With the quality of the competition and the big numbers of drivers in all divisions, seeing one driver dominate the winning was not something that I expected for the eleventh annual Wild West Shootout. However, two drivers have proven me wrong already as both Bobby Pierce and Ricky Thornton Jr. have dominated their respective divisions. Both won their third feature race on Friday night of the four contested so far with Pierce toying with the field in the Late Models and Thornton Jr. earning the Modified win in a stirring drive to the front. Only the X Mods have been more mixed with "The Modern Day Cowboy", Ron Schreiner winning the main on Friday night and becoming the fourth different X Mod driver to visit victory lane so far.
Another big crowd was on hand for the show on Friday, contested under cloudy skies with even a few sprinkles of rain falling from time to time but never anything to the extent of creating any problems for the racers.
The success of this racing series has been clear and apparent to all and with that success in mind, officials of the Wild West Shootout announced that the program will return to Arizona Speedway in 2018 and that the dates will be January 6,7,10,12,13 and 14 with the 5th reserved as a practice night.
The smooth running programs continued on Friday with the hot laps/time trials being spun off quicker than ever. A little track prep followed but they were still moving along so well that the first heat race of the night actually hit the track sixteen minutes before the advertised starting time! When trying to cut it close to not miss the first green of the night, coming to this event means you better be here early if you're not going to miss the first heat!
Track officials have been doing a good job of administering the race programs also. They have been watching the starts closely and between Race Director Kelly Carlton and the starter, have called back a number of jump starts. Of course, the rule that all cars that stop on the track during a race has screwed a few drivers spinning and stopping on the track to avoid accidents, but it is the same for everyone and certainly makes it a breeze to administer.
Once again it was Pierce that dominated the Late Model division. Billy Moyer started on the pole and led a few laps but Pierce quickly moved to the high side and blasted past the Hall of Famer. After that, it was just a matter of working the traffic and keeping his lead over Chris Simpson who had taken over third. Simpson did close a little when Pierce got hung up with a couple of lapped cars, but once he cleared them, he again pulled away. After most of the show found the lower to mid groove the fast way around the track, the groove suddenly jumped to the top for the Late Model feature and it is apparent that Moyer just doesn't want to bang around off the cushion and the outside rail any more. Garrett Alberson was one of the fastest cars on the track at the end of the main as he closed on Moyer at the end. Terry Phillips, after a poor qualifying effort that saw him start eighteenth in the main really got up on the wheel and charged all the way up to fifth at the finish. After some real lackluster runs early in the week, the change of cars had really perked up his program.
While Thornton Jr. continues to dominate the Modifieds, the way he won the main event Friday was very much different than how Pierce controlled the Late Models. I would have to say that the Modified feature on Friday was the best main event of the series so far. The racing was excellent with several different drivers challenging for the lead and much passing and lead changing going on. Dustin Strand, Shane Sabraski, Brad Diercks and R.C. Whitwell all had legitimate chances to take the win at various times until Thornton Jr. worked his way forward from a tenth starting spot to take the lead. I don't know what it is about Thornton Jr. and his Shaw chassis but the combination really works for him. You would probably be hard pressed to even find another Shaw chassis in the Modified pits this week, but Ricky puts it anywhere and everywhere on the track on his way to the front. There were only two minor yellows in the Modified feature, twenty of the twenty four starters were still on the track at the finish and not a car was lapped. I would have to say that the Modified field has been the most impressive of the series, despite the fact that this is supposed to be a Late Model series. Truly, both the Mods and X Mods should be due for a purse boost for 2018. Thornton Jr's win was also the first of the week where the winner came from deeper than the second row in the starting field.
The X Mods have seen four different winners in four nights and that continued Friday as Ron Schreiner, the transplant from Wisconsin, led from start to finish in the main. He likes to keep his car straight and drive it through the corners and that strategy worked to perfection Friday as no one had anything for him. Thornton Jr. was behind the wheel of Missouri's Mike Tanner's back up car and while one can argue whether Thornton Jr. should even be racing in this class, he once again proved that he can drive anything with four wheels. However, even he couldn't keep up with Schreiner on this night. North Dakota's Rusty Kollman continued his consistent racing with his fourth top ten in four nights. Opening night winner Travis Schulte and Wisconsin's Clark Swartz maintained their pace also with another top ten finish.
Car counts remained solid for night four of the series. The Modified field continues to amaze as eight more drivers made their first appearance of the week and with fifty three Modifieds in the pits, the car count has continued to climb each night and has reached a two year high. Forty two X Mods made for four solid heats and with a few of the Late Model drivers returning for weekend number two, forty six of them took qualifying efforts with Mike Marlar the most notably missing, having headed back to eastern Tennesse after a sub par showing. Both the Mod and X Mod fields remain well up over 2016.
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