ASCoT Devil's Bowl finale results 2006-10-14

Rilat Tops O'Reilly ASCoT Season Finale as Wright Claims Crown

MESQUITE, Tex. (October 14, 2006) -- The 2006 season for the O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour ended precisely the same way it began: with Travis Rilat standing in victory lane.

Rilat kicked off the season back on January 26 with a trip to victory lane in the series season opener at Tampa's East Bay Raceway Park. More than eight months later, Rilat picked off his second ASCS National Tour win of the season with a wire-to-wire victory in Saturday's 33rd Annual Devil's Bowl Speedway Winter Nationals 20-lap finale.

While Rilat earned $5,000 for the victory, it was Hooks, TX, ace Gary Wright earning $50,000 for his third consecutive O'Reilly ASCS National championship. Just needing to finish 21st in the finale, Wright secured the crown with a ninth place run aboard the Wesmar-powered Southwest Express/Richwood Construction/The Shop No. 9 Maxim to take the title by just 30 markers over Jason Johnson, who finished a close second to Rilat in the season finale.

"This was a really tough weekend of racing for us, we had to use a provisional just to start the feature last night and it really seemed like we struggled all weekend," Wright explained afterward. "The ASCS is tougher now than it's ever been, so being able to win another championship means a lot."

While Wright drove a methodical race by gaining three positions to secure the championship, it was 2003 ASCS National champion Rilat ending the season on a high note.

After racing from fifth to win his heat race, Rilat then topped the Pole Dash to earn the pole position for the main event. Rilat outgunned Friday night winner Johnson at the drop of the green flag and led throughout aboard the F&J Construction/Haulmark Trailers No. 29 Maxim.

Mired in heavy lapped traffic over the final rounds, Rilat's substantial lead shrank to just a couple of car lengths over Johnson as the checkered flag flew. It marked Rilat's second win of the night after capturing the Super Sprint portion of the Devil's Bowl Winter Nationals as well.

"We've really got to thank Joe Landon for this one," Rilat explained in victory lane. "We blew up our last engine in hot laps last night and Joe loaned us one of his engines, he bailed us out on this one."

Rilat needed just two laps to open up a straightaway lead before the caution flew after Sam Hafertepe, Jr., and Joe Wood, Jr., tangled entering turn one with three laps in the books.

After the final caution six laps later for Foster Landon's disabled mount, Rilat and Johnson raced away from the rest of the field. Rilat held nearly a 15 car-length advantage over Johnson when he approached lapped traffic on the 16th round, with third-runner Tony Bruce, Jr., a full half-lap back in third.

Johnson closed the gap as he pursued a tenth ASCS National Tour feature win of the season, but came up just short at the checkered flag in Lanny Row's Wesmar-powered The Shop Diesel Service No. 41 Eagle.

Chuck Swenson battled past Bruce on the white flag lap to snare the show position aboard the K&C Conversions No. X Maxim, with Bruce settling for fourth in the Best Well Service No. 18 Maxim. Zach Chappell rounded out the top five in the Terry Henry Construction No. 92 J&J.

Danny Jennings crossed the stripe sixth, with Brian Brown, Aaron Berryhill, Wright and Kevin Ramey completing the top ten.

Ramey charged from tenth to win the night's first heat race, with Nick Smith, Rilat and Brown also victorious in heat race action. Garry Lee Maier and Mike Chadd topped "B" Main action.

O'Reilly ASCoT Devil's Bowl Winter Nationals Night Two Results:

Locked in from Friday Night's Preliminary Feature:

41-Jason Johnson, 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., X-Chuck Swenson, 11F-Foster Landon.

Heat Races (Top 12 in passing points to "A" Main -- Top 2 to Pole Dash with the 4 Locked-In cars; balance to Twin "B" Mains)

Brodix Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 2. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 3. 53-Jack Dover, 4. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 5. 4-Mike Chadd, 6. L23-Landon Brown, 7. 55-Donnie Ray Crawford, 8. 1s-George White, 9. 45-J.P. Bailey, 10. 2w-Kenneth Walker.

Wesmar-Shaver Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 15s-Nick Smith, 2. 9-Gary Wright, 3. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 4. 64J-Johnny Miller, 5. 91-Darren Stewart, 6. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 7. 1-Sean McClelland, 8. 51-Mike Peters, 9. 85s-Forrest Sutherland, 10. 25-Derek Cottrell.

Brodix Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 29-Travis Rilat, 2. 12-Trey Robb, 3. 92-Zach Chappell, 4. 5e-Brandon Erwin, 5. 83s-Larry Neighbors, 6. R19-Scott Winters, 7. 14-Michael Lang, 8. 22-Koby Barksdale, 9. 44-Preston Peebles II, 10. 94s-Natalie Sather.

Wesmar-Shaver Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown, 2. 61J-Danny Jennings, 3. 8-John Carney, Jr., 4. 65-Skip Wilson, 5. 75-Jesse Hockett, 6. 11x-Garry Lee Maier, 7. 98-J.D. Johnson, 8. 18x-Lorne Wofford, 9. 11-Tyler Thompson, 10. 14b-Robert Byrom.

Pole Dash (Finishing Order Determines Front Three Rows of "A" Main):

Pole Dash (5 Laps): 1. 29-Travis Rilat, 2. 41-Jason Johnson, 3. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 4. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 5. X-Chuck Swenson, 6. 11F-Foster Landon.

"B" Mains -- Top 3 From Each Advance to "A" Main

First "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 11x-Garry Lee Maier, 2. 64J-Johnny Miller, 3. 1-Sean McClelland, 4. 83s-Larry Neighbors, 5. 1s-George White, 6. 5e-Brandon Erwin, 7. 85s-Forrest Sutherland, 8. 55-Donnie Ray Crawford, 9. 94s-Natalie Sather, 10. 14-Michael Lang, 11. 11-Tyler Thompson, 12. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 13. 22-Koby Barksdale. DNS: 2w-Kenneth Walker.

Second "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 4-Mike Chadd, 2. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 3. 51-Mike Peters, 4. 8-John Carney, Jr., 5. 65-Skip Wilson, 6. 44-Preston Peebles II, 7. 18x-Lorne Wofford, 8. L23-Landon Brown, 9. 98-J.D. Johnson, 10. 45-J.P. Bailey, 11. 25-Derek Cottrell, 12. 14b-Robert Byrom, 13. R19-Scott Winters, 14. 75-Jesse Hockett.

O'Reilly ASCoT "A" Main Event:

"A" Feature (20 Laps): 1. 29-Travis Rilat, 2. 41-Jason Johnson, 3. X-Chuck Swenson, 4. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 5. 92-Zach Chappell, 6. 61J-Danny Jennings, 7. 21-Brian Brown, 8. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 9. 9-Gary Wright, 10. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 11. 91-Darren Stewart, 12. 15s-Nick Smith, 13. 1-Sean McClelland, 14. 12-Trey Robb, 15. 75-Jesse Hockett, 16. 11x-Garry Lee Maier, 17. 53-Jack Dover, 18. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 19. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 20. 51-Mike Peters, 21. 11F-Foster Landon, 22. 64J-Johnny Miller, 23. 4-Mike Chadd.

Lap Leaders: Travis Rilat 1-20.

Note: Jesse Hockett utilized an O'Reilly ASCoT provisional for the "A" Main.

-credit: Final O'Reilly ASCoT Points (Top Fifteen): 1. Gary Wright 3,152 2. Jason Johnson 3,122 3. Jesse Hockett 3,057 4. Nick Smith 3,025 5. Travis Rilat 3,006 6. Sean McClelland 2,844 7. Darren Stewart 2,684 8. Trey Robb 2,633 9. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 2,516 10. Tony Bruce Jr. 2,388 11. Zach Chappell 2,094 12. Jan Howard 1,940 13. Abe Sherwood 1,862 14. Kevin Ramey 1,468 15. Foster Landon 1,420

-credit: ascs