Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
After having a break-out performance last season, Travis Hallybuton is set to return to Sunset Speedway’s Sauble Falls Tent and Trailer Park Limited Late Model division in 2016, looking for the next step – the championship.
“I’ve been so close in every division that I’ve raced and haven’t got it,” he said. “So it’d be the pinnacle to do so.”
Hallyburton enters this season riding a wave of momentum after a slew of success last year.
“I think 2016 is going to be pretty interesting with the new tire rules,” he told OnPitRoad.com. “Gonna work a bit more with my brother (Thayne Hallyburton) in getting through traffic a bit better. There’s going to be more tough competition. I think we have a good car coming into 2016 with the changes that we’ve made to it, and I think we’ll have a good year.”
Last season, the driver of the No. 39 Late Model finished fifth in points after scoring his first Sunset Speedway Late Model victory.
“Last year was a great year for me,” he commented. “I had a lot of success – got a feature win, got an Autumn Colours win, third in the Velocity (250 presented by McColl Racing Enterprises) – a lot of big races and I thought that we have a lot of momentum going into 2016.”
As mentioned, Hallyburton was able to score the victory in the Autumn Colours Classic to complete last season after a thrilling late-race battle with Lane Zardo.
“That was unbelievable, especially to be on the podium with one of the greats in Tom Walters is absolutely amazing,” he said. “But that was definitely the highlight of my racing career so far. Then I had Lane Zardo finishing second right behind me and he’s an up-and-comer so that’s pretty awesome.”
Going into the year, though, if Hallyburton wants to win the championship, he knows he’ll have to top last year’s champion in Taylor Holdaway. Holdaway was dominant last season, scoring 12 victories over the course of the season.
“It’s going to take probably some organization in the shop during the week in getting prepared and not being off,” Hallyburton said. “You have to be right there every night to bring your A-Game.”
