GAS CITY, Ind. — The result of an all-out slugfest, Ohio’s Cap Henry won his first FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 feature of the season during All Stars Indiana Invasion presented by Rayce Rudeen Foundation competition at Gas City I-69 Speedway Saturday night.
Henry, who now owns five career All Star victories, earned a $6,000 payday from the front row, forced to outduel and outwit Rico Abreu.
Adding some flair to the record books, Henry’s victory occurred during just the second visit to the quarter-mile track.
“You know when you’re racing Rico, it’s never going to be easy,” Henry said. “I felt bad kinda using up the lappers there near the end, but we were racing for the win. My guys have been working so hard this year. We had a bad start to the year, so I wasn’t about to throw that one away.”
Although starting outside the front row, Henry, aboard the Lane Racing, Blake’s Hard Cider, No. 4 sprint car, did not earn the lead initially. Instead, Abreu, who started alongside Henry on the front row, got the early jump, maintaining control of the field for the first 15 circuits while surviving three early-race restarts and the initial run-in with traffic.
Abreu’s confrontation with a two-to-three wide traffic jam allowed Henry to close in on the Rico Abreu/Curb Agajanian Racing No. 24 sprint car, eventually working his way around Abreu with a slick move off of turn four on lap 16.
By lap 22, Abreu was back on Henry’s heels, capitalizing after the Buckeye nearly made contact with a backmarker. A slider through turns three and four would ultimately give the lap to Abreu, but Henry quickly returned the favor and resumed the point with a move of his own in the very next corner.
A late-race caution on lap 26 gave Henry the breather that he needed. With traffic no longer a factor, Henry went on to navigate the final five circuits with ease, claiming high honors by a final margin of victory of 1.210 seconds.
Abreu held on to finish second, followed by Bill Balog, Kerry Madsen and Justin Peck.
“The top was definitely the way to go tonight. You just had to try and rip it,” Henry added. “I was getting kinda lucky because the lappers that I got stuck behind were setting a pretty good pace so I was able to tuck in behind. I definitely needed that caution there at the end to get me back into some clean air.”
“I just think I needed to make some better decisions in traffic,” Abreu said after finishing second for a second consecutive night. “It’s so hard to judge your depth perception on lapped cars. The cushion ended up getting really treacherous there at the end.
“That was a lot of fun racing with Cap. The better car won that race.”
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 4-Cap Henry [2]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu [1]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog [7]; 4. 14-Kerry Madsen [9]; 5. 13-Justin Peck [8]; 6. 73-Scotty Thiel [6]; 7. 26-Cory Eliason [10]; 8. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [17]; 9. 69-Brady Bacon [15]; 10. 18-Gio Scelzi [14]; 11. A79-Brandon Wimmer [4]; 12. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [12]; 13. 71-Kevin Thomas Jr. [13]; 14. 19AZ-Tanner Thorson [19]; 15. W20-Greg Wilson [16]; 16. 5-Paul McMahan [23]; 17. 11-Ian Madsen [22]; 18. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [24]; 19. 10-Zeb Wise [21]; 20. OO-Thomas Meseraull [20]; 21. 21BP-Brinton Marvel [18]; 22. 22-Ryan Broughton [3]; 23. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [11]; 24. 21-Carson Short [5]
Lap Leaders: Rico Abreu (1-15), Cap Henry (16-21), Rico Abreu (22), Cap Henry (23-30)