While the majority of the drivers and their cars from the upper Midwest remain hunkered down in their warm houses and heated garages against the cold blasts of Winter, those that ventured out and traveled to the Desert more than held up their end of the bargain to the race fans here as drivers from the state of Minnesota won all three of the feature races contested on night three of the Wild West Shootout here at the F K Rod Ends Arizona Speedway in the San Tan Valley. On top of that, the top three finishers in the Modified feature were from the Gopher state and WISSOTA based drivers continued to shine with two of the three winners representing that sanctioning group and eight of the top ten in the X Mod feature from WISSOTA county.
Racing action remained wild and woolly and highly unpredictable as the drivers ran for the first time in the series in evening conditions. On top of that, a rare series of thunderstorms packing quite a bit of rain and a lightning show to boot hit late in the evening on Tuesday, just after the bonus practice session was completed, turning the pits into a muddy mess and thoroughly saturating the race track. With conditions much cooler on Wednesday and with the action starting two hours later with the sun already set, the track remained much tackier and it was a lightning quick surface for racing action that held much of the night. Thus, those drivers packing plenty of horsepower but perhaps having trouble either getting it to the ground or making their cars turn found the track to be much more favorable and forgiving for them. On the flip side, those that were gaining their edge due to sharp handling cars found that a lack of blinding speed would be hurting their cause on Wednesday night with the super tacky conditions.
Car counts were down slightly for the Wednesday night show as they always are as a number of the New Mexico and California drivers return home to work during the week with their return expected on Friday night. Thirty two X Mods, forty four Mods and forty six Late Models signed in to race on Friday although a couple were eliminated for the night early due to mechanical issues. The numbers though, compared favorably with last year's mid race race.
A few changes were noted for night three of the racing action and several teams had a busy off two days as repairs were made to their race cars. Pat Doar got his chance behind the wheel on Wednesday as he drove the Late Model his is sharing with Lance Matthees. Ricky Weiss, who got in a tangle with Bobby Pierce as they battled for the lead in the Late Model feature on Sunday, was back on the track with his car and continued to show blazing speed, if not a lot of good luck. After being the first driver for the week under the fifteen second plateau in time trials, he clobbered the back chute rail on his second attempt and severely damaged his car. He missed his heat while repairs were fashioned and he tried to return to tail a B feature but the car spit out a driveshaft on the warm up lap as things were obviously not totally rectified. If he can even keep the car running and can avoid trouble, a feature win yet this week seems still likely.
The one driver that has had smooth sailing so far this week is Don Shaw, who's story book week continues as he became the first repeat winner of the week, winning a hard fought main event title over Bobby Pierce and Mike Marlar. In much the same manner as his win on Sunday, he did not dominate from start to finish but instead let a couple of other drivers lead early and then fall by the way side, at which point Shaw was right there to take over the point.
Chris Simpson was the leader early but he didn't look comfortable with the high speeds in the corners and eventually jumped the cushion a couple times and fell all the way back to sixth at the finish. Cade Dillard was most impressive and the rookie Late Model driver show both speed and moxie and he threaded his way into the lead. However, he ran into grief with a lapped car as he tried to force the issue and got turned into the front stretch wall, just about where Weiss hit it on Sunday and he was done. Shaw then took over the top spot and despite strong challenges from Pierce, he maintained his line and drove home for the win. What a remarkable and unexpected week it has been so far for the Ham lake Minnesota driver and what a nice boost for his chassis builder Billy Moyer. Pierce and Brandon Sheppard are both getting up to speed and a win by either the rest of the way would not be surprising either but just the uncertainty that is surrounding the Late Models and the unveiling of new winners has already made this a memorable week.
Lucas Schott, the young southern Minnesota USRA hot shot, dominated the Modified feature race on Wednesday. He started on the outside pole and led all the way in a race that had more than its share of yellow flags. Attrition was very high with only eleven cars on the track at the end out of twenty four starters. Many pulled off early, perhaps to save their equipment on a night when the motors were straining and there were a couple of motors that appeared to go South including those of Dustin Strand and heat race leader Richie Davis, having his first strong run until the power plant appeared to let go.
While Schott was strong on every restart and never was seriously challenged, the race behind them was a good one for position. Shane Sabraski put together another strong run as he finished a solid second and just like Sunday, Jason Krohn finished right behind him in third. Ricky Thornton Jr and Johnny Scott both passed a bunch of cars to finish in the top five after passing points were hard to grab in the heats due to the fact that everyone was blinding fast.
The Scott brothers and the Gallardo family cars both have shown a lot of speed but to this point, reliability has been a problem for all of them. It was heart break for Jake O'Neil who was scheduled to start on the pole for the Modified feature but failed to show. It was reported that a radiator problem was the cause. That was more than a bit ironic as one of the O'Neil family businesses is a radiator shop!
Race Director Kelly Carlton is really keeping the pace of the events going, particularly for these midweek night shows and Duece Arneson had to go to the back of the Modified main as he was late on the track for the start. He ten drove his way all the way up to seventh. Fito Gallardo was also tardy with the same penalty handed out to him.
Much frustration was released by Jason VandeKamp in the X Mod feature. Twice already this week, VandeKamp has had either wins or high finishes wiped out by late race mechanical issues, the tipping point being when he lost a driveshaft on his way to victory lane on the last lap of the feature race on Sunday. Not a driver who suffers from a lot of mechanical issues during the regular racing season, these fluke issues must have been galling to him and he took out his frustration on the rest of the field on Wednesday night.
After earning a front row starting spot in the main, he executed a "beat down" on the other drivers as he opened up a huge early lead and despite three yellows that brought the pack back to him, each time he drove away from them on the restart to comfortably earn his first ever Wild West Shootout trophy.
The battle behind VandeKamp was a good one and Cole Searing, having a great week of his own with three top five finishes, held off a very fast Steve Muilenburg for second. D.J. Tesch and Lucas Rodin, both also running well all week, completed the top five. While their open wheel cousins, the Modifieds, had a tough night on Wednesday, the X Mods were quite the opposite with only three yellow yellows in their main and only three non finishers.
The first glitch of the week occurred on Wednesday when a bank of lights failed to function correctly when they were turned on for the first time. Repairs were made quickly and the show was only delayed by a scant few minutes. One redesign at the track that I failed to mention earlier this week has been the redesigned exit off the track.
Previously the race cars exited the track by going straight off turn one to the pits and their exit road was dangerously close to the walkway where folks would pass back and forth between the grandstands in turn one and the pits with a cross over path needed to be used in an area that was somewhat dimly lighted and a real source of a possible accident.
Now the cars make a hard left turn after leaving the track and wind their way back to the pits by going near the sand drag area of the pits, which basically splits the pits in what is one of the more unusual pit areas to be found at any track. It's a little bit slower now but much safer.
The crowd was considerably smaller on Wednesday night but not surprising to the promoters as it is tough to get the local crowd out for a midweek show, particularly when it is so tough to move around this country to go anywhere during the "rush hour" which seems to start early and last late. Plus, it was probably too cool for some of the less than hardy local race fans. This night of racing is more for the drivers and the traveling spectators anyway.
In another sign that Armageddon is near, the whining of some of the Late Model drivers and their crews has been heard and acted upon favorably by track management. Last year all the "stick men" that signal their drivers during the Late Model races stood right in front of the crowd and blocked the view of those sitting in the lower sections of the bleachers. They complained and rightfully so, management made them move so the paying customers could see the show.
The way the track, fences, walls etc. are laid out here, there wasn't a good spot for them to stand other than right in front of the spectators so just about all the teams weren't utilizing "stick men" this year. Some of the drivers complained (apparently they can't drive unless someone is showing them where to go on the track) so on Wednesday, management had put down a chalked "penalty box" where the "stick men" could stay on the inside of the track inside the guard rail and signal to their drivers. Not a huge number of drivers used the new privilege but there were some in the "box", holding up their yardsticks and other such devices to their drivers. Apparently it isn't fool proof though, as the two main complainers, Pierce and Simpson, didn't mange to earn feature wins even with their newly gained co-drivers.
Night racing continues on Friday night before late afternoon shows on Saturday and Sunday complete what has been a spectacular week of racing to this point. Dirt on Dirt will continue their nightly broadcasts for those that want to watch live and can't get to the Desert.
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