]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet [3]; 3. 13-Daison Pursley [4]; 4. 21H-Brady Bacon [2]; 5. 34-Sterling Cling [5]; 6. 88-Tanner Thorson [8]; 7. 24D-Danny Sams III [6]; 8. 5J-Jeremy Weaver [7].

BR Motorsports Heat #3 (8 laps): 1. 71-Parker Price Miller [1]; 2. 1A-Ashton Torgerson [2]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [4]; 4. 9-Chase Randall [6]; 5. 101-Kalib Henry [3]; 6. 19-Brent Marks [5]; 7. 19P-T.J. Michael [7].

FK Rod Ends Dash (7 laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu [2]; 2. 13-Daison Pursley [1]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel [3]; 4. 14-Corey Day [5]; 5. 71-Parker Price Miller [4]; 6. 42-Sye Lynch [6].

Kubota A-Feature (30 laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [3]; 3. 13-Daison Pursley [2]; 4. 26-Justin Peck [7]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet [8]; 6. 14-Corey Day [4]; 7. 71-Parker Price Miller [5]; 8. 9-Chase Randall [12]; 9. 21H-Brady Bacon [11]; 10. 88-Tanner Thorson [17]; 11. 19-Brent Marks [18]; 12. 5-Brenham Crouch [16]; 13. 1A-Ashton Torgerson [9]; 14. 7BC-Giovanni Scelzi [13]; 15. 42-Sye Lynch [6]; 16. 101-Kalib Henry [15]; 17. 19JR-Joel Myers Jr. [19]; 18. 78-Justin Clark [22]; 19. 19P-T.J. Michael [21]; 20. 24D-Danny Sams III [20]; 21. 49X-Cale Thomas [10]; 22. 34-Sterling Cling [14]; 23. 5J-Jeremy Weaver [23].