The one night break was over and the second leg of the Wild West Shootout continued at Royal Jones' Vado Raceway Park on Friday night, January 14th. Friday night would be the first of three straight nights of racing to conclude the sixteenth annual edition of this event, contested this year for the first time on the soils of New Mexico after a long run at various racing joints in the state of Arizona.
The start of the second weekend of racing saw a few drivers head home and some different ones on hand to catch a quick three race weekend before they too, head home. There were about fifteen drivers on hand for the Friday night show that hadn't made an appearance during the first thee races of this series.
Keeping in mind that 2021 was somewhat of an aberration at Arizona Speedway due to the historic events that happened during 2020 and '21, while the car count elevated in a couple of the classes over the first weekend of racing, it was no where near what last year was at Arizona Speedway.
The X Mod count on Friday was the largest of the week and actually larger than any night of the 2021 Shootout, largely due to the fact that the X Mod type cars race weekly here at Vado while that type of class exists no where near the late Arizona Speedway.
The Modified car count even slipped over the first weekend of the Vado experience and was over thirty cars less than at Arizona last year and while the Late Model count on Friday tied the top count for the 2022 series high, it was nearly thirty less than was on hand last year at Arizona. The total car count, comparing the second Friday this year to last year would show an alarming drop of sixty cars from last year's total. The bottom line is that, for whatever reason, the long distance travelers didn't buy into the move to Vado, no matter that there were truly no other workable alternatives available, and they stayed away in droves and thus their fans were not here either, which has been reflected on the grandstand side of things. On a positive note, the Friday night crowd at Vado tonight was by far the biggest so far during the series and it actually looked like a race crowd in the grandstand, not just a few stragglers that missed the entrance to the truck stop next door.
I do know that the key players in this series held a meeting on Thursday and dates for the 2023 Wild West Shootout were established but they were not announced tonight, nor was the location of the 2023 Wild West Shootout.
The format for Friday night's show was unchanged from previous nights. Following Late Model qualifying, four heat races and a pair of B Features would set the running order for the three main events. Passing points would be used fully for the two open wheel classes while the four Late Model heat winners would redraw for the starting positions while everyone else would l the ine straight up. between here and Cocopah, both places utilize a mix and match formula to line up the mains with neither fully satisfying to me.
Donny Schatz left for the Chili Bowl once again and apparently took his t-shirt trailer with him as it had left the grounds by Friday. However, Tyler Peterson, who has driven Schatz' WISSOTA Late Model on occasion, received the honor of driving his open Late Model on this night, despite the fact the Tyler told me his has never sat in this car before, and certainly not to even practice with it. Sadly, after turning a good qualifying effort and starting on the outside of row two for a heat race, he looped the car in the first turn of the first lap, got smacked into and was done for the night.
The only other major driver change for night four would find Mercedes Abercrombie behind the wheel of the Late Model driven by Austin Kirkpatrick on the opening weekend. They blew a motor during the Tuesday night practice, replaced that power plant, only to see Mercedes blow up again in spectacular fashion during a Late Model B Feature tonight. Bob
Race action on this night would see one new feature winners while two others strengthened their positions for the weekend with their second wins of the series.
Late Models always go first here right after a track prep session following all qualifying and that gives them a racy and fast track to put on a good show. While their were no thrilling last lap heroics or controversy on Friday, there was still a good amount of excellent three way battling for the lead until Tyler Erb established his dominance.
A reinvigorated Earl Pearson Jr would start on the pole and battle in the early laps, first with Brandon Sheppard and then with Erb who replaced Sheppard on the cushion when Sheppard slipped back slightly. Garrett Alberson was there also in the early going with a four car battle up front.
Sheppard would pull up lame with a flat tire on lap eleven which would end his chances of victory and on the restart, Erb would take over the lead briefly before Pearson Jr would take it back. However, Erb persisted and by the halfway point, he had again grabbed the top spot. Bobby Pierce had moved up after starting ninth and he worked his way into third and put the pressure on Pearson Jr for that spot.
As Erb slightly pulled away, the battle for second remained strong until the late laps when Earl gradually put a little distance on Pierce. With only the single yellow, the race flew by quickly and Erb would maintain his edge to the finish as he would take the win over Pearson Jr, Pierce, Johnny Scott and Mike Marlar.
Peterson would try to overcome his Late Model boo boo as he started on the pole for the Modified feature and would lead the opening four laps before Rodney Sanders would fly around him on the outside and take over the lead. The top side would be fast briefly but soon everyone would migrate back to the bottom as Sanders gradually pulled away from the field.
Dereck Ramirez would come up from the second row and drive around Peterson for second as he tried to make the top side work. While it held for awhile, eventually it would slow up and Peterson would drive back under him to take second.
However, no one would have anything for Sanders as he gradually drove away from the field and scored a relatively easy win, his second in a row here. Peterson would have a fine drive for second and late in the contest, Jake Gallardo would get past Ramirez for the third spot.
We have reached that point in the series where some of the drivers have had enough of each other, as the bumpers were polished and the rub rails sharpened as the X Mods hammered away on each other during their twenty lap main event. Five yellow flags and a good number of DNF'S were the result of some aggressive racing across the board.
Reece Solander was the early leader but it took pole sitter Justin Allen just two laps to get crossed up on the front chute and trigger the first of the yellows with cars scrambling in all directions to avoid him.
Solander would lead the first five laps with Aaron Blacklance challenging him as Kris Jackson made an impressive charge, moving from fifteenth to second in just those five laps. On the green, it took only two more laps for him to put Solander behind him and take over the lead. Solander continues to run second with Blacklance challenging along with Gabe Hodges as the race reached its halfway point.
Jackson was along up front but Andy Bryant, who started in the row behind Jackson, was making a charge of his own as he cracked the top five by the halfway point and continued to move forward. However, his run would end just after he passed Blacklance for second when he slowed in a cloud of steam and smoke on the front chute and rolled into the infield.
The last nine laps of the race would go off nonstop with Jackson pulling away again for the win with Blacklance getting a fine run as he held off Hodges for second. Brian Craighead would steadily advance from ninth to finish fourth and the charge of Josh Cain should not be overlooked.
Cain had qualified his car through a heat race but when he had mechanical issues with the car, he was forced to borrow the car of Mingo Jaurequi to run the main. He started on the tail but by keeping his nose clean and taking advantage of the openings when they existed, he was able to drive his way up to fifth at the finish.
It was a good show overall with no big delays and some close racing and it was uplifting to finally see some people in the grandstands watching but I must admit that based on their cheering and attention, they were here primarily to watch the Modifieds race which I suppose, is understandable since that is the primary class here weekly with most of the drivers that the local fans cheer for in that class. The other classes are second on the food chain here this week, at least in the perception of many of the spectators.
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