The Keyser Manufacturing fifteenth annual edition of the Wild West Shootout at the FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway wrapped up on Sunday, January 17th with the longest and richest feature races of the six event run for this event. Feature winners included Jonathan Davenport in the Late Models, Jake O'Neil in the Modifieds and Shane Sabraski in the X Mods.
Car counts were down in all three classes for the finale as a week of hard racing took its toll but with one hundred and fifty cars still racing and car counts up substantially in all three classes throughout the week, including Sunday, over previous years, the turnout by competitors was spectacular. The crowds all week have been tremendous also and I would guess that Sunday's crowd may have also been a record as historically the finale doesn't draw quite as many people with some on the road already and Sunday not being as favorable for local fans. Overall, the crowds have been very healthy for every night of racing and the weather may also have set some sort of record with sunny and warm days throughout the week and absolutely no threat of rain or even clouds to ruin the view.
As far as the racing was concerned on Sunday, it may not have been the best of the week but it was still a solid event. For Davenport, he finally got that front row starting spot he desired and with a clean track in front of him from the opening green, he was able to show the speed his car had as he left the rest of the twenty four car field cringing in his wake. Even five yellow flags during the fifty lapper did nothing to help the competition catch him as after each yellow he blew away from the field once again.
The only driver that made any kind of dent into his lead was Tyler Erb as after digging his way up from the sixth row and sliding his way into second, he was able to cut into Davenport's lead during the last twenty two lap sprint which went all green. Whether or not Davenport was just being careful as he worked through lapped traffic or Erb was truly quicker, we'll never know but at the finish Davenport was still several car lengths in front even as Erb threw caution to the wind in the final laps of the track. Ricky Thornton Jr finished a solid third as the three fastest cars of the week by far finished in the top three positions on this night.
Davenport's win, his third of the series, earned him a ten thousand dollar bonus plus another three grand for being the point champion of the series so the Sunday show netted him a nice thirty eight thousand dollars for his fifty lap run.
The Modified feature produced a bit of a surprise as Jake O'Neil took his first win of the week. The fact that O'Neil won was not too surprising since he had a very production 2020 racing season both in open motor and IMCA racing but the surprise was because this was the first time he had raced this week. Everyone was kind of wondering where he was this week since he was not seen at either of the big racing events going on this week in the Southwest and he is not far from home for either event but some family issues were apparently the source of his limited participation but with a new stacker for him in the pits, it would appear that he does still indeed plan to travel in 2021.
A front row starting spot was to his benefit and he pulled away from the field from the drop of the green and was never seriously challenged. Tyler Peterson pounded the cushion long enough to get into the second spot but it was not a cushion pounding kind of track on this night and while he settled into second, he was never a threat to the Tucson driver.
The battle for third was a good one and Clint Johnson showed that he belonged racing with the open Mods as he held, then lost and then regained on the last lap the third position when he made a strong pass on none other than Rodney Sanders to take the spot. Mississippi racer Brooks Strength had his best run of the week as he rounded out the top five. Sanders' consistent finishes netted him the points title for the class.
The X Mods, who have been driving increasingly rough and irresponsibly as the week as progressed, completed their action with a less than memorable event that saw the race leader "dumped" twice in the final two laps without any penalty being handed out as, in my opinion, track officials were complicit in what happened as the week wrapped up by not taking any action and nipping this kind of driving "in the bud" earlier instead of just looking the other way.
Brennan Gave was the early leader of the race as he showed good speed and found off the likes of Brock Gronwald, Cole Campbell and Lance Schill. Meanwhile, Shane Sabraski, Jason VandeKamp, Parker Hale and Preston Carr were all changing to the front and it looked like we might have an epic finish to this race.
When Campbell slowed with mechanical issues with fifteen laps completed and Gave still leading, the timing was set to see the nonsense begin. Gave got jumped on the start and lost the lead with no action taken and while Brennan tried to race his way back to the front, he over drove the track and ended up slamming the first turn wall hard and ending his week.
Schill inherited the lead at this point but the battling was not done for the lead by any means. As Schill dove into turn one, he was run over by Andy Bryant, over aggressively trying to take over the lead, and both cars spun. Schill was done for the event and Bryant needed some "encouragement" before he finally pulled to the back of the pack.
Not done yet either with the contact, with Carr now in front following the elimination of the top two spots in the running order for the second time. On the green following that "dust up", Sabraski put the heat on Carr for the lead. Shane tried to get a big run to the outside and then dive across Carr to take the lead. However, he didn't give Carr enough room and chopped him off badly, giving Carr the alternative of either slamming Sabraski or swerving to avoid. Carr selected the second choice but around he spun and he was none too happy as he was sent to the back too.
The two lap sprint to the finish saw Sabraski hold on for the win, his second of the series. Jason VandeKamp, after a most trying trip to the Desert and a tough week with his two cars, made a late charge and almost snuck under Sabraski but ended up settling for second. Gronwald would come home third. Carr was declared the point champion but was none too pleased with Sunday's results.
A contest was held to honor the best appearing wrap on a race car in each class to represent the theme of the "Wild West" and the winners were announced as Scott Ward, Calvin Iverson and Zach Benson.
Speaking of award winners, "The Hook" crew that run the wreckers here at Arizona Speedway should get some kind of award also as they are surely among the quickest wrecker crews anywhere in the country. They alone help speed up any program and while they are very fast, they also are careful not to further damage the race equipment. They must be the best around at doing the "double hook" on really damaged cars. I first saw them in action when they ran things at USA Raceway in Tucson where I believe they are head quartered, and hiring them to work this show is surely among the wisest hires that any track promoter could do.
I was a bit surprised that the concession stands here at the track ran out of almost every item very early in the day with about the only cold beverage available on a hot day being beer. Just how much revenue they lost through poor planning can only be guessed at.
Rumors about this race for next year have been flying around the pit area all week. Certainly there is no doubt that this race will be run next year, as it has become a huge it both among fans and competitors with this year probably being their best yet. The rumors have been surrounding whether or not the race will be held at this track or not. Stories of increased pressure to use this land for additional housing projects as the Phoenix area just keeps growing more and more and increased complaints about noise etc. from the neighbors at cited as possible reasons to have the show moved as well as a possible expansion of the highway running next to the track that would take away much of the parking lot. However, dates for next year were announced as being January 8,9,12,14,15 and 16. I guess we will see whether or not these dates are at this same track or perhaps somewhere like Vado or Las Vegas, the most prominently mentioned other sites. I would imagine that many people would like to see it stay right here both both those options certainly have many strong points.
Congratulations to Chris Kearns and his staff for an outstanding job of taking on this mammoth task once again and for Ben Shelton and Dustin Jarrett, who led the show from the announcer's stand and to all the other workers, noticed or not, for the jobs they do that lead to this event being one of the outstanding ones of the entire year. Again I must say, if you are at home and are on the fence about coming out here, any race fan owes it to themselves to see this event at least once.
No comments:
Post a Comment