From Inside Line Promotions
HIGHLANDS, Texas (March 27, 2017) – Travis Rilat had a rocket of a race car last Saturday during the 10th annual Gulf Coast Nationals.
Rilat opened the ASCS Gulf South Region event at Battleground Speedway by finishing where he started – second – in a heat race. That missed the feature redraw by only one position and lined him up on the inside of the fifth row for the main event.
“We had a great car,” he said. “It was really fast and we should have won the feature.”
Rilat quickly maneuvered into third place by Lap 5 before he took over the runner-up position on Lap 7. Three laps later he drove into the lead and it wasn’t long before he built a straightaway advantage.
“My car started getting slower and slower later in the race,” he said. “The bleeder ended up bleeding too much air and the car got way too tight on me.”
Rilat was in heavy traffic on Lap 21 when Tommy Bryant was able to get underneath him in turns three and four for the top spot. One lap later the caution came out, which gave Bryant an open track for the final handful of laps.
“Everything was going great until the end,” Rilat said. “I tried everything I could to get back around him, but my car wasn’t working right.”
Rilat’s second-place finish marks his third podium during six races this season. It also earned him the Hard Charger Award for passing the most cars.
“I think we could have won,” he said. “That could have been our third race win this year. We have to focus on fixing our problems.”
Rilat will return to action April 7-8 at Jackson Motor Speedway in Byram, Miss., with the ASCS Gulf South Region and ASCS Southern Outlaw Sprints. He enters the event ranked second in the ASCS Gulf South Region championship standings and is only 12 points behind the leader.