From Bryan Hulbert
SOMERTON, Ariz. (November 9, 2017) — Taking the BDS Motorsports No. 1 to Victory Lane for the first time against the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network in 2017, Travis Rilat led start to finish for his 27th career National Tour victory, and first at the Cocopah Speedway to open up the three-day Lucas Oil Cocopah Sprint Nationals.
“This win means a lot. We’ve had a lot of success over the year, but these past couple years we’ve been short. We had a few races we should have won, whether it was with ASCS or several other organizations, but tonight we had a great car here with Bryan Sundby. He knows what’s going on and just makes it so easy. The car was a dream to drive tonight,” commented Rilat.
Last winning in Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour competition at Grays Harbor Raceway in 2013, Rilat’s win also ended a six-year drought for car owner, Bryan Sundby, whose last win with the National Tour was in 2011 in Placerville, Cali. with Oklahoma’s Wayne Johnson behind the wheel.
Earning the pole in Thursday’s A-Feature, Travis was challenged the opening lap by Washington’s Chase Goetz, with the pair swapping the top spot twice before completing the first lap with Rilat assuming the pacer’s position.
“That kid goes really good,” said Travis of Goetz. “The past few years we’ve raced against him in the Northwest, you have to watch him. I say give him a couple more years, and he’s going to be really good, but tonight I think we were able to use a little age and wisdom on him.”
Able to put distance over the No. 91, Rilat opened up his lead before the caution flew on Lap 6 with the ensuing restart called back as Blake Hahn struck the cone while running fourth, sending the No. 52 to the tail.
Green through Lap 11 as the leaders began working slower traffic, the red blinked on for Tony Bruce, Jr. who lost a front wheel and hub going into the first turn. The contact with the wall sent the No. 12h flipping with Tony unharmed.
Trading out Chase Goetz for Seth Bergman through the first two turns of the restart, the No. 23 was in hot pursuit of the NSCHoF No. 1 as the pair ran down traffic in a matter of laps. Setting up for the slide, Bergman was primed, but traffic would have other plans as Alex Hill balled up her No. 77x in the cushion through turn two, sending her down the track as Seth came into the picture. Bouncing off each other, everyone remained at speed, but the contact made the car hard to handle, and in turn, let Rilat pull away.
With the final laps in play, Travis was uncontested to the checkered flag with a 1.817-second advantage over Aaron Reutzel, who pulled off the slide job for second off the final turn. Holding on despite the car getting tight off the right rear following the contact that broke a shock, Seth Bergman crossed third with Sam Hafertepe, Jr. fourth. Earning the CP-Carrillo Hard Charger of the Night, Indiana’s Joey Saldana advanced 10 spots in the Rudeen Racing No. 26 to complete the top-five.
Chase Goetz would end up sixth with Wayne Johnson in tow. Matt Covington, Johnny Herrera, and Jason Solwold made up the top-ten.
A field of 36 drivers was on hand Thursday night with Heat Races topped by Travis Rilat, Logan Forler, Jason Solwold, and Blake Hahn. Qualifiers were won by Sam Hafertepe, Jr., Justin Sanders, and Wayne Johnson. The night’s BMRS B-Mains were topped by Tony Bruce, Jr. and Skylar Gee. A Regional Provisional was used by Colton Hardy.
The Lucas Oil ASCS Cocopah Nationals continues on Friday, November 10 and Saturday, November 11 with both nights getting underway at 7:30 P.M. (MST). More information on the events can be found online at http://www.cocopahspeedway.com.
For continued updates on the American Sprint Car Series, from the National Tour to any of the seven regional tours that make up the over 150 races across the ASCS Nation in 2017, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com. Make sure to like the American Sprint Car Series on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/LucasOilASCS, follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/LucasOilASCS, and check out our Instagram @LucasOilASCS.
Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
ASCS Southwest Region
Cocopah Speedway – Somerton, Ariz.
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Car Count: 36
Heat Races (Top 30 in Passing Points advance to Qualifiers)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Travis Rilat, [4]; 2. 77X-Alex Hill, [2]; 3. 9R-Reece Goetz, [3]; 4. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [5]; 5. 0-Ned Powers, [1]; 6. 17W-Harli White, [7]; 7. 8-Lucas Wolfe, [9]; 8. 83T-Tanner Carrick, [6]; 9. 74-Colton Hardy, [8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2L-Logan Forler, [2]; 2. 17-Cameron (Cam) Smith, [1]; 3. 95-Matt Covington, [3]; 4. 18S-Justin Sanders, [4]; 5. 26-Joey Saldana, [5]; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [9]; 7. 77-John Carney II, [8]; 8. 224-Sammy Swindell, [6]; 9. 01-Josh Shipley, [7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Jason Solwold, [1]; 2. 91-Chase Goetz, [3]; 3. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [6]; 4. 96-Greg Hamilton, [4]; 5. 37-Mitchell Faccinto, [8]; 6. 99-Skylar Gee, [5]; 7. 20Z-Rick Ziehl, [7]; 8. 17G-Dustin Gates, [2]; 9. 14-Cody Sickles, [9]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn, [1]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman, [3]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [5]; 4. 12H-Tony Bruce Jr, [9]; 5. 3-J.J. Hickle, [6]; 6. 90-Lance Norick, [2]; 7. 2B-Billy Chester III, [4]; 8. 21-Robbie Price, [8]; 9. 29-Darrell Sickles, [7]
Hoosier Tire Qualifiers (Top 16 in combined Passing Points advance to the A-Main)
Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [1]; 2. 91-Chase Goetz, [4]; 3. 9R-Reece Goetz, [2]; 4. 1-Travis Rilat, [6]; 5. 77X-Alex Hill, [3]; 6. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [5]; 7. 8-Lucas Wolfe, [8]; 8. 3-J.J. Hickle, [7]; 9. 77-John Carney II, [9]; 10. 2B-Billy Chester III, [10]
Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 18S-Justin Sanders, [1]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman, [4]; 3. 95-Matt Covington, [2]; 4. 26-Joey Saldana, [5]; 5. 18-Jason Solwold, [3]; 6. 21-Robbie Price, [9]; 7. (DNF) 2L-Logan Forler, [6]; 8. (DNF) 0-Ned Powers, [8]; 9. (DNF) 90-Lance Norick, [7]; (DNS) 17-Cameron (Cam) Smith,
Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [2]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [4]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn, [5]; 4. 96-Greg Hamilton, [1]; 5. 37-Mitchell Faccinto, [3]; 6. 99-Skylar Gee, [8]; 7. 17W-Harli White, [7]; 8. 20Z-Rick Ziehl, [9]; 9. 83T-Tanner Carrick, [10]; 10. (DNF) 12H-Tony Bruce Jr, [6]
BMRS B-Main (Top 3 advance to the A-Feature)
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 12H-Tony Bruce Jr, [2]; 2. 3-J.J. Hickle, [4]; 3. 96-Greg Hamilton, [1]; 4. 21-Robbie Price, [3]; 5. 20Z-Rick Ziehl, [5]; 6. 01-Josh Shipley, [8]; 7. 74-Colton Hardy, [7]; 8. (DNF) 224-Sammy Swindell, [6]; (DNS) 90-Lance Norick, ; (DNS) 17-Cameron (Cam) Smith,
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 99-Skylar Gee, [1]; 2. 8-Lucas Wolfe, [2]; 3. 17W-Harli White, [3]; 4. 2B-Billy Chester III, [7]; 5. 83T-Tanner Carrick, [4]; 6. 14-Cody Sickles, [6]; 7. 29-Darrell Sickles, [8]; 8. (DNF) 77-John Carney II, [5]; (DNS) 0-Ned Powers, ; (DNS) 17G-Dustin Gates,
Protect the Harvest A-Feature:
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 1-Travis Rilat, [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [4]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman, [3]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [7]; 5. 26-Joey Saldana, [15]; 6. 91-Chase Goetz, [2]; 7. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [6]; 8. 95-Matt Covington, [10]; 9. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [12]; 10. 18-Jason Solwold, [11]; 11. 9R-Reece Goetz, [9]; 12. 17W-Harli White, [22]; 13. 37-Mitchell Faccinto, [16]; 14. 52-Blake Hahn, [5]; 15. 8-Lucas Wolfe, [20]; 16. 2L-Logan Forler, [14]; 17. 18S-Justin Sanders, [8]; 18. 74-Colton Hardy, [23]; 19. 3-J.J. Hickle, [19]; 20. 77X-Alex Hill, [13]; 21. 99-Skylar Gee, [18]; 22. (DNF) 12H-Tony Bruce Jr, [17]; 23. (DNF) 96-Greg Hamilton, [21]
Lap Leader(s): Travis Rilat 1-25
CP-Carrillo Hard Charger: Joey Saldana +10
FSR High Point Driver: Travis Rilat
Provisional(s): Colton Hardy (Regional)