 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rilat wins
Dirt Cup opener in Skagit debut
by Andrew Kunas
|
June 15, 2006...
Travis Rilat of Forney, Texas didn’t let a new track
scare him tonight, winning the opening preliminary of
the 35th Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Washington’s
Skagit Speedway. The hotshoe from the Lone Star State
has made the tow from Texas worth it so far, winning in
his first appearance in Washington, let alone Skagit
Speedway.
Rilat, as a result of a complete invert of the A-Main
field, started inside the front row for the 30-lap
event, and led until lap 24, when front end problems,
caused by a front left wheel packed with some mud,
slowed him enough to allow returning Washington star
Jason Solwold to take the lead in turn four. On a lap 29
restart, however, Solwold ran out of fuel, allowing
Rilat to motor around on the high side in turn two.
Rilat would drive away with the victory, while Solwold
would lose second to 17-year-old California star Robert
Ballou, who finished the race with a new motor that went
sick. Local racer Steve Kilcup finished fourth, followed
by two-time Dirt Cup champion Steve Kent of Fresno, who
charged from the 13th starting spot, and John Tharp.
Tim Kaeding, one of four nationally touring drivers who
flew to Washington state after a race in Davenport, Iowa
Wednesday night, finished seventh after transferring out
of the B-Main. Defending track champion Barry Martinez,
Chad Hillier, and former Dirt Cup champion Shane Stewart
rounded out the top ten.
Jason Bloodgood won the crash-marred 15-lap D-Main race,
which sent himself, Andy Jacobson and Taylor Malsam to
the C-Main. Winning that was Chris Schmelze, going to
the B-Main with Sean Becker and Jimmy Dietz. Sean Becker
continued his alphabet soup run when he finished fourth
in the 20-lap B-Main race to transfer to the A-Main.
Going with him were Rick Fauver, Tim Kaeding, Brent
Kaeding, Kyle Hirst, and race winner Chad Hillier.
Winning ten lap heat races were Travis Jacobson, Steve
Kilcup, Jayme Barnes, and Ronnie Day, who prevented a
Washington heat race sweep by taking the checkers in the
final heat.
Funk set fast time in qualifying with a lap of 11.351
seconds around the 3/10-mile, high-banked, clay oval.
Funk achieved the time on his first lap, but went for a
wild series of flips as he exited turn four on his
second lap.
Sixty-five winged sprint cars were on hand for the first
night of Skagit Speedway’s crown jewel event.
Friday’s event will be another complete preliminary
program with qualifying, heat races, and main events.
Points from Thursday’s and Friday’s events will be
combined to determine line-ups for Saturday’s main
events.
35th Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup – Thursday
Preliminary
Skagit Speedway – Alger, WA
June 15, 2006
Unofficial results
65 cars
Fast qualifier: 8e Evan Funk, 11.351 seconds
Heat 1, 10 laps, top four transfer: 1. 7j Travis
Jacobson, 2. 7N Steve Kent, 3. 14 Jason Meyers, 4. 33v
Henry Van Dam, 5. 69 Brent Kaeding, 6. 99 Kyle Hirst, 7.
40 Brock Lemley, 8. 28 Rick Smith, 9. 41b Brad
Pritchard, 10. 57c Chris Schmelze, 11. 7s Rick Ziehl,
12. 8e Evan Funk.
Heat 2, 10 laps, top four transfer: 1. 18 Steve Kilcup,
2. 73 Jason Solwold, 3. 26s Shane Stewart, 4. 0 Jonathan
Allard, 5. 10 Stephen Allard, 6. 2 Brad Furr, 7. 77 Kirk
Fellers, 8. 12 Jared Ridge, 9. 00 Jason Statler, 10. 23
Steve Parker, 11. 76e Josh Edson, 12. 35a Sean Becker.
Heat 3, 10 laps, top four transfer: 1. 9 Jayme Barnes,
2. 66 Barry Martinez, 3. 75 Roy Blumenhagen, 4. 69t John
Tharp, 5. 26 Rick Fauver, 6. 83 Tim Kaeding, 7. 4x Toni
Lutar, 8. 29h Brandon Harkness, 9. 71 Johnny Gray, 10. 1
Jimmy Dietz, 11. 8B Blake Brigge, 12. 17 Kelly Barnett.
Heat 4, 10 laps, top four transfer: 1. 1D Ronnie Day, 2.
12B Robert Ballou, 3. 29r Travis Rilat, 4. 8r Travis
Rutz, 5. 5sp Jason York, 6. 0K Dennie Moore Jr., 7. 23B
Seth Bergman, 8. V8 Jeff Hodgson, 9. 5 Chad Hillier, 10.
88 Jesse Whitney, 11. 17v Danny Faria Jr., 12. 31 Danny
Bullock.
D-Main, 15 laps, top two transfer to C-Main: 1. 38 Jason
Bloodgood, 2. 59 Andy Jacobson, 3. 25m Taylor Malsam, 4.
44j Abe Sherwood, 5. 99e Alex Hantell, 6. 7o Roger
Oudman, 7. 14j Brandon Johnson, 8. 25a Adriana Klein, 9.
9b Paul Burdick, 10. 15w Lyle Woods, 11. 25k Karl
Blumenhagen, 12. 3 Dan Pierson, 13. 57 Bud Ashe, 14. 14b
Brandon Johnson, 15. 15D Dan Dunlap, 16. 7ak Steve
Martin, DNS – 79k Kelsey Carpenter. 25m Taylor Malsam
also advances to C-Main after scratch by 17v Danny Faria
Jr.
C-Main, 15 laps, top two transfer to B-Main: 1. 57c
Chris Schmelze, 2. 35a Sean Becker, 3. 1 Jimmy Dietz, 4.
40 Brock Lemley, 5. 23b Seth Bergman, 6. 41B Brad
Pritchard, 7. 28 Rick Smith, 8. 8B Blake Brigge, 9. 12
Jared Ridge, 10. 38 Jason Bloodgood, 11. 71 Johnny Gray,
12. V8 Jeff Hodgson, 13. 76e Josh Edson, 14. 25m Taylor
Malsam, 15. 59 Andy Jacobson, 16. 17 Kelly Barnett, 17.
5sp Jason York, 18. 00 Jason Statler, DNS – 17v Danny
Faria Jr. 1 Jimmy Dietz also advances to B-Main after
scratch by 31 Danny Bullock.
B-Main, 20 laps, top six transfer to A-Main: 1. 5 Chad
Hillier, 2. 26 Rick Fauver, 3. 83 Tim Kaeding, 4. 35a
Sean Becker, 5. 69 Brent Kaeding, 6. 99 Kyle Hirst, 7.
0K Dennis Moore Jr., 8. 2 Brad Furr, 9. 77 Kirk Fellers,
10. 7s Rick Zeih, 11. 1 Jimmy Dietz, 12. 57c Chris
Schmelze, 13. 29 Brandon Harkness, 14. 4x Toni Lutar,
15. 23 Steve Parker, 16. 10 Stephen Allard, 17. 8e Evan
Funk, 18. 88 Jesse Whitney, DNS – 31 Danny Bullock.
A-Main, 30 laps: 1. 29 Travis Rilat, 2. 12 Robert
Ballou, 3. 73 Jason Solwold, 4. 18 Steve Kilcup, 5. 7N
Steve Kent, 6. 69t John Tharp, 7. 83 Tim Kaeding, 8. 66
Barry Martinez, 9. 5 Chad Hillier, 10. 26s Shane
Stewart, 11. 26 Rick Fauver, 12. 35a Sean Becker, 13. 14
Jason Meyers, 14. 0 Jonathan Allard, 15. 7J Travis
Jacobson, 16. 69 Brent Kaeding, 17. 8r Travis Rutz, 18.
75 Roy Blumenhagen, 19. 9 Jayme Barnes, 20. 1D Ronnie
Day, 21. 33v Henry Van Dam, 22. 99 Kyle Hirst.
|
|
|
