By Shawn Miller, ASCS NW sprint car series
ELMA, Wash. (July 18) – From dejection to jubilation, Travis Rilat experienced an emotional night Saturday at the 3rd annual Fred Brownfield Memorial.
The Forney, Texas, driver claimed a wild 35-lap Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Dirt Series presented by K&N Filters feature and the $10,092 paycheck that honors the late promoter of Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. – the host track.
Rilat had the race won, then lost it in the final laps only to gain it back when Roger Crockett of Medford, Ore., was disqualified for weight.
“I felt that we lost the race,” Rilat said. “But it’s a win.”
Rilat, the polesitter, led the first 32 laps before a late caution bunched the field together with three laps remaining. That allowed Crockett one last opportunity, which he took advantage of with a perfectly timed slide job as the two exited turn two on the restart.
“You know better,” Rilat said. “When you’re leading the race with a couple laps to go, you never leave the bottom open. The guy that’s in second is going to try to slide you every time. I was pretty upset.”
Crockett held off Rilat for the final three laps only to be disqualified after the race for the race car being six pounds under the minimum weight of 1,475.
“I knew we were going to have to get him on the restart,” said Crockett, who outlasted Rilat to win Friday’s preliminary feature.
“It’s my fault we didn’t make weight. I didn’t do my job. I did it on the race track. I didn’t do it in the pit area.”
For Crockett, who has been the runner-up at the first two Fred Brownfield Memorial races, crossing the finish line first was a marquee win. Just as significant, it would have been the second consecutive night an ASCS Northwest Region driver would have claimed first place in an ASCS National Tour event.
Instead, Crockett, who was third in the Northwest Region points entering the race, is kicking himself for the mistake, a negative tone that seemed to be a theme in Saturday’s main event.
Snohomish, Wash., resident Jared Ridge, who entered the night tied for the Northwest Region point’s lead with Steven Tiner of Visalia, Calif., drove into the top 10 early in the feature only to be booted in the final laps when a steering line broke.
“I would say we had some bad luck tonight,” said Ridge, who finished 16th. “All three of us were up there doing really good.”
Tiner failed to advance out of the second B main, which had six of the Northwest Region’s top 11 drivers in points.
Despite the hard luck for the top three in points, Travis Rutz of Langley, B.C. represented the Northwest Region with a third-place finish.
“Jason Johnson and Travis Rilat, I’ve looked up to those guys for a long time,” Rutz said. “It’s just an absolute pleasure to be able to throw slide jobs back and forth with people like that. This is my dream.”
Rutz raced inside the top five for the entire event, including a great battle with Jason Johnson of Eunice, La. The duo traded countless slide jobs and were within inches of each other entering nearly every turn.
“That’s how these National show races are,” said Johnson, who was second. “Everybody is so competitive and it’s just close competition.”
Gary Wright of Hooks, Texas, who entered the night as the ASCS National Tour point’s leader, finished fourth. Tim Crawley of Benton, Ark., rounded out the top five.
Warsaw, Mo., resident Jesse Hockett, who won the first three Speedweek races, claimed the Northwest Region Speedweek title.
The partnership between the ASCS National Tour and the ASCS Northwest Region continues next Friday (July 24) and Saturday (July 25) at the Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore.
Results
Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Dirt Series presented by K&N Filters and Northwest Region results from Grays Harbor Raceway (July 18):
Heat One (10 laps): 1. 13-Jesse Hockett, 2. 9j-J.J. Hickle, 3. 26-Travis Rutz, 4. 08-Steve Vague, 5. 12-Jared Ridge, 6. 23-Seth Bergman, 7. 6-Jayme Barnes, 8. 11-Chad Corken, 9. 72-Glenn Borden Jr., 10. 2-Kenneth Walker.
Heat Two (10 laps): 1. 9p-Jared Peterson, 2. 9x-Gary Wright, 3. 18-Tony Bruce Jr., 4. 33v-Henry Van Dam, 5. 0j-Jay Cole, 6. 15c-Cody Anderlini, 7. 53-Jack Dover, 8. 7k-Danny Kirkpatrick, 9. 15j-Jeff Dunlap.
Heat Three (10 laps): 1. 2m-Mike Melwicks, 2. 94t-Steven Tiner 3. 3d-Paul McMahan, 4. 25c-Chad Groves, 5. 76-Shawn Rice, 6. 12p-Randy Pierce, 7. 44w-Austen Wheatley, 8. 4-Nick Enberg, 9. 96x-Mack Brown.
Heat Four (10 laps): 1. 1-Sean McClelland, 2. 57-Shane Stewart 3. 35a-Wayne Johnson, 4. 18t-Travis Jacobson, 5. 98m-Mitch Olson, 6. 23t-Colin Baker, 7. 5h-Justyn Cox, 8. 21w-Vern Wheeler, 9. 15d-Dan Dunlap.
Heat Five (10 laps): 1. 94-Danny Wood, 2. 51-Jason Solwold, 3. 91-Gary Taylor, 4. 29v-Robby Vaughn, 5. 94z-Zach Zimmerly, 6. 7-Darren Long, 7. 33-Nate Morelock, 8. 6m-Phillip Del Rosa, 9. 7a-J.J. Hickle.
First “B” Feature (12 laps): 1. 35a-Wayne Johnson, 2. 3d-Paul McMahan, 3. 29v-Robby Vaughn, 4. 08-Steve Vague, 5. 7-Darren Long, 6. 2-Kenneth Walker, 7. 7k-Danny Kirkpatrick, 8. 23t-Colin Baker, 9. 15c-Cody Anderlini, 10. 72-Glenn Borden Jr., 11. 96x-Mack Brown, 12. 33-Nate Morelock.
Second “B” Feature (12 laps): 1. 0j-Jay Cole, 2. 33v-Henry Van Dam, 3. 94t-Steven Tiner, 4. 91-Gary Taylor, 5. 6-Jayme Barnes, 6. 98m-Mitch Olson, 7. 4-Nick Enberg, 8. 12p-Randy Pierce, 9. 5h-Justyn Cox, 10. 6m-Phillip Del Rosa, 11. 15j-Jeff Dunlap.
Third “B” Feature (12 laps): 1. 57-Shane Stewart, 2. 53-Jack Dover, 3. 11-Chad Corken, 4. 76-Shawn Rice, 5. 44w-Austen Wheatley, 6. 21w-Vern Wheeler, 7. 23-Seth Bergman, 8. 94z-Zach Zimmerly, 9. 25c-Chad Groves, 10. 15d-Dan Dunlap, 11. (DNS) 7a-J.J. Hickle.
“A” Feature (35 laps): 1. 29-Travis Rilat, 2. 41-Jason Johnson, 3. 26-Travis Rutz, 4. 9x-Gary Wright, 5. 88-Tim Crawley, 6. 18-Tony Bruce Jr., 7. 91-Gary Taylor, 8. 57-Shane Stewart, 9. 35a-Wayne Johnson, 10. 3d-Paul McMahan, 11. 18t-Travis Jacobson, 12. 0j-Jay Cole, 13. 2m-Mike Melwicks, 14. 9p-Jared Peterson, 15. 33v-Henry Van Dam, 16. 12-Jared Ridge, 17. 9j-J.J. Dishneau, 18. 51-Jason Solwold, 19. 94-Danny Wood, 20. 13-Jesse Hockett, 21. 53-Jack Dover, 22. 7-Darren Long, 23. 1-Sean McClelland, 24. (DQ) 11c-Roger Crockett.
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