From Inside Line Promotions
SOMERTON, Ariz. (Nov. 13, 2017) – Travis Rilat saved his best for last during the 2017 season.
Rilat scored his first Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour triumph since July 2013 and he earned three top 10s during a tripleheader hosted by Cocopah Speedway last weekend when he piloted a sprint car for BDS Motorsports for the second time this season.
“It was a really good weekend,” he said. “Bryan Sundby’s got good equipment and has been needing the win as well. He and I just seemed to hit it off.”
The eventful weekend began on Thursday with Rilat charging from fourth to win a heat race and from sixth to fourth place in a qualifier. That gave the team the most overall points, which earned the pole position for the 25-lap A Main.
“It was as good as it could get,” he said. “We drew a good heat, which made a lot of the difference, too. Everything fell our way. The car was perfect. It’d stick wherever we could put it. We had cautions at the right time. I guess you could say the stars aligned.”
Rilat led the distance to record his first career win with BDS Motorsports and his third overall triumph of the season.
The team returned to the oval on Friday for Round 2, which got off to a strong start. Rilat won a heat race from the pole position before advancing from fifth to fourth place in a qualifier. He capped the night by placing ninth in the main event.
“We had the car really good in the heat again and were ok in the qualifier,” he said. “The balance was a little off in the A Main. Although you want to win, we just needed to get a solid finish to build points for Saturday.”
Rilat ranked third in overall event points following the two preliminary nights. That locked him into the third starting position for Saturday’s A Main.
“The car was really good, but starting on the inside lane wasn’t the spot to start,” he said. “You had to get on the top of turns one and two on the start. The top two cars got up there and the whole outside row had an advantage. We fell to sixth on the opening lap and ran there the rest of the race.”
Rilat closed the weekend with a sixth-place result, which marked his fourth consecutive top 10 with BDS Motorsports.