Inside Line Promotions
– FORT WORTH, Texas (Sept. 24, 2013) – Travis Rilat nearly had a dream return to his own sprint car on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Competing with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour in the Port-a-Cool U.S. Dirt Track Championship, Rilat charged from sixth to second place in his heat race. It earned him a spot in the feature redraw and he pulled the No. 1 in the random draw to start on the pole of 30-lap feature.
“The way the track was it was slick on the bottom and heavy and rough on top,” he said. “(Dustin Morgan) got the jump on the start. We had a really good car and were able to maneuver by him. I think just before I passed him I made contact with the front straightaway wall and smashed in my mud cover.”
Rilat took the top spot with a slide job in turn four on Lap 7 and began to pull away.
“I’m guessing around Lap 12 that mud cover was gone and we had filled that wheel full of mud,” he said. “It was vibrating pretty bad. It was shaking the car erratically enough to blur your vision. I was only able to use about half throttle. It wound up chucking the right front stop off of it about two laps prior to that red flag.”
Rilat maintained the lead until a red flag with eight laps remaining.
“If we wouldn’t have had that red I think we would have held our own,” he said. “I knew what had happened there. I pulled the wing back to keep the weight on the rear and off the front.”
However, once the cars were bunched up, Rilat began to lose positions on the restart.
“I was just going to go backwards fast,” he said. “As long as I was in clear air by myself I was fine. I didn’t want to risk tearing mine or other people’s equipment up.”
He pulled in during the closing laps and was credited with a 16th-place result.
Rilat is set to climb back in Richard Saumure’s car for a pair of ASCS Gulf South Region events this weekend. The duo will compete at Battleground Speedway in Highlands, Texas, on Saturday and at Golden Triangle Raceway Park in Beaumont, Texas, on Sunday.
QUICK RESULTS –
Sept. 21 – Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas – Heat race: 2 (6); Feature: 16 (1).
SEASON STATS –
32 races, 4 wins, 15 top fives, 20 top 10s, 21 top 15s, 29 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Battleground Speedway in Highlands, Texas, and Sunday at Golden Triangle Raceway Park in Beaumont, Texas, with the ASCS Gulf South Region
VIDEO –
Here is a highlight video by Nathan Prince of Rilat’s Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour victory at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., on July 12: http://youtu.be/Md1evWDAl30
Here’s a video by Nathan Prince of Rilat’s ASCS Northwest Region Speedweek win at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., on June 28: http://youtu.be/NAeXAJn8nS0
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.TravisRilat.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Triple X Race Components
Based in Burlington, Wash., Triple X Race Components offers top-of-the-line sprint car, midget and micro sprint parts and chassis. For more information, visit http://www.xxxraceco.com.
“Triple X has been a great partner for the last few years,” Rilat said. “I always feel very comfortable and very safe racing a Triple X chassis.”
Rilat would also like to thank Shark Racing Engines, Shop the BOSS, Weld Wheels, KSE Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Simpson Race Products, Hoosier Racing Tire, HRP Wings, Goodrich, Penske Racing Shocks, All Star Auto Reconditioning and everyone who has partnered with his No. 29 Triple X.