The Wild West Shootout concluded its six night series with the finale on Sunday night, January 16th at the Vado Speedway Park in Vado New Mexico. On tap would be a fifty lap main event for the Late Models paying twenty five thousand dollars to win, a five fold increase over all the previous five nights along with extra money events for both the Modifieds and X Mods. Kris Jackson was also in line for a twenty five hundred dollar bonus if he could get his fourth win of the week while Rodney Sanders could earn an extra ten grand with a fourth win. Point fund monies for the series would also be passed out on Sunday so the rather laid back attitude in the pits all week saw blood pressures slightly elevated for the Sunday night final.
The format would be the same expect that the Late Models would add an extra ten laps to their main event. A number of the drivers, having rocky weeks, headed home a day early while several others were done for the week with mechanical issues but one hundred and nine drivers in the three classes signed in to race the finale.
The results would see a continued show of strength by Mike Marlar in the Late Models, a continuation of the dominating performances by Rodney Sanders in the Modifieds and the continuing battle of the Ozark boys that flared once again in the X Mods with Andy Bryan being the one standing on Sunday night.
Track conditions continues to impress everyone as while the surface was slightly different again on Sunday with each day seeing the surface just a tad bit different, every night the track has raced great and the drivers in all classes have been raving about the racing. The track ,also importantly in this day and age, is very easy on tires and with the price of tires shooting up, that will be increasingly important to the racing teams.
The fans have also enjoyed the shows which have featured close and intense racing without dusting out the fans in the stands. Drama, surprises and some impressive performances would make the final round on Sunday.
After all qualifying was complete, the Late Models would get first crack at the freshened track for their fifty lap feature. Young Jake Timm was on the pole and he would dazzle as he would lead the first forty laps of the feature and quite frankly if not for a yellow on lap forty, I believe that he could have held on for the win.
Timm would pull away from Mike Marlar, who shared the front row with him and at one point have half a straightaway on Marlar. Ricky Weiss and Earl Pearson Jr were having a good battle for third while Garrett Alberson, Tyler Erb and Bobby Pierce were also working their way forward. Earlier, Erb had set quick time, only to pound the wall on his second lap and give the Best Motorsports Team plenty to do.
Timm continued to show the lead and he got into an excellent rhythm as he worked through lapped traffic. Marlar was gaining just a bit but it was questionable whether or not he could have caught Timm unless Jake made a big gaff or the yellow flew.
So guess what, the yellow flew with forty laps complete when Kent Rosevear, who had been a thorn in the side of drivers all week with his annoying habit of trying to race with the leaders while being lapped. This time he piled into the wall in turn one and collected Johnny Scott and Garrett Alberson, disappointing all the local Alberson fans in the stands.
This was the trouble that Timm didn't need as the experience of Marlar came to roost on the green as Mike was able to steal the line of Timm and one lap later take over the lead. Marlar would then pull away and lead the last nine laps to complete the victory with Earl Pearson Jr continuing his strong runs of the week to take second while Timm was happy with third.
For Marlar, he has alerted the Late Model group that he will be a force to be wary of as everyone heads to Florida along with the veteran Pearson. Just shaking down his new car, perhaps this new Longhorn will be the ticket for Timm to gain the consistency he has lacked to step up the ranks in the Late Models.
A late race tangle on the back chute took out Weiss and Erb and left Weiss fuming but while it looked like just a racing accident, Erb always seems to be the one in the middle of these kinds of deals.
The X Mods delivered a dandy finale that saw some great side by side racing and a wild conclusion the provided controversy, hard feeling and an eventual disqualification.
Aaron Blacklance would start on the outside pole and lead the first lap but the first part of the race was great as Blacklance and Andy Bryant exchanged the lead five times in the first five laps and it doesn't get much better than that.
Two yellows in the first six laps slowed things but the rest of the race would run green to checkered. Blacklance and Bryant would continue to battle, side by side, lap after lap. Bryant would continue to nose under Blacklance on each corner, but Aaron, running one lane off the bottom, would be Bryant off the corner lap after lap.
Meanwhile, Kris Jackson, looking for the four feature race bonus, moved up to third after starting tenth as he lurked just a couple of car lengths behind the lead duo. Bryant continues to work on Blacklance and he finally got a nose under him and cleared him for the lead on lap nineteen.
Jackson then quickly moved in as he was waiting for his moment and this was it. He pulled beside Bryant and as they dove into turn one on the final lap, Jackson squeezed by on the bottom as the lead duo worked through lapped traffic.
Bryant came roaring back as they headed into turn three with Bryant diving low and making plenty of contact with Jackson which knocked him up the track and allowed Bryant to fill the bottom and take over the lead.
Jackson wasn't done yet though and made one last blast off turn four but he spun sideways on the track and the field drove past him. Bryant would cross the line first for the win, his first here this week while challenging on several other nights, while Blacklance, who was trying to set up the lead duo on the final lap hoping they would take each other out, got only half his wish and would settle for second. However, his consistent finishes throughout the series would give the WISSOTA driver from far Northwestern Minnesota and within spitting distance of Canada, the title, an impressive feat considering he was running the WISSOTA package which for some odd reason was required to carry more weight in though their motors were more restricted. Reed Solander would finish third in the feature while Blacklance would edge Gabe Hodges for the point title.
On the cool off lap, Jackson would gun his car and blast into the side of Bryant, on his way to the scale and promptly get himself DQ'd by Race Director Kelly Carlton.
In victory lane, Bryant claimed that Jackson “doored him” in turn one on the final lap and he was just paying him back. While I didn't see it happen, it certainly could have. For sure Bryant got him back but the spin off the final corner wasn't caused by that. It was simply Jackson getting too hard on the gas.
X Mod dust ups of the week were solely the property of Missour drivers Cole Campbell, absent this night after he ran out of equipment, Jackson and Kansas driver Bryant. Early season specials for big money will see all three of these drivers as featured competitors so things look to only get hotter among the trio.
Likely the most impressive driver of the week was Rodney Sanders in the Modified class as he won his fourth feature of the series. After a couple of shake down runs, he won the last four events of the series against, arguably, the toughest field of drivers.
Brandon Sheppard, still having fun in the Mods, would lead the first five laps after starting on the pole. Sheppard was pounding the cushion while Sanders smoothly moved up by working the bottom. He would finally drive under Sheppard to take over the lead and then would pull away. After a lap two yellow for debris, the race would run off nonstop the rest of they way with Sanders dealing with much lapped traffic.
The last five laps would see Sheppard pick up the pace using the cushion and to Sanders' fortune, the race was not any more than twenty five laps as Sheppard would have put the heat on him if the race lasted any longer as Sheppard proved that once again despite few appearances in the open wheel cars, he can certainly wheel them. Dereck Ramirez would finish a solid third.
So, Sanders would collect the ten grand bonus for winning his fourth feature of the series and put the rest of the Modified community on high alert for the continuation of the season in March.
Weiss would get the bonus for having the fastest qualifying lap of the week while Marlar would be the point champion for the Late Models.
So the sixteenth version of the WWS has been completed. There were no rainouts and threats from the weather, except for a couple of cool nights with really just the first Sunday windstorm making things really miserable.
The crowds gradually picked up as the week progressed with the local fans likely having to pick out the night(s) they wanted to see while still being selective. While they seemed to enjoy the Late Models, Vado in Modified country and even as the Late Models ran their features first each night, hardly a soul moved from the grandstand until the Mods were done.
Vado Speedway Park came off very good both in person and certainly to those watching at home. The racing was excellent and the facility would compare with any in the country. Whether this race remains at Vado next year or is moved to another track will depend on several other factors, none of which have to do with the suitability of the facility or the management and employees.
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