Round number five of the fourteenth annual Wild West Shootout was held on Saturday afternoon, January 18th at the FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway with the first three time winner during the series being crowned as Brian Shirley, on a great roll this week, dominated the Late Model field as he drove to his third win this week and assured himself of a least a ten thousand dollar bonus with the possibility of much more if he were to win the finale on Sunday afternoon. Matt Leer recorded his first ever WWS victory in the Modified main in what was a very controversial last lap finish and Sketter Estey took his first win of the week in the X Mods.
It was a very busy pit area on Saturday morning as there was much in the way of repairs to be made to many of the competitors after a hard night of racing on Friday night and a very short turn around time until Saturday afternoon's show. Jimmy Mars, who earlier this week switched cars after his primary car just didn't seem to have the speed in it that he wanted, suffered a motor issue on Friday night that caused him to miss the show so he switched motors for this afternoon's event. Garrett Alberson, who has had some fine runs this week in one of Rob Mayea's cars, had a serious issue with that car so car owner Mayea stepped away from the driver's seat and gave Alberson his ride, which was rebranded to a plain looking #2 car for Garrett. Regular season Modified point champion here Zach Madrid blew the engine in his car last night so fellow competitor Mike Kirby allowed Madrid to put the #5M on his car and Madrid raced it on Saturday. There were many other teams that worked hard and got their cars back on the track for the final Saturday action of the series. Lance Schill, who lost an almost certain X Mod victory on Friday night, found his problem to be a very simple and cheap fix to an ignition issue but that was not much satisfaction to a lost opportunity. Later on Saturday, things would go "South" on him again and his chances at a point title would be extinguished.
Car counts were down slightly for Saturday, as they have been for most of this series this year with forty cars in each of the three classes racing. While that truly does make an ideal number of cars with four full heats, two B Features and a main event in each class, the fact remains that the numbers compared to last year would find about a dozen less cars running on this Saturday and perhaps not a very big deal at all. And while the car count might have been down slightly, the grandstand side of things continues to look very healthy indeed, as the bleachers were jammed with many of the late arrivals struggling to find seating. It does seem that the crowds have been bigger across the board for the full series this year. Excellent weather, some very good racing and quick show as produced by Chris Kearns and his crew all have certainly added to the big houses each night.
The most dominant driver of the entire series has stepped forward to be Late Model driver Brian Shirley. He won his third feature race of the series on Saturday and was not really challenged to do so. Johnny Scott experienced his first laps of leading feature action this year as he got the early jump on Chase Junghans but Shirley quickly passed both Cade Dillard and Junghans to take over second. He then stalked Scott and after a side by side battle briefly, pulled into the lead.
Once in front, he then pulled away as he roared through the lapped traffic and built up a sizable lead. Ricky Weiss moved up into a challenging position and Brandon Sheppard, who started twelfth, was picking off cars at a rapid rate as he too moved to the front. Two late yellows, for Scott and Junghans who both lost good positions due to flat tires, allowed the field to catch up to Shirley. Weiss gave it his best and on the restarts drew up to the inside of Shirley but each time Brian was just too strong as he raced away from the field to claim the win. Weiss, Sheppard and Dillard finished behind Shirley while Bobby Pierce raced up from eighteenth to complete the top five. Much will be on the line for the drivers in the final event on Sunday as another win would give Shirley a twenty five thousand dollar bonus while the winner's share, at fifteen thousand on Sunday is also the biggest of the week. The point title is also on the line with Sheppard's lead down to six points, or the equivalent of one finishing position.
The Modified feature produced the first controversy of the week as a last lap battle for the win got ugly and produced hard feelings as well as first ever winner here at the WWS. The Modified feature was a smooth running event for most its distance until a last lap "dust up" when all heck broke loose.
Matt Leer started on the pole and the Wisconsin driver led for the first twenty four laps of the main, with two lap four yellows slowing the action and then followed by twenty one laps of green flag racing. Leer's lead varied from a few car lengths to just a bumper as Tyler Peterson pressuring on several occasions but could never quite make a serious move. Right behind them, Lucas Schott and Rodney Sanders battled back and forth for third with Dustin Strand trying to catch the top four.
The race remained in this fashion and in the same running order, although none of the positions were comfortably held as all four were close together. As the laps ran down, Peterson made one last challenge and as it also seemed the Leer was struggling just a bit in the corners, Peterson was able to make a strong challenge. As the leaders took the white flag, Peterson set up Leer for a low side slide job which he executed in turn one and he slid up the track in front of Leer to take over the lead.
Peterson continued to lead down the back chute by less than a car length as they raced into turn three. Peterson was about a lane off the bottom side of the track and while I couldn't tell if he actually dropped down the track, he was trying to seal off Leer so Matt couldn't get a big run on him in the final turn.
However, Leer didn't let the car to his outside deter him as he gave a very big push into turn three and his car moved up the track, slamming hard into the wheel of Peterson's car which then shot up across the track exiting turn four and bounced off the wall. Peterson kept his foot on the gas as he fought for control while Leer was trying to race under him. Meanwhile, Schott and Sanders had caught up to the wild goings on in front of them and the top four raced to the line in a wad with Leer besting Peterson by .034 seconds and Schott just edged out Sanders for third.
Victory lane was a wild place with Leer trying to explain his side of the story while a much more exercised and vocal Peterson told the crowd a very different story with vivid description. Crowd sampling seemed to indicate that they were buying Peterson's side of the story and selling Leer's. In any event, Leer did get the win and if anything, this should make Sunday events just a bit more interesting. However, in the end, good sense will likely take precedence over implied threats.
Almost unnoticed, Schott gained a few points on Strand and the two drivers will go into Sunday's finale in a smack dab tie for the point lead in the Modified class.
Sketter Estey, after starting on the pole, led all the way to win his first X Mod feature of the week and pad his point lead over the field. Estey built up a big lead early as Lucas Rodin and Cole Searing battled for second. Eventually Searing would win that battle and start to close the gap on Estey as Searing was one of the few making the high side work.
A late yellow set up a three lap dash to the finish and Searing made a mighty effort, getting up beside Estey but he just couldn't quite clear the Minnesota driver and Estey remained smooth on the bottom, edging out Searing by a little over a car length for the win. Rodin finished a strong third with Clint Johnson and Josh Cain completing the top five. Because most of the challenging X Mod drivers have imploded on at least one night, even though Estey has not had the greatest of weeks, his five top ten finishes have given him a huge lead in the point standings and just about guaranteed his success.
Once again the track had a little different character to it on this day and we saw the first dry slick track of the week. And while it was completely different than any of the other nights, it still made for some very interesting and competitive racing. It just made those drivers that like a smooth and shiny track a little bit happier.
For the second time during the series, the Late Models were stopped on the track immediately following the final checkered flag for the main event and parked there. Fans were then allowed to cross the track and visit with the drivers, get autographs etc and just mingle. While I have seen this interaction many times before, I don't recall ever seeing it done directly after a feature race where the fans are allowed to get to the drivers even before they even have had time to confer with their crews and it makes for an interesting dynamic when the fans get to see the drivers just as they appear after a big race.
The opening ceremonies for the WWS are always interesting and varied and one of the things we have had the opportunity to see is the growing up in front of our eyes of Canada's Brooke Cousins. The daughter of Mod driver Ryan and sister of X Mod driver Bailey, she started singed the Canadian anthem as just a young child and while she continues to do it for each and every WWS, she has now all grown up as the years pass by, like sand in the hour glass.
The WWS seems to be on a great roll these days, and with the exciting racing and great weather, the entire event has perhaps reached its highest point yet. Dates for next year's event were announced on Saturday with races scheduled for January 9,10,13,15,16 and 17. A practice night will precede the opening night.
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