The Wild West Shootout at the Central Arizona Raceway near Casa Grande continued on a warm and sunny Saturday, in the midst of the final weekend of racing for this event. Short turn around times are the rule this weekend with the final three races of this series packed back to back to back.
However, even at the frantic pace this final weekend provides, race teams are still going at it hot and heavy with no sign of the team numbers slacking off. One hundred and sixty two teams signed in for Saturday's show with both the X Mods and Modified numbers continuing to run much stronger than they had at Vado while the Late Model numbers have been very consistent with what Vado provided in recent years. I expect that to change by next year however with more Late Model teams expected to journey to the desert.
A number of teams that will be running the IMCA .TV Winter Nationals the next two weekends are already starting to arrive with a number of them joining the field this weekend to get some practice while Stock Cars are also arriving in preparation for their chance to be part of this series on Sunday.
On the track Saturday, a couple drivers showed dominance that hadn't been scene before this week as Garrett Alberson led from start to finish to win the Late Model feature and Jeremy Payne came out of mostly retirement to jump in Cade Dillard's Modified and lead the whole Modified feature.
Ken Schrader showed that the veteran driver still has what it takes as he came from the fourth row to take the win in the X Mod feature as that class continues to show perhaps the best performance with more passing and charging through the field than any other. The refinements made to the rules package this year seem to finally have hit on the correct formula for great racing across the board from at least three different sanctioning bodies and next year this is no reason why any driver in any one of those three or perhaps other sanctioning groups wouldn't want to be a part of this great mid Winter break of racing.
Hudson O'Neal was the quickest qualifier for the Late Model field at 15.039 seconds and Alberson showed off the speed he would use later when he topped the second group of Late Models in qualifying. A nice wide track for heat race action saw plenty of good racing as this events are critical to making the main event and with such large fields of entrants, the heat races are very demanding.
The format was exactly the same as in recent nights with time trials and heat race results setting the Late Model fields while the other two classes draw a number and then passing points set the running order for their mains. Big B features provide the rest of the starting fields for the mains with plenty of good drivers left watching the action from the pits come feature time.
The Pro Power Dash was a part of Saturday's program and Bill Schlieper continued to save his money when Terry Phillips opted to join the back of the feature field rather than taking the grand to the winner. He, along with the other Pro Power Dash winners, came here to race, not watch the features.
Twenty five drivers started the Late Model feature which began on somewhat of a bizarre note. Outside pole starter Mike Marlar rolled to halt as the field was forming in their running order for the start of the feature. He then went to the hot pit in the infield which forced him to the tail of the grid but then pulled in and called it a night. What a tough break after earning such a prized starting position.
Eston Whisler also had trouble before the green dropped and also pulled into the infield. When things were sorted out, it was Alberson who jumped from the inside pole to take the early lead over Jonathan Davenport. Alberson was setting a very quick pace and he rapidly pulled away from the field, leaving Davenport, O'Neal and Bobby Pierce to battle for second. Drake Troutman moved into the top five as the race reached its halfway point.
With no yellow flags to slow the action, Alberson continued to set a hot pace and he was soon dealing with lapped traffic. However, with the high line seemingly the fast way around the track on Saturday, the slower cars were doing a good job of staying out of the way and Alberson continued to dominate.
The battle for second was entertaining and at one point Davenport was able to get slightly closer to Alberson who temporarily got hung up in traffic, but once he broke free again he again stretched his margin, moving out to nearly a full straightaway lead over the field.
At the finish, Alberson had four lapped cars and a considerable distance over second place finisher O'Neal, who had made a very late race pass on Davenport for second. Pierce and Troutman rounded out the top five in a race that saw seven drivers not finish and another seven a lap down at the checkers. It was by far the most dominating run in the Late Model class this week and the first nonstop main.
Twenty four drivers started what was a wild X Mod feature race. Local driver Tyler Johnson jumped into the early lead driving his Sport Mod that has been converted over to a WISSOTA legal car for this event with Josh Cain close behind him. Cole Suckow, Tyler Potter and Schrader ran early in the top five.
A grinding crash on the back chute which resulted in a couple of hard high speed hits and a flip by Remington Budd triggered the red flag with three laps complete. Along with Budd, severe damage was done to the cars of Brandon Rehill, Jaden Christ and Brennan Davis with all done for the night but luckily, no injuries.
Johnson continued as the leader with Suckow and Cain putting heavy heat on him for the lead. Suddenly, Johnson got high in turn two and clobbered the concrete wall, grinding to a halt and ending his night.
Cain inherited the lead but one lap later Suckow was able to pass him and take over the top spot. Meanwhile, Schrader, Christy Barnett and Scott Bintz were all on the move, cracking the top five. Schrader continued his charge, battling his way past Barnett and taking over second at the halfway point of the race. Schrader had discovered a higher line on the track that worked for him as he drove first around Barnett and then, just three laps later, around Suckow for the lead.
After that, Schrader slowly pulled away from the field as while there was much battling for position behind him, Schrader continued to put distance on the field. Jake Smith was making yet another charge up through the field as he has been forced to do just about every night so far this week. He had yet to crack the top five by the halfway point but shortly after came storming forward.
At the finish, Schrader was alone in front to receive the checkers, to the approval of the crowd. Smith, who started nineteenth, completed yet another impressive drive as he nipped Barnett for second. Christy had done plenty of passing herself as she had started fourteenth. Suckow settled for fourth while Friday night winner Lucas Rodin came from sixteenth to complete the top five as it was clear this class provided lots of passing.
As promised before this series started, Jeremy Payne came out of what has been a mostly retired career in recent years to drive Cade Dillard's Modified for the later half of the series and he certainly showed that there was not much rust to be knocked off his skills.
He started on the pole and proceeded to drive away from the field for a start to finish Modified feature win. In the early going, Tyler Davis and Tyler Wolff chased him but then Davis triggered a lap three yellow when his car broke and he was out of the contest.
Payne started to put some distance on the field while Wolff, Reece Solander and Gary Christian had a good battle for position behind the leader. Dustin Sorensen moved up to challenge them also and that group ran together for much of the mid portion of the race.
Dustin Strand, who had started in the second row but faded back early suddenly came to life, using the low line to drive up into contention. A late yellow set up a six lap sprint to the finish and while Payne again pulled away the battle for second was close.
Solander and Strand went back and forth for the spot with Solander edging out the Minnesota driver on the last lap for the runner up honors while Payne was long gone as the winner. Wolff followed while Rodney Sanders edging into the top five at the finish. Only four drivers failed to finish and everyone was still on the lead lap at the conclusion.
Again, the program went off smoothly with the final checkers flying shortly after 9 pm which allowed for the live concert to get an early start. Live music was been presented on two nights of the series and again on Saturday we got to see some barrel racing in the infield while track prep was being done.
The crowd was gigantic and perhaps the biggest of the series as no doubt this event seems to have found a permanent home. In fact, I was told that the announcement that the race would return here in 2027 would be made on Saturday but it wasn't but I believe it to be a done deal with just the dates , which I would assume would be similar to this year, yet to be announced.
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