Rilat Wins Sprint Kickoff in Florida in King of the 360s Prelim
Friday, January 27, 2006
by Bill Wright – Eighty-one cars from 22 states descended on East Bay Raceway near Tampa, Florida Thursday night for the opener in the Ronald Laney King of 360’s event. Travis Rilat ended up on the top of the heap after he took an early race lead (lap 5) from six-time Knoxville track champion, Terry McCarl, who was piloting the #1m of Nebraskan Mark Burch. Jason Sides crossed third ahead of 2005 Short Track Nationals champion Tim Montgomery and All Star Greg Wilson.
A handful of Knoxville regulars found the offseason to much to bear, and towed to Florida to thaw things out. Wayne Johnson who finished 2nd in Knoxville’s 410 points race subbed for Natalie Sather in her family’s 94s. The car is wrenched by National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee, Kenny Woodruff. After finishing second in his heat, and winning his qualifier, Wayne drove a steady race to finish eighth in the main event.
Josh Higday (car pictured), who finished 5th in 2005 360 points, finished a strong second in his heat and then won his qualifier. The effort was enough to slate him third in the feature grid. Fortune didn’t smile on Josh as mechanical ills ended his night prematurely.
Johnny Anderson, third in 2005 360 points, started out strong, winning his heat race. A sixth place finish in his qualifier and a seventh place run in his B main ended his run.
2005 Knoxville 360 champ, Jake Peters, who is taking to the road with ASCS this season, finished fifth in the first heat, and faded to tenth in his qualifier and eleventh in his B.
Knoxville 410 regular and 2005 Sprint Invaders champ, Jesse Giannetto finished fourth in his heat, ninth in his qualifier and fourteenth in his B.
2005 Masters champion Roger Rager drove Kevin Frey’s 2K to second in his heat, eigth in his qualifier and eleventh in his B.
The King of the 360s will run another Prelim on Friday night, with the finale slated for Saturday night paying $10,000 to the winner.
A main finish (started): 1. 29, Travis Rilat (2) 2. 1m, Terry McCarl (1) 3. 7s, Jason Sides (13) 4. 01, Tim Montgomery (4) 5. w20, Greg Wilson (6) 6. 9w, Gary Wright (18) 7. 1T, Tim Shaffer (10) 8. 94s, Wayne Johnson (7) 9. R19, Scott Winters (5) 10. 46, Jan Howard (15) 11. X, Chuck Swenson (19) 12. 42x, Sport Allen (8) 13. 1x, Sean McClelland (24) 14. 7m, Kevin Ramey (22) 15. 11L, Greg Leonard (11) 16. 15s, Nick Smith (9) 17. 55L, Dustin Lindquist (23) 18. 91, Darren Stewart (21) 19. 18, Tony Bruce Jr. (20) 20. 51, Bryan Howland (16) 21. 00, Danny Martin Jr. (12) 22. 20m, Mike Brecht (14) 23. 50z, Zach Chappell (17) 24. 24, Josh Higday (3)
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