Robbie Price led 28 of 35 laps in Race 8 of the 2023 High Limit Sprint Car Series at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, South Dakota until Rico Abreu slid into the lead with seven laps remaining to claim his second series win.
It was the second career High Limit win for Abreu and his second in the last three races after finishing second to Larson in back-to-back races.
“I knew the tire pressures were going to come into play there at the end,” Abreu said while standing on the frontstretch. “That was a lot of hard racing. I was trying to slow everything down when we got going 100 miles an hour on a long run. The tires can get really hot. You just have to process everything.
“This is probably the most demanding track we come to in a season - a fast pace like that. The mistake factor is very minimal, Price did an amazing job there. If the roles were reversed, he probably would have done the same thing to me.”
Winner of the inaugural High Limit race last year, Michael “Buddy” Kofoid followed Abreu through during the late-race pass to finish second.
“Traffic was going to make it interesting, “Kofoid said. “When I was second to Robbie (and) once I got clear of some of the lappers I was able to inch forward to Robbie. ... I felt pretty damned good for the most part. I stumbled at the top one time into (Turns) 3 and 4 and that was the only time I got tight. That let Rico by.”
Starting from the pole, Price took the lead early in a race that took a while to find its rhythm.
In the early cautions, Abreu slowly picked off positions, picking off Brendan Mullen early and passing Aaron Reutzel on the second start. Abreu passed Kofoid on Lap 7 and settled into a trailing position to Price.
But Abreu’s day almost ended in Lap 13. He drifted high on the frontstretch and scrapped the wall, allowing Kofoid to get back into the battle for second.
Price built a comfortable lead until one more caution changed the character of the race for the final time.
With seven laps remaining, Corey Day’s engine erupted in smoke on the frontstretch. Price held off the field in the first two restarts; he would not make it three for three as Abreu threw a slide job in Turn 2 on the first lap of the restart, bringing Kofoid along with him.
The Kokomo Speedway winner Justin Peck was involved in an early race multi-car pileup that including Kasey Kahne, who needed a complete replacement of his front axle. Kahne recovered to finish 15th.
The race was red flagged twice allowing drivers ample time to make repairs. Peck sustained enough damage to keep from lining back up after the initial start. Immediately after that restart, Abreu sent Brendan Mullen into a spin at the front of the pack that collected another pair of cars.
The second restart lasted for two laps before Ryan Timms, driving a damaged car from an earlier incident, jumped the cushion, slammed the wall and brought the caution out again. Eight cars were eliminated in the first three cautions.
The night did not go very well for Larson. Qualifying 16th in a packed field of 47 cars, Larson was forced to play catchup from the beginning. He started the race 17th, benefitted from the early retirement of eight cars and drove to sixth at the checkers. It was the first time this season that he failed to crack the top five and it snapped a six-race streak of podium finishes.
Larson leads the championship points’ standings by 33 points. High Limit awards 100 points to the winner, 95 to the second-place finisher, 92 to third and then decrements by two points to ninth and one point to 24th.
Three races remain in the series. Next up: Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pennsylvania on September 26.
Results
A Feature (35 Laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu[5]; 2. 83JR-Michael Kofoid[2]; 3. 7S-Robbie Price[1]; 4. 55-Kerry Madsen[6]; 5. 39M-Justin Sanders[8]; 6. 57-Kyle Larson[17]; 7. 8-Aaron Reutzel[4]; 8. 3-Tim Kaeding[23]; 9. 22K-Kaleb Johnson[15]; 10. 11-Cory Eliason[9]; 11. 83-Justin Henderson[14]; 12. 16-Brooke Tatnell[22]; 13. 21T-Cole Macedo[21]; 14. 3J-Dusty Zomer[25]; 15. 9K-Kasey Kahne[11]; 16. 24T-Christopher Thram[20]; 17. 14D-Corey Day[24]; 18. 88-Austin McCarl[19]; 19. 5T-Ryan Timms[7]; 20. 11M-Brendan Mullen[3]; 21. 9-Chase Randall[10]; 22. 84-Scott Bogucki[12]; 23. 13-Justin Peck[13]; 24. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[18]; 25. 22-Riley Goodno[16]
2023 High Limit Sprint Car Series
Race 1: Giovanni Scelzi wins at Lakeside Speedway
Race2: Anthony Macri wins at 34 Raceway
Race 3: Kyle Larson wins at Wayne County Speedway
Race 4: Kyle Larson wins at Tri-City Speedway
Race 5: Kyle Larson wins three in a row at Eagle
Race 6: No longer the bridesmaid: Rico Abreu snaps Larson streak
Race 7: Justin Peck outruns Kyle Larson at Kokomo
