Biography - About Rico...

Name: Rico Emanuel Abreu
Birth Date: January 30, 1992
Birth Place: St. Helena CA
Hometown: St. Helena, CA
Nickname: Speed Rico
Occupation: High School Student – St. Helena High School

Family Members
Father: David
Mother: Christy
Brother: Matteo
Sister: Lucia
Family Heritage: Father: Portuguese
Mother: Italian
Pet Dog: LeRoy
Favorite Fast Food: In-N-Out Burger
Favorite Food: Sushi
Favorite Music: Rap, Rock, and Country
Favorite Movie: Talladega Nights
Favorite Track: Cycleland Speedway
Favorite Racing Drivers: Joey Saldana, Tyler Walker, Kasey Kahne, & Kyle Busch
Hobbies/Interests: Anything exciting, FFA- Market hogs-show and sell.
Most Memorable Moment: Winning my first race at Cycleland Speedway - The QRC Cup 6 ft. Perpetual Trophy, 500cc Intermediate Division
Goals: Run the Chili Bowl; Be a full time racer, To be the best sprint car driver I can be.

Racing Background:

At six years old Rico started his racing career by competing on motorcycles in flat track TTR events at Sandhill Ranch in Brentwood, California. After a successful stint on the two wheelers that included several wins Rico began to gravitate toward four wheeled machines at the age of ten. He began to spend many hours playing in the fields around his house on a fun kart, getting the feel of broadsliding in the dirt. At 14, Rico veered to shifter karts for a period and ran at Infineon Raceway, honing his skills with the more powerful 80cc racers.

Rico was introduced to outlaw karts for the first time in 2003 when he attended a race in Vallejo, California with sprint car driver Jeff Griffin. As Griffin raced the powerful 500cc kart, Rico fell in love with the excitement and competition provided and knew this was the perfect place for him to be racing. On his 15th birthday Rico was presented with his first outlaw kart. Again he headed out to the track on his property and spent the next year practicing with Griffin and others until he knew he was ready to go racing for real. On January 24, 2009, Rico made his debut in a 250cc outlaw kart at Lakeport Indoor Speedway, where he finished a very respectable fourth.

Two months later, soon after he turned 17, Rico returned to Lakeport and improved to a second place finish in the feature. Rico then ventured to the birthplace of outlaw karts and raced against the toughest competition anywhere, the indoor bullring of Red Bluff. At his second race there, competing against the largest kart count of the season in the West Coast Outlaw Kart Nationals, Rico qualified for the A-main event, where he finished 16th.

In April, Rico’s racing shifted outdoors to the high speed Cycleland Speedway, near Chico, California. In his first effort to compete in a season long series, Rico showed that the 80 mile per hour speeds of Cycleland suited his emerging style, that of a hard charger, very well. He ran every event of the 17 race series in the 250cc division and finished a noteworthy 10th in points in his rookie outing. At the fourth race of the season Rico also stepped up to the 500cc Intermediate class, racing both divisions to season’s end. In the very competitive Intermediate division Rico found much success, with the highlight being his first ever win on August 29th, taking the biggest event of the year-the Perpetual Trophy Race. Several other top ten finishes punctuated the season long effort.

In October of 2009 Rico returned to the Red Bluff Outlaws Indoor Series to tackle his first full season of points racing competition there, electing to contest the 250cc division. After battling his way to an 11th place finish in points he topped the season long campaign with another strong showing at the West Coast Nationals, where he placed a very strong third in the final rundown. Even more impressive, at the Nationals Rico also competed in the top class of outlaw karting, the 500cc Open Outlaw Division, and came home with an outstanding fourth place finish against 67 entries.

Another highlight of the winter season for Rico was an excursion to the largest and most prestigious event of its kind in the country, the Tulsa Shootout in Oklahoma on New Year’s weekend. With drivers from all over the United States on hand on the biggest and fastest speedway that outlaw karts compete, the same race track that the famed Chili Bowl Midget Nationals are held, Rico charged from deep in the field to finish fourth in the finale.

Rico’s thoughts on outlaw karts:

“I wish I could have found outlaw karts when I was 5. It is the best training ground there is for learning how to race wheel to wheel. I want to be a professional race driver and this is the perfect place to be at this point in my career.”

Rico’s thoughts on racing:

“Because racing is my passion I always bring my best to the table. There is nothing better than going fast, as the adrenaline rush from racing and winning can’t be topped.