Late Saturday afternoon, race number one of the thirteenth annual Wild West Shootout at the F K Rod Ends Arizona Speedway took place and about four hours later three opening night winners had been crowned. Making their way to victory lane after the opening night action was completed were Bobby Pierce, Casey(Duece) Arneson and Cole Searing. All three feature races were highly contested with plenty of battling back for forth for the lead and for positions right behind the leader and the large crowd was very entertained by the opening night action.
Opening night car counts saw forty six Late Models in the pits along with forty Modifieds and forty six X Mods. Car counts were up four from the opening night event last year while the Mods were down eight and the Late Models down four although there was a car in the pits for New York's Mike Maresca but he has failed to show up just yet after completing some indoor racing on the East Coast over the weekend.
Weather was an issue for the opening night of this racing series with various agencies predicting that the rain could start any time from 7 pm to 11 pm (they covered their bases quite nicely) and race management was well aware of this possibility and did everything possible to keep the show moving. At the driver's meeting it was announced that the Late Model dash, which will be held on three nights of the series, had been postponed from tonight to be held during the Friday night meet just to keep the action moving. It was emphasized just how important it was to line up quickly both when starting races and when restarting events and they held to that credo, keeping things moving all night. The only "downer" was that neither Searing or Arneson got to shoot off the revolvers after their feature wins, a tradition of this event that was foregone again just to keep things moving with only Pierce getting to celebrate after all was said and done. They even started the races about ten minutes early as everyone was ready to go so they dropped the first green and those fans who like to cut things close probably missed the first couple of heat races before they found a seat.
Other topics covered at the driver's meeting included a new set of "firing cones" in turn three that drivers had to fire at and if they hadn't "pulled the trigger" by the time they crossed the second cone, Race Director Kelly Carlton was going to call for the green whether they fired or not.
Mufflers are a big issue here this year as the track continues to get complaints about noise issues even though the nearest houses seem to be miles away. Apparently the sounds carry a long way on the desert. In any event, the mufflers and tires will be the big issues this year and "Super Fan" Ron Rodda tells me that the rules are much more liberal here on decibel levels than they are in California where a trash compactor may be dq'd for being too loud!
The other big thing was to make sure that the teams stayed herded in their "penalty box" on the inside of the front chute if they felt the need to signal with their "sticks" to the drivers as they raced. Noted was the fact that there was only one X Mod that chose to go that route, no Modifieds but an infield packed with "seeing eye dogs" for the Late Model drivers when they hit the track. Another "monkey see, Monkey do" strategy that is so prominent in racing.
Promptly at 3:30 pm the first set of hot laps takes to the track and after the X Mods and Mods hot lap the Late Model forgo practice, instead moving right into group qualifying. Pierce, as the third car out, would serve notice that he was quick as he timed in at 14.769 seconds to set the standard for the night. Late Models would line straight up for their heats and qualify in that manner while the X Mods and Mods would draw numbers and then use passing points to determine their starting order for the mains and last chance races. And this does make a difference. While we did see some spirited battles for position in the Late Model heats, it was drivers racing side by side to hold their positions while in the other two classes we saw some real charges from the back of the pack to the front. For example, Arizona rookie driver Austin Ellis started eleventh and charged all the way up to fourth in his X Mod heat that allowed him to earn a second row starting spot in the main event while we saw no such charges like that in the Late Models. But that's the way the Late Model drivers wanted it and management acquiesced several years ago and that horse will never be led back into the barn again.
After a series of heat races that included four for all three classes and B Features, the fields were set for the three main events. Some sprinkles started to fall during the X Mod feature from time to time and again returned later but none were of the heavier variety and the few times it did start to drip, it was not nearly hard enough to affect the racing. But it did reinforce the fact that the show must move on quickly.
Heat winners redrew in the Late Models and the front row showed Hudson O'Neal and Chase Junghans up front. After a first lap yellow, nearly half the race was completed before the yellow waved again and there was some intense racing going on among the top eight or so drivers with Junghans holding the lead but being pressured by Pierce, O'Neal, Chris Simpson, Brandon Sheppard and others. Soon they were joined by Jimmy Mars, Cade Dillard, Scott Bloomquist and Ricky Weiss who started to join the top group also as there was some real heavy battling going on.
Pierce was able to drive into the lead and as Junghans slipped back slightly, Sheppard moved into second and looked to be ready to charge. Then it was Dillard who picked up the pace and he looked like he would challenge for the lead. A key moment took place on lap twenty five when Weiss and Junghans got together, triggering a yellow and also triggering Junghan's ire.
This brought the field back together and a challenge to Pierce by Sheppard was expected, but Bobby was up to the challenge as he was able to pull away slightly as he was riding the banking and extremely fast. Bloomquist then started to flex some muscle as he got under Sheppard for second while Pierce still had a little breathing room. However, Pierce was approaching lapped traffic and a particular car that he had actually side slapped earlier when he got into traffic loomed directly of him again. Things got very tight the last couple of laps as Pierce couldn't get by the slower car and Bloomquist reeled him in. Coming off the last corner, Pierce got stuck on the outside and Bloomquist made a heavy charge on the bottom and as they crossed the line, it was very close indeed. Since Pierce's transponder had stopped working mid race, it was up to the Dirt on Dirt crew to show the replay and it verified that it was Pierce by a nose for the win with Sheppard in third over Dillard and Brandon Overton, in his first ride in the Coulter car. It was an entertaining race with only three yellows to slow the forty lapper.
Bad luck struck Tyler Peterson as he couldn't get his car to fire and so the Modified feature field started twenty three cars for their twenty five lap event. This was another intense race with front row starters Arneson and Derrick Ramirez having a great battle for the lead as they fought back and forth, trading the top spot between them. Ricky Thornton Jr was on the move and suddenly it became a three car battle for the lead. Just when it looked like Thornton Jr was ready to make a move, he slowed dramatically on the front chute and rolled into the pits.
While the top two continued to go at it, slowly moving forward was Darrell Nelson. A first timer here in the Desert, Nelson was driving a car owned by Jimmy Mars and one that Mars raced is a few races at special events back home in Wisconsin last Fall. Plain as plain could be, the car was nevertheless fast and Nelson is a veteran wheelman with accomplishments as long as his arm in the Upper Midwest area even though he might be unknown to local fans.
As Ramirez seemed to slip back just a little, Nelson drove past him to take over second and he seemed to be closing slightly on Arneson. And a late race yellow when Christy Barnett hammered the front stretch wall gave him his chance. However, Arneson was strong on the restart and on the final three laps he pulled away as he drove to a most impressive win in his Vanderbuilt chassis. Ramirez hung around for third and was followed by Dustin Strand and Tyler Wolff who looked very fast during preliminary action.
An interesting side note to Arneson's win was the fact that he was using a crate motor under the hood of his car. However, it was a 525 crate and not the motor that most IMCA drivers run these days. Still, it does give pause to those that are spending considerable amounts of money on open USMTS spec engines to run this sanctioned event.
The X Mod feature was also a very intense race although that intensity slopped over in the form of a considerable number of yellow flags needed to complete the twenty lap distance and the yellow bunting flew seven times for mostly spins and one hard crash.
In the early going it was wild with some unusual circumstances. The first corner was a cluster run with cars going in every direction as all lines around the track were packed like a Los Angeles freeway. Josh Cain, who came from the second row to make a wild dive into the lead, suffered a flat tire and was forced to change it while outside front row starter Austin Hunter spun and went to the back too.
On the restart, Jason VandeKamp, a previous winner here last year had worked up to the second row when he suddenly headed to the pits also as the running order continued to shuffle. As some green flag racing took place, it was the team cars of Lance Schill and Matt Gilbertson battling with the likes of Cole Searing for the top spot.
Schill, always an aggressor, made a strong move out of turn two to take the lead briefly before the concrete wall came up to say hello, and he clobbered the wall and then was clipped for good measure by Dane Durbin which finished the night for both cars and may have put Schill's MB in the trailer for the week. However, Schill had loaned his back up car to Gilbertson who was without a car to drive this weekend and his "loaner deal" may have been a short one.
Suddenly, it was defending champion Searing that flexed his muscle and despite a number of yellow flags that bunched the field, Searing was always dominant on every restart and pulled away from Gilbertson to score the win. Lucas Rodin made a great charge from eleventh to finish third and was followed by two time WISSOTA national champion Sketter Estey who came from thirteenth to fourth. Missouri veteran Steve Muilenburg rounded out the top five as WISSOTA drivers took eight out of the top ten finishing positions with nearly half the starting field gone by the time the checkered flag waved as the X Mod pit area will likely be the scene of much pre race activity on Sunday.
Searing dominated this division here last year and once again is off to a strong start with his MB chassis. The interesting thing is that Searing only races this X Mod here in Arizona and at a very small number of large events back home as he focuses on the WISSOTA Super Stock class at his area tracks where he is a very accomplished racer, finishing the top five in national points in both of the last two years. For those that don't know, a Super Stock is much like a Pro Stock or Limited Late Model with a 350 two barrel motor and a stock front clip.
Racing here is of the "elbows up" variety as there is no finessing a race car around the Arizona Speedway. While it doesn't look like a high speed track, the generous banking and wide corners allow many different lines to attack the track and they really make some speed here. Many in the pits afterward were commenting on how hard everyone has been racing so far this week. Somewhat surprising so far also has been the less than smooth nature of the track so far. That has not been an issue in previous years but there were some considerable bumps and holes in the track on Saturday but the trick was to avoid them as slowing down was not an option.
Still desperately needed at this track is a scoreboard, if for no other reason than to monitor the lap situation. It is very surprising with the number of special events that this track holds for both fendered and open wheel cars under various sanctioning bodies that there isn't some kind of scoreboard on site.
Calling the action for Dirt on Dirt and the live fans in attendance has been Ben Sheldon and Dustin Jarrett with commentary. They have been joined this year by Ruben Mireles who has been doing the X Mods. Sheldon remains the standard that all track announcers should strive to reach.
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