(Photo by Malcolm White Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – ALGER, Wash. (June 27, 2018) – Travis Rilat produced his most efficient outing of the season last weekend during the 47th annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway.
The BDS Motorsports driver nearly posted a top-five result during all three nights of the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour presented by SawBlade.com tripleheader at the high-banked oval.
The event began on Thursday with Rilat winning a heat race and advancing from fifth to third place in a qualifier to line up fourth for the A Main. He spent most of the race in third place before a late-race incident resulted in a DNF.
“If it wasn’t for the feature on Thursday we’d have had a top five in every race – heat race, qualifier and A Main,” he said. “We were running the top earlier in the race. It’d taken rubber on the bottom. I wasn’t getting around the lapped car and we were considerably faster. I tried the top and slid in there too hot and hit the wall. I should have just stayed where we were at, but I knew I had some heat on me.”
Rilat returned to the track on Friday and continued to run near the front. He maneuvered from fifth to third place in a heat race and from third to second place in a qualifier to garner the most points leading into the A Main. That put him on the pole for the 25-lap race.
“After the run on Thursday we’ve had several DNFs this year whether mechanical or self-inflicted,” he said. “We needed to finish the race. That was a survival race. At the end Seth (Bergman) found a line that worked a lot better. Sometimes it’s better to be running second or third because you can see what the other cars are doing. We didn’t get into traffic so I didn’t have a visual of other lines.”
Rilat led for the first 20 laps before 16th-starting Seth Bergman took the lead with five laps remaining. Rilat’s runner-up result ranked him third in preliminary points, which lined him up on the inside of the second row for the 40-lap main event on Saturday.
“I thought we might have missed it on the car, but after watching the race most of the time we were right with (Scott Bogucki) for second,” he said. “We had a good car, just not a great car. We just missed a little. Racing at this level is so competitive that you have to be at 100 percent.”
Rilat maintained a podium position for most of the first half of the race before he lost a position in traffic. His fourth-place finish was his sixth top five of the year and brought him within 14 points of 10th place in the championship standings despite missing two races this season.
Rilat and BDS Motorsports will compete in Washington this Friday and Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma for the Fred Brownfield Classic. Rilat was victorious during the event in 2013 and 2009.
“We’ve got a few wins there with regional stuff as well,” he said. “It’s a track we typically do well at. It’s a fun event to go to. I think we’ll have similar results to last weekend.”
Rilat would also like to send his condolences to the family and friends of Jason Johnson, who passed away last weekend.
“He and I raced together quite a bit on the ASCS level,” Rilat said. “We’ve crossed paths a bunch. He was always a great person and a great racer, one of the ones you wanted to beat. He was one of the guys you were chasing at the end of the night.”
QUICK RESULTS –
June 21 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Heat race: 1 (2); Qualifier: 3 (5); Feature: DNF (4).
June 22 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Heat race: 3 (5); Qualifier: 2 (3); Feature: 2 (1).
June 23 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Feature: 4 (3).
SEASON STATS –
20 races, 0 wins, 6 top fives, 11 top 10s, 16 top 15s, 16 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday and Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., for the Fred Brownfield Classic with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour presented by SawBlade.com
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.TravisRilat.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TravisRilat29
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – KSE Racing Products
KSE Racing Products has been manufacturing premium oval track racing products for more than 40 years. All of its products are proudly built in the USA by a talented team of craftsmen at its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility just north of Nashville, Tenn. For more information, visit http://www.KSE-Racing.com.
“I’ve run with KSE Racing Products for many years,” Rilat said. “We’re grateful for their support and look forward to earning a lot of success together.”
Rilat would also like to thank BDS Motorsports, Frio Chevrolet, The BOSS, MDS Boring & Drilling, Shark Racing Engines, CnB Chubby, Simpson Race Products, Schoenfeld Headers, KSE Racing Products, Champion Brands, Joe’s Kleen Products, Hoosier Racing Tires, HRP Wings, Goodrich, All Star Auto Reconditioning, All Pro Cylinder Heads, Astro Titanium, AutoMeter, Batts Farms, Birch Corp Financial, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Carlan Services, Car Star Collision and Service (from Leduc, Alberta, Canada), Clark Construction, Diversified Machine Inc., Dyer Rods, Eagle Motorsports, FK Rod Ends, Fuel Safe, Gee and Gee Racing, Gillund Enterprises, Global Power Services, Hepfner Racing Products, Hoosier Tire Midwest, Impact Coatings, The Joie of Seating, Justice Brothers, Kinsler Fuel Injection, KSE Racing Products, Kustom Sprintcar Supplies, Lanktree Holdings, Millstone, Moroso Products, NGK Spark Plugs, Outerwears, Over The Top Marketing and Promotions, Pat Beck Motorsports, Pit Stop Liquors, Quick Racing Products, Randy’s Lawncare/Maintenance – Newton, Iowa, Sander Engineering, SCE Gaskets, Schoenfeld Headers, Sebastian Sandblasting and Powdercoating, Shane Liebig, Shaver Specialty Race Engines, Speedway Motors, Strong Crane Service, Super Shox, Total Seal Piston Rings, Ultra-Lite Brakes and Zephyr Pro40 for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
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- Shawn Miller on Jun 27, 2018
- Article Date: 6/27/2018 by Inside Line Promotions