by Robert Mayson

OSKALOOSA, Iowa (Aug. 6, 2002) - The "Texas Tornado", Travis Rilat, came from the 16th starting spot to win the opening round of the Non-Winged World Championship (NWWC) tour at Southern Iowa Speedway and was rewarded with the $30,000 first prize that accompanied his non-winged "Ultimate Challenge" victory.

Even though Rilat isn't exactly a household name on the NAPA Auto Parts/Auto Trader Magazines SCRA sprint car scene, his victory Tuesday will undoubtedly open a few eyes on the West Coast. At the tender age of 24, Rilat has already won main events in All Star, ASCS and NCRA competition. His drive to NWWC glory comes in just his second non-winged start and his first career SCRA start.

"After the red I was running fourth. We went into turn one and they all shoved up. We were great on the bottom, shoved up in front of them, and took the lead coming off turn four", Rilat said in victory lane. "The car was handling great tonight, I have never had a better race car. This is my biggest win ever!"

JE Pistons Dash winner Damion Gardner took the lead on lap six and was hounded throughout the race by Sander Engineering Fast Qualifier J.J. Yeley and Kasey Kahne. Working his way forward on the bottom of the racing surface, Rilat had moved into the top-five when the red flag flew on lap 24 for Troy Rutherford, who flipped in turn one. Rutherford was not hurt, but the same could not be say for his Cory Witherill owned sprinter.

Shortly after the restart, Rilat drove under Gardner and Yeley in turn two and took the lead with a spectacular three-wide pass. After the race, it was learned that Rilat had lost his brakes and one of his cylinders due to a rocker arm problem. In addition to the biggest payday in SCRA history, Rilat also earned the KSE Hard Charger Award.

Gardner held back Kahne, Boston Reid and Yeley to finish second. Terry Pletch, who earned a ninth place finish with the SCRA at Terre Haute in 1999, added a sixth place run to his SCRA resume after putting together a fine drive from the eleventh starting spot. Pletch's teammate for the evening, Jac Haudenschild, had an incident in his heat race with Cory Kruseman and was unable to make the call for the B-Main. Despite flipping in the incident, Kruseman transferred from the B-Main and went on to finish ninth in the A-Main behind Levi Jones. Defending NWWC Champion, Richard Griffin finished seventh.

RESULTS

SANDER ENGINEERING TIME TRIALS:

1. 76 J.J. Yeley, 19.866 sec., 90.607 mph

2. 39 Tony Elliott, 19.910, 90.407

3. 2 Boston Reid, 19.915, 90.384

4. 50 Richard Griffin, 20.208, 89.074

5. 4 Rickie Gaunt, 20.245, 88.911

6. 67 Kasey Kahne, 20.270, 88.801

7. 20 Damion Gardner, 20.402, 88.227

8. 29H Jac Haudendchild, 20.405, 88.214

9. 138 Levi Jones, 20.453, 88.007

10. 29 Bud Kaeding, 20.490, 87.848

11. 87 Tony Jones, 20.541, 87.630

12. 6 Mike English, 20.564, 87.532

13. 38 Bobby Graham, 20.566, 87.523

14. 29p Terry Pletch, 20.598, 87.387

15. 47 Justin Marvel, 20.599, 87.383

16. 1 Cory Kruseman, 20.605, 87.357

17. 61 Troy Rutherford, 20.682, 87.032

18. 99 Adam Michell, 20.771, 86.659

19. 3 Rip Williams, 20.783, 86.609

20. 1a Travis Rilat, 20.789, 86.584

21. 94 Charles Davis Jr., 20.794, 86.563

22. 6 Tracy Hines, 20.811, 86.493

23. 5 Mike Kirby, 20.814, 86.480

24. 41 Bobby Cody, 20.829, 86.418

25. 25 Dickie Gaines, 20.830, 86.414

26. 83 John Scott, 21.001, 85.710

27. 51 Ryan Jamison, 21.218, 84.834

28. 19 Rodney Argo, 21.380, 84.191

29. 44 Mike Spencer, 21.478, 83.807

30. 39t Miles Brine, 21.492, 83.752

31. 85 Lance Gremett, 21.500, 83.721

32. 55 Keith Hudson, 21.573, 83.438

33. 24 Jack DeArmond Jr., 21.723, 82.861

34. 71x Robert Bell, 21.850, 82.380

35. 21g Howie Gleason, 21.914, 82.139

36. 9 Terry Thorson, 21.949, 82.008

37. 126 Stacy Alexander, 22.197, 81.092

HEDMAN HEDDERS HEAT 1 (8 laps): 1. Dickie Gaines, 2. Charles Davis Jr., 3. JJ Yeley, 4. Levi Jones, 5. Rickie Gaunt, 6. Troy Rutherford, 7. Bobby Graham, 8. Mike Spencer, 9. Casey Alexander, 10. Jack DeArmond Jr. (first four finishers transfered to the "A" Feature)

SHAVER ENGINES HEAT 2 (8 laps): 1. John Scott, 2. Terry Pletch, 3. Tony Elliott, 4. Kasey Kahne, 5. Tracy Hines, 6. Bud Kaeding, 7. Adam Mitchell, 8. Miles Grein, 9. Robert Bell. (first four finishers transfered to the "A" Feature)

SPIN TECH MUFFLERS HEAT 3 (8 laps): 1. Mike Kirby, 2. Boston Reid, 3. Damion Gardner, 4. Rip Williams, 5. Tony Jones, 6. Justin Marvel, 7. Ryan Jamison, 8. Lance Gremett, 9. Howie Gleason. (first four finishers transfered to the "A" Feature)

STINGER CHASSIS HEAT 4 (8 laps): 1. Richard Griffin, 2. Mike English, 3. Travis Rilat, 4. Rodney Argo, 5. Keith Hutton, 6. Terry Thorson, 7. Bobby Cody, 8. Cory Kruseman, 9. Jac Haudenschild. (first four finishers transfered to the "A" Feature)

JE PISTONS DASH (6 laps): 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Richard Griffin, 3. Kasey Kahne, 4. JJ Yeley, 5. Boston Reid, 6. Tony Elliott, 7. Levi Jones, 8. Mike English. (finished determined the first four rows of the "A" feature)

"B" FEATURE (12 laps): 1. Tony Jones, 2. Cory Kruseman, 3. Troy Rutherford, 4. Justin Marvel, 5. Ryan Jamison, 6. Rickie Gaunt, 7. Bud Kaeding, 8. Tracy Hines, 9. Bobby Graham, 10. Adam Mitchell, 11. Miles Grein, 12. Howie Gleason, 13. Mike Spencer, 14. Keith Hutton, 15. Jack DeArmond Jr., 16. Stacy Alexander, 17. Lance Gremett, 18. Robert Bell, 19. Terry Thorson. (first six finishers transferred to the "A" Feature)

"A" FEATURE (30 laps): 1. Travis Rilat, 2. Damion Gardner, 3. Kasey Kahne, 4. Boston Reid, 5. J.J. Yeley, 6. Terry Pletch, 7. Richard Griffin, 8. Levi Jones, 9. Cory Kruseman, 10. Dickie Gaines, 11. Tony Elliott, 12. Rickie Gaunt, 13. Ryan Jamison, 14. Mike English, 15. Justin Marvel, 16. John Scott, 17. Mike Kirby, 18. Tony Jones, 19. Rodney Argo, 20. Rip Williams, 21. Troy Rutherford, 22. Charles Davis Jr.

Lap Leaders: Kahne 1-5, Gardner 6-24, Rilat, 25-30.

KSE Hard Charger: Rilat (advanced 15 positions).