ASCoT: Bully Hill results 2007-05-19

Rilat Reels in O'Reilly ASCoT Bully Hill Nationals Crown

DUNDEE, NY (May 19, 2007) -- Forney, TX, racer Travis Rilat offered up a rousing conclusion to the Ninth Annual Bully Hill Vineyards New York Sprint Nationals presented by S.P. Wilson and Budweiser at Black Rock Speedway by making a late move past Wayne Johnson to post his first O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National feature win of the year in Saturday night's 30-lap main event.

Rilat squeezed between Johnson and the frontstretch wall to snare the lead upon the completion of the 27th lap and paced the final three circuits to secure the victory aboard the Motor Mike-powered F&Construction No. 29 Triple-X chassis. It marked his 21st career win in ASCS National action and the first time a Triple-X chassis has parked in victory lane.

In addition to the posted $4,000 winner's share, Rilat pocketed an extra $1,000 bonus from Texas sponsor Allen Murray Racing to bring his take for the night to $5,000.

"I knew coming off of four was where I was going to have to get a run on Wayne to get by," Rilat explained afterward. "I went underneath him the lap before just to get him to move down, he did on the next lap and I got my run on the high side. I couldn't see anything through the dust, I had no idea how much room I had between me and the wall and me and Wayne."

The victory came just one night after Rilat struggled mightily in his first visit to Black Rock Speedway. "I don't think I've ever felt as bad in a Sprint Car since the first time I drove one as I did last night."

But Rilat and Aussie crew chief Tyson Perez went to work, making wholesale changes prior to the Saturday finale. "We changed everything on it; bars, shocks, everything," Rilat commented.

Those changes showed early dividends when Rilat charged from eighth to win the evening's third heat race, thus earning a berth in the Pole Dash.

After finishing third in the Dash, Rilat followed front row starters Jason Johnson and Wayne Johnson to the green flag. Wayne Johnson gunned into the early lead and opened up a half straightaway advantage aboard Tim Hammers' Wesmar-powered H&H Enterprises No. 94 Eagle over the opening handful of laps.

But as lapped traffic came into play on the seventh lap, Jason Johnson and Rilat closed the gap on the leader. Rilat disposed of Jason Johnson for second on the 11th round and was beginning to work on Wayne Johnson for the lead when the race's first caution flew at the midway point for Chris Schmelzle, who slid off of turn two.

Weathering two more cautions over the next three laps, Rilat kept the pressure on and made a strong bid for the lead on the 20th lap. But when Rilat nearly slipped off the top of turn four on the 21st lap, Wayne Johnson opened up a three car-length lead.

Rilat closed in on Johnson's rear bumper three laps later when sixth-runner Darren Stewart came to a stop in turn four with mechanical woes, setting up a six lap dash to the checkered flag.

With the dust momentarily settled, Rilat wasted little time getting to work. After looking to the high side, Rilat peeked underneath Johnson exiting turn four on the 26th lap. A lap later, Rilat returned to the cushion and made what proved to be the race-winning pass as he went on to take the checkered flag with a four car-length advantage.

After finishing second, Wayne Johnson commented that, "We got way too loose right at the end, I'm not sure if the right rear sealed over or what under that last caution but I couldn't get going after that."

Jason Johnson chased the pair of past ASCS National champions across the line in Lanny Row's Wesmar-powered The Shop Motorsports No. 41 Eagle, while Gary Wright maintained his series point lead and extended his streak of top-five finishes to 14 with a fourth-place run in the Wesmar-powered Richwood Construction No. 9 Maxim.

After starting 18th, Justin Barger sliced through the field to round out the top five in the Cortlandt Auto Body Motorsports No. 32.

Doug Emery crossed the stripe sixth in front of Trevor Lewis, Friday night preliminary feature winner Chuck Hebing, Kenny Adams and Bobby Breen.

Emery, Foster Landon, Rilat and Blake Breen topped Saturday night's heat race action, with Andy Shouse and Barger winning the twin "B" Mains.

Tim Hogue held the lead in the evening's third heat race until he smacked the turn two wall and flipped violently down the backstretch. Hogue walked away from his mangled machine uninjured.

O'Reilly ASCoT Bully Hill Vineyards New York Sprint Nationals Finale Results from Black Rock Speedway:

Locked in from Friday's Preliminary Event:

45-Chuck Hebing, 41-Jason Johnson, 9-Gary Wright, 94-Wayne Johnson.

Heat Races (Top 12 in passing points to "A" Main; Balance to Twin "B" Mains)

Brodix Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 33-Doug Emery, 2. 4a-Kenny Adams, 3. 25-Geoff Quackenbush, 4. 32-Justin Barger, 5. 57c-Chris Schmelzle, 6. 8b-Alain Bergeron, 7. 22-Ray Preston, 8. 00-Randy West. DNS: 3b-Scott Bonnell.

Wesmar-Shaver Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 11F-Foster Landon, 2. 10m-Chris Muhleisen, 3. 9b-Bobby Breen, 4. 63-Josh Weller, 5. 4b-Bryn Gohn, 6. 87-George Suprick, 7. 52-Scott Kreutter, 8. 25x-Michael Parent.

Brodix Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 29-Travis Rilat, 2. F1-Nick Fratto, 3. 21-Don Adamczyk, 4. 27-Andy Shouse, 5. 80-Dave Wickham, 6. 12-Tim Kelly, 7. 51-Bryan Howland, 8. 39-Tim Hogue.

Wesmar-Shaver Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 8-Blake Breen, 2. 91-Darren Stewart, 3. 21x-Trevor Lewis, 4. 35-Jared Zimbardi, 5. 28FM-Steve Poirier, 6. 10-Jeff Cook, 7. 52L-Daniel Lampron, 8. 17J-Lance Yonge.

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

Pole Dash (5 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 94-Wayne Johnson, 3. 29-Travis Rilat, 4. 33-Doug Emery, 5. 45-Chuck Hebing, 6. 9-Gary Wright.

"B" Mains -- Top 3 from each Advance to "A" Main

First "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 27-Andy Shouse, 2. 25-Geoff Quackenbush, 3. 28FM-Steve Poirier, 4. 4b-Bryn Gohn, 5. 12-Tim Kelly, 6. 80-Dave Wickham, 7. 51-Bryan Howland, 8. 22-Ray Preston, 9. 00-Randy West. DNS: 39-Tim Hogue, 3b-Scott Bonnell.

Second "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 32-Justin Barger, 2. 35-Jared Zimbardi, 3. 87-George Suprick, 4. 8b-Blake Breen, 5. 57c-Chris Schmelzle, 6. 25x-Michael Parent, 7. 17J-Lance Yonge, 8. 52-Scott Kreutter, 9. 10-Jeff Cook, 10. 52L-Daniel Lampron.

O'Reilly ASCoT Bully Hill New York Sprint Nationals Finale "A" Main Results:

"A" Feature (30 Laps): 1. 29-Travis Rilat, 2. 94-Wayne Johnson, 3. 41-Jason Johnson, 4. 9-Gary Wright, 5. 32-Justin Barger, 6. 33-Doug Emery, 7. 21x-Trevor Lewis, 8. 45-Chuck Hebing, 9. 4a-Kenny Adams, 10. 9b-Bobby Breen, 11. 8-Blake Breen, 12. 35-Jared Zimbardi, 13. 11F-Foster Landon, 14. 28FM-Steve Poirier, 15. 63-Josh Weller, 16. F1-Nick Fratto, 17. 21-Don Adamczyk, 18. 10m-Chris Muhleisen, 19. 8b-Alain Bergeron, 20. 27-Andy Shouse, 21. 25-Geoff Quackenbush, 22. 91-Darren Stewart, 23. 87-George Suprick, 24. 57c-Chris Schmelzle.

Lap Leaders: Wayne Johnson 1-26, Travis Rilat 27-30.

Note: Chris Schmelzle utilized an O'Reilly ASCoT provisional starting position for the "A" Main and Alain Bergeron utilized an Empire Sprint Series provisional for the "A" Main.

O'Reilly ASCoT Points (Top Ten): 1. Gary Wright 1,749, 2. Wayne Johnson 1,652, 3. Jason Johnson 1,633, 4. Travis Rilat 1,589, 5. Darren Stewart 1,559, 6. Foster Landon 1,390, 7. Andy Shouse 1,323, 8. Chris Schmelzle 1,125, 9. Johnny Miller 1,047, 10. Nick Smith 832.

ASCS Mid-Atlantic Region Points (Top Ten): 1. George Suprick 473, 2. Tim Hogue 471, 3. Coleman Gulick 447, 4. Justin Barger 357, 5. Geoff Quackenbush 339, 6. Pat Cannon 290, 7. Dave Ely, Pat Cannon and Davie Franek, Jr. 288, 10. Jimmy Stitzel 278.

ASCS Patriot Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Chuck Hebing 360, 2. Bryan Howland 350, 3. Jeff Cook 336, 4. Jared Zimbardi 334, 5. Josh Weller 328, 6. Geoff Quackenbush 326, 7. Justin Barger 322, 8. Don Adamczyk 320, 9. Blake Breen 316, 10. Bobby Breen 310.

-credit: ascs