by Lonnie Wheatley
GIBSONTON, Fla. -- Texan Travis Rilat triumphed in the opening night of East Bay Raceway Park’s Eighth Annual “King of the 360’s” Nationals, racing into the lead on the fifth round en route to topping the season-opening 25-lap feature for the O’Reilly American Sprint Car Series National Tour presented by Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores.
With a record field of 81 entries filling the pit area, Rilat gridded the feature field outside the front row. But it was polesitter Terry McCarl, who accumulated the most points through heat and qualifying race action, gunning into the lead at the drop of the green flag.
As McCarl set the early pace, third-starter Josh Higday charged past Rilat for second on the opening round, only to have Rilat return the favor the next time around. Rilat quickly reeled McCarl in and began pressuring him for the point.
Rilat looked both high and low before making a move to the low side stick as the 2003 ASCS National champion raced into the lead exiting turn four upon the completion of the fifth round. Rilat wasted little time establishing a healthy straightaway advantage over McCarl by the time the race’s first caution flew at the midway point for Higday, who surrendered fifth position when he coasted to a stop in turn one.
With four lapped cars separating himself from McCarl on the ensuing restart, Rilat once again left the pack in his wake, leaving McCarl to fend off Tim Montgomery and 13th-starter Jason Sides for the runner-up position.
After Zach Chappell’s turn three contact with the wall after 17 laps, McCarl had one more shot at Rilat following the race’s third and final caution after 21 rounds when Mike Brecht stopped in turn two.
There was no match for Rilat on this night however, as he stretched out a ten car-length advantage over the final four lap dash to the checkered flag to score his 19th career O’Reilly ASCS National Tour victory aboard the Motor Mike-powered F&J Construction/Haulmark Trailers No. 29 Maxim.
McCarl settled for second aboard Mark Burch’s No. 1m WolfWeld machine, while Sides’ strong run culminated with a third place showing. Montgomery crossed the stripe fourth, with Greg Wilson rounding out the top five.
Two-time and defending ASCS National champion Gary Wright charged from 18th to snare sixth, with Tim Shaffer, Wayne Johnson, Scott Winters and 15th-starter Jan Howard completing the top ten.
Dustin Lindquist, Tony Bruce, Jr., Shaffer, Bryan Howland, Johnny Anderson, Darren Stewart, Jason Martin, Wilson and McCarl topped heat race action, with Danny Smith, Jesse Hockett, Jessica Zemken and Steven King winning the Last Chance races.
Higday, Winters, Johnson and Rilat aced Qualifying Race action, with Chappell and Wright splitting victory honors in the twin “B” Mains.
Donnie Maxwell and Sean Walden flipped in heat race action, with David Kountz flipping in his Last Chance race. Matt Tiffany was the evening’s fourth and final flip victim when he went for a wild turn three ride in the first “B” Main. There were no injuries.
The second preliminary night of East Bay Raceway Park’s Eighth Annual “King of the 360’s” unfolds Friday night, with combined points from both preliminary nights determining lineups for Saturday night’s $10,000-to-win Ronald Laney Memorial.
RESULTS
Heat Races – Top 40 in Finishing/Passing Points to Four Qualifying Races; Balance of Field to Four Last Chance Races
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 55L-Dustin Lindquist, 2. 46-Jan Howard, 3. 19T-Matt Tiffany, 4. 7b-Brock Mayes, 5. 57x-Jake Peters, 6. 52-Mark Broughman, 7. 02-Bubba T. Lovesponge, 8. 38s-Alex Pettas, 9. 01-John Koller.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 2. 11L-Greg Leonard, 3. 7s-Jason Sides, 4. 5c-Dan Carrozza, 5. 29p-Terry Pletch, 6. 33k-Kyle Patrick, 7. 12m-James Mosher, 8. 43-Terry Witherspoon, 9. 94-Jerrod Hull.
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 1T-Tim Shaffer, 2. 85-Dustin Daggett, 3. 29-Travis Rilat, 4. 35-Brad Best, 5. 3b-Scott Bonnell, 6. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 7. 4m-Mike Chadd, 8. 12T-Trey Robb, 9. 99-Danny Jones.
Fourth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 51-Bryan Howland, 2. 24-Josh Higday, 3. 01m-Tim Montgomery, 4. 42x-Sport Allen, 5. 20bg-Gene Lasker, 6. 12k-David Kountz, 7. 93-Wayne Reutimann, 8. 34-Luke Hall, 9. d12-Doc Sloan.
Fifth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 7a-Johnny Anderson, 2. 2k-Roger Rager, 3. 15s-Nick Smith, 4. d1-Jesse Giannetto, 5. 1x-Sean McClelland, 6. 17d-Bruce Durden, 7. 32-Steve Darvalics, 8. 11T-T.J. Winegardner, 9. 12-Mike Schroeder.
Sixth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 91-Darren Stewart, 2. R19-Scott Winters, 3. 4a-Kenny Adams, 4. 14-Becca Anderson, 5. 33z-Jessica Zemken, 6. 75-Jesse Hockett, 7. 3-Pat Cannon, 8. 12J-Joey Montgomery, 9. 21T-Johnny Gilbertson.
Seventh Heat (8 Laps): 1. 36-Jason Martin, 2. 94s-Wayne Johnson, 3. 50z-Zach Chappell, 4. X-Chuck Swenson, 5. 9w-Gary Wright, 6. 88-Steven King, 7. 44J-Abe Sherwood, 8. 20-Frank Carlsson, 9. 96-Rod Craddock.
Eighth Heat (8 Laps): 1. w20-Greg Wilson, 2. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 3. 27-Andy Shouse, 4. 00-Danny Martin, Jr., 5. 94b-Cody Branchcomb, 6. 47x-Louie Carufel, 7. 4c-Tyler Godwin, 8. 88x-Shane Kreidler, 9. 5-Donnie Maxwell.
Ninth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 1m-Terry McCarl, 2. 35R-Ron Blair, 3. 20m-Mike Brecht, 4. 71-Keith Rauch, 5. 4-Danny Smith, 6. 0-Glenn Styres, 7. 28-Brett Burdette, 8. 10s-Matt Stegeman, 9. 14w-Sean Walden.
Last Chance Races – Top 2 Finishers to tail of the Four Qualifying Races
First Last Chance Race (10 Laps): 1. 4-Danny Smith, 2. 44J-Abe Sherwood, 3. 29p-Terry Pletch, 4. 0-Glenn Styres, 5. 43-Terry Witherspoon, 6. 12-Mike Schroeder, 7. 01-John Koller, 8. 4m-Mike Chadd. DNS: 17d-Bruce Durden, 12J-Joey Montgomery, 14w-Sean Walden.
Second Last Chance Race (10 Laps): 1. 75-Jesse Hockett, 2. 1x-Sean McClelland, 3. 4c-Tyler Godwin, 4. 93-Wayne Reutimann, 5. 12T-Trey Robb, 6. 94-Jerrod Hull, 7. 20-Frank Carlsson, 8. 21T-Johnny Gilbertson, 9. 47x-Louie Carufel, 10. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr.
Third Last Chance Race (10 Laps): 1. 33z-Jessica Zemken, 2. 20bg-Gene Lasker, 3. 32-Steve Darvalics, 4. 99-Danny Jones, 5. 34-Luke Hall, 6. 02-Bubba T. Lovesponge, 7. 96-Rod Craddock, 8. 28-Brett Burdette, 9. 33k-Kyle Patrick. DNS: 88x-Shane Kreidler.
Fourth Last Chance Race (10 Laps): 1. 88-Steven King, 2. 52-Mark Broughman, 3. 3-Pat Cannon, 4. 11T-T.J. Winegardner, 5. d12-Doc Sloan, 6. 10s-Matt Stegeman, 7. 38s-Alex Pettas, 8. 12k-David Kountz, 9. 12m-James Mosher. DNS: 5-Donnie Maxwell.
Qualifying Races – Top 16 in Combined Points from Heats & Qualifiers to “A” Feature; Balance to Twin “B” Mains
First Qualifying Race (10 Laps): 1. 24-Josh Higday, 2. 1m-Terry McCarl, 3. 46-Jan Howard, 4. 51-Bryan Howland, 5. 91-Darren Stewart, 6. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 7. 4-Danny Smith, 8. 27-Andy Shouse, 9. 35R-Ron Blair, 10. 94b-Cody Branchcomb, 11. 35-Brad Best, 12. 44J-Abe Sherwood.
Second Qualifying Race (10 Laps): 1. R19-Scott Winters, 2. 42x-Sport Allen, 3. w20-Greg Wilson, 4. 1T-Tim Shaffer, 5. 11L-Greg Leonard, 6. 19T-Matt Tiffany, 7. 1x-Sean McClelland, 8. 2k-Roger Rager, 9. 75-Jesse Hockett, 10. 7b-Brock Mayes, 11. 3b-Scott Bonnell, 12. 14-Becca Anderson.
Third Qualifying Race (10 Laps): 1. 94s-Wayne Johnson, 2. 15s-Nick Smith, 3. 01m-Tim Montgomery, 4. 50z-Zach Chappell, 5. 7s-Jason Sides, 6. 55L-Dustin Lindquist, 7. 36-Jason Martin, 8. 4a-Kenny Adams, 9. d1-Jesse Giannetto, 10. 57x-Jake Peters, 11. 20bg-Gene Lasker, 12. 33z-Jessica Zemken.
Fourth Qualifying Race (10 Laps): 1. 29-Travis Rilat, 2. 00-Danny Martin, Jr., 3. 20m-Mike Brecht, 4. 9w-Gary Wright, 5. X-Chuck Swenson, 6. 7a-Johnny Anderson, 7. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 8. 85-Dustin Daggett, 9. 88-Steven King, 10. 71-Keith Rauch, 11. 52-Mark Broughman, 12. 5c-Dan Carrozza.
“B” Mains – Top 4 from Each to “A” Main
First B Feature (15 Laps): 1. 50z-Zach Chappell, 2. X-Chuck Swenson, 3. 91-Darren Stewart, 4. 55L-Dustin Lindquist, 5. 4-Danny Smith, 6. 85-Dustin Daggett, 7. 88-Steven King, 8. 94b-Cody Branchcomb, 9. 20bg-Gene Lasker, 10. 27-Andy Shouse, 11. 57x-Jake Peters, 12. 52-Mark Broughman, 13. 33z-Jessica Zemken, 14. 35R-Ron Blair, 15. 35-Brad Best, 16. 19T-Matt Tiffany.
Second B Feature (15 Laps): 1. 9w-Gary Wright, 2. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 3. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 4. 1x-Sean McClelland, 5. 4a-Kenny Adams, 6. 7b-Brock Mayes, 7. 7a-Johnny Anderson, 8. 36-Jason Martin, 9. 14-Becca Anderson, 10. 2k-Roger Rager, 11. 44J-Abe Sherwood, 12. 71-Keith Rauch, 13. 5c-Dan Carrozza, 14. d1-Jesse Giannetto, 15. 75-Jesse Hockett, 16. 3b-Scott Bonnell.
“A” Main
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 29-Travis Rilat, 2. 1m-Terry McCarl, 3. 7s-Jason Sides, 4. 01m-Tim Montgomery, 5. w20-Greg Wilson, 6. 9w-Gary Wright, 7. 1T-Tim Shaffer, 8. 94s-Wayne Johnson, 9. R19-Scott Winters, 10. Jan Howard, 11. X-Chuck Swenson, 12. 42x-Sport Allen, 13. 1x-Sean McClelland, 14. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 15. 11L-Greg Leonard, 16. 15s-Nick Smith, 17. 55L-Dustin Lindquist, 18. 91-Darren Stewart, 19. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 20. 51-Bryan Howland, 21. 00-Danny Martin, Jr., 22. 20m-Mike Brecht, 23. 50z-Zach Chappell, 24. 24-Josh Higday.
O’Reilly ASCoT presented by Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores Points (Top Ten): 1. Travis Rilat 50, 2. Terry McCarl 48, 3. Jason Sides 47, 4. Tim Montgomery 46, 5. Greg Wilson 45, 6. Gary Wright 44, 7. Tim Shaffer 43, 8. Wayne Johnson 42, 9. Scott Winters 41, 10. Jan Howard 40.
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