After a one night break, night number four of the Wild West Shootout was held on Friday night, January 16th at the Central Arizona Raceway near Casa Grande. It was another beautiful day for racing in the desert and a fine field of one hundred and fifty seven drivers signed in to race in the three division program including fourteen drivers that had not yet been to one of the three series races held to date.
When the final checkers for the night had been waved, the series produced its first repeat Late Model winner with Hudson O'Neal repelling every challenge thrown at him by Bobby Pierce to take his second win while Lucas Rodin in the X Mods and Rodney Sanders in the Modified class won their first races of the series.
The track prep crew brought in to prepare this race track for this series seems now to have figured out just what this track needs. They have been able to get it ready for an early start time without a lot of extra track packing needed, and kept the track racy without it being too "hammer down" while at the same time keeping the dust to a minimum. Everything has worked to a charm the last two nights and that has allowed the program to be completed at an early hour, good for the fans on hand and good for FLO Racing broadcasting to the world.
O'Neal started out the night showing that he would be quick in the Rumley car that he has been driving in the WWS, setting quick time with a lap of 14.988 seconds, knowing that by dipping into the fourteen second bracket on this track he is really motoring.
The Late Model car count has remained consistent to this point of the week and four heat races and a pair of B features were needed to set the twenty four car field for Friday night's thirty lap sprint. In this short of a main event, no one is holding back either on strategy or saving tires and these relatively shorter races have produced some very intense racing action.
Friday night's feature race for the Late Model saw three different leaders and the final pass to secure the top spot not completed until lap twenty four. Ryan Gustin started on the outside pole and got the jump on Tyler Erb for the early lead. O'Neal started four, quickly moved to third and then got by Erb to take over second. He then closed in on Gustin and on lap twelve made the pass to take over the lead.
Bobby Pierce was also on the move after starting fifth as he followed O'Neal to the front. On lap seventeen, following the second yellow of the race for a slowing Brandon Sheppard, he got past Gustin for second and then began to close down on O'Neal. Another yellow on lap twenty bunched the field once again and this led to some great battling for the lead as Pierce was all over O'Neal for the lead and they engaged in some wild slide job action for the top spot.
Pierce edged past briefly for the lead on lap twenty three after a turn four slider but then O'Neal came back to do the same one lap later and retake the top spot. O'Neal then "went to school" it appeared on the line that Pierce was running as he adjusted and while Pierce was able to stay close the last six laps, he was never able to make another attempt to take back the lead. Gustin would run third the entire second half of the race while behind them there was a mad scramble for position with Erb holding off Dustin Sorensen to complete the top five.
All three yellows in the race were for flat right rear tires which has been an issue all week with six drivers parked before the checkered flag waved.
Blake Adams returned to Wisconsin after having dominated the X Mod field on opening week, so this opened up the race to some other drivers with another WISSOTA driver, Lucas Rodin, a long time participant in the WWS at various locations, coming on to edge out Christy Barnett and take the win.
The X Mod have provided the most feature race passing of any of the classes and this was the case again on Friday night as winner Rodin started ninth on the grid and Jake Smith made another of his strong charges, coming from eleventh to battle Barnett for second on the last lap.
Scott Bintz led the opening lap with Barnett challenging strongly for the lead along with Tyler Johnson. Barnett showed lots of speed as she was able to drive past Bintz on lap four to take over the top spot which she held for the next ten laps. Meanwhile, Rodin was working his way up through the field as he utilized the low groove to make a number of passes, working his way up to second by the halfway point with Smith and Bintz following.
Rodin continued to charge, slipping by Barnett on lap fourteen for the lead but Christy turned right around again and edged past "The Nightmare" one lap later to regain the top spot. With Barnett blocking the low line, Rodin made the move of the race as he went to the top side and drove around Barnett one lap later to regain the top spot. Christy remained close and as Smith caught the top runners, it was a three car battle on the final lap with Rodin nipping Barnett by less than a car length and she doing the same to Smith. Josh Cain and Johnson completed the top five as although the race was slowed five times by yellows, only five cars failed to complete the twenty laps.
Gabe Hodges started on the pole for the Modified feature and eased away from Dustin Sorensen in the early going to take the lead. Rodney Sanders moved into second and tried to cut into Hodges' lead but did not have much success. In fact, Rodney was pass by Jeremy Payne, utilizing the car driven by Cade Dillard earlier this week to move in and challenge Hodges for the top spot.
The yellow flew just one lap short of the halfway point when Travis Saurer slowed and what a difference this slow down made. Sanders did not appear prior to the yellow to have the speed to stay with the top two drivers but on the green, he launched off the top side of the track, got a great restart and drove past both of them to take over the lead.
The yellow flew quickly again but most importantly, a lap had been completed which gave Rodney the point for the restart. He then pulled away from both his previous challengers, and they found that they couldn't keep up with Dustin Sorensen, who moved into second.
The last few laps of the race saw Sorensen close up on Sanders but Rodney kept his line and maintained a narrow lead that he would carry to the checkers for the win. Reece Solander, Wednesday night's winner, showed lots of speed as he started fourteenth, passed lots of cars and was still moving forward in third when the race ended. Tyler Davis drove up to fourth with Hodges completing the top five. It was a smooth race to complete the night with only two minor yellows, no crashes and only four drivers not finishing and none lapped.
The final checkers waved shortly after 9 pm and another large crowd was on hand for the rapidly completed show. With weather so much superior to what fans had to endure in New Mexico, the crowds have been substantially bigger this entire week, with the smallest crowd for the midweek show still much bigger than any at Vado which should cause promoter Chris Kearns to smile. There seems to be no doubt then unless there are some unknown entanglements that this race will certainly return to CAR in 2027.
No comments:
Post a Comment