Round four of the Wild West Shootout was held on Friday night, January 15th at the Arizona Speedway located near San Tan Valley and just South of Mesa. It was another great weather night with the warmest temperatures of the meet so far here in the Phoenix area and it turned out by far to be the wildest night of racing seen so far anywhere in Arizona during this January get together.
The car count was crazy as the numbers just continue to build and build with clearly a lot of race drivers and crews looking for an excuse to get out and throw some dirt. In fact it was reported that tonight's field of one hundred and eighty seven racers, all in just three classes of competition, was an event record for the Wild West Shootout.
All three classes set their highest totals of the week with fifty X Mods signing in, a crazy seventy five Modifieds and sixty two Late Models. And while the numbers were very impressive, what was most shocking was the quality of the fields, particularly in the Mods and X Mods as just making the main event would be considered a major success.
And right from the start on Friday, it was clear that the "nice guy" tactics had been left behind on Friday as the intensity level of the racing seemed to be amped up and hard racing earlier in the week had been replaced by a "knuckle dragging, take no prisoners " approach. Qualifying in all three classes was cut throat as everyone wanted to be in the main and huge B Features that saw between seventeen and twenty five cars in each left not much chance to make the mains if it wasn't accomplished in a heat race, either through passing points in the two support classes or through running up front in a Late Model heat. When all qualifying was done, there were many more cars on the sidelines than taking to the track for the three mains but somehow we all suspected that the finales were going to be wild and we were not disappointed.
A significant "farming session" led by Johnny Stokes aka "Dr. Dirt" and Matt Curl of the Fairbury American Legion Speedway, by far the most extensive of the week so far, was later credited by Late Model winner Tyler Erb as being the most important thing in producing the wild finished product the drivers put on Friday and we were treated to three absolutely crazy feature races, of the quality that alone would merit the long drive or flight to the desert. However, along with the wild racing, there was a lot of damaged racing equipment that likely guaranteed that the car counts we saw on Friday not would not be equaled over the weekend.
The Late Models ran first on the fresh track and their main produced a slide job filled event that had the crowd on their feet. Jason Papich, Ricky Thornton Jr and Erb were the three main combatants and they put on a show. Papich held the lead for a bit before being overtaken by the other two with slide jobs on every corner and wild, three wide racing where these skilled drivers put their cars at speed in tight spots I couldn't have parallel parked my sedan!
Papich would later tag the wall and drop back and it was left to Thornton Jr and Erb to settle the issue and while Jonathan Davenport could spectate in third, he just didn't have the speed to keep up with the other two. Lap after lap, they traded spots on the track, dive bombing each other but always being able to clear the other driver as no contact resulted between the two. Erb managed to maneuver his way to the lead near the end and while Thornton Jr made one last attempt in turn one on the final lap, he was just a bit too far behind to reverse the positions and Erb would drive home to a very entertaining win. He celebrated after the checkered like the five grand win was much more than that but I guess that would be a reflection of how important this series has become with several drivers finding it that important as to make sure they attended this race before driving directly across the country for the Florida Speed Weeks openers.
Bobby Pierce ran a quiet fourth in the main with Stormy Scott rounding out the top five and only four of the starters weren't around at the finish.
The last two features of the night would showcase the racing contingent from North Dakota as both of the open wheel mains saw winners from that state. In fact, the X Mods were swept by North Dakota drivers as they took the top three finishing positions and then a South Dakota driver came home fourth so it was a great night for drivers from that region.
However, as opposed to the Late Models, the X Mod feature was a tough contest that saw any number of damaged race cars and a lot of crews facing some major repairs if they want to race the rest of the weekend. The race took so much time that after the last yellow, the decision was made to go green, white and checkered so they actually had only sixteen laps of feature race action.
The early battle saw Parker Hale in front but he was challenged heavily by Brian Kakela, Lance Schill, Andy Bryant and Preston Carr. The first dozen laps went by nonstop with much swapping of position but then the first yellow triggered a series of more slow downs, some of them significant in that many of the challengers for the lead were eliminated.
Hale and Bryant found themselves battling for the lead when as they came out of turn four, Bryant got up the back of Hale's car, they got locked up together and slowed significantly. The rest of the pack came pounding out of turn four and then all Hell broke loose and cars smashed and spun and the front stretch was nearly blocked. Both of the leaders were eliminated and the grinding crash also took out contenders Brock Gronwald, Shane Sabraski and Jordy Berg and a second tire up on the inside of the track saw Jason VandeKamp and Berg shoved up over the inside wall.
When they finally got racing once again, it was Schill who used the cushion to drive into and then hold on to the lead over the last two laps with Kakela all over him but not able to make a pass for the win. Scott Bintz kept his car clean and then took advantage at the end to become North Dakota driver number three across the line. Cole Searing, a former champion at this series, make his first start of the year as he flew in to drive the George car out of Rapid City to finish fourth ahead of Rob Mosely.
Tyler Peterson is always fast running here in the desert but so far this week, circumstances haven't played out in his favor. However, that all changed on Friday as he drove the cushion to overtake Tyler Wolff and then hold off a late charge from Calvin Iverson to win the Modified feature and round out the evening's entertainment. This was a fast race but didn't have the crashes of the previous open wheel class but a testament to the track prep completed showed Peterson pounding the cushion while both Wolff and Iverson ran about as low on the track as possible, thus showing that there were many grooves available.
Wolff took the lead from the pole and led early but Logan Drake, Iverson and Peterson will all still charging and trying to overtake him. Peterson would eventually work his way into second and then the major battle would take place. Peterson was getting a great run off the banking and he was able to blow past Wolff and take over the lead, but then the yellow flew and the pass was negated.
I thought perhaps that Wolff would move up the track to try and block but he opted to continue the low line and while he was able to hold on for a couple laps once the green returned, Peterson would eventually build up momentum and drive past for the top spot. Another yellow slowed the action but it would be a problem for Wolff who seemed to break something on his suspension as he struggled to keep up and would eventually fall back into the pack.
The late laps would see Peterson continue to push the cushion while Iverson started to pick up speed running right on the bottom and while he would close to a couple of car lengths, Peterson would drive on to the win in his event themed #1TPO. Bumper Jones had a strong run as he came from tenth to finish third with Missouri's Clint Johnson getting his best finish of the weekend at fourth ahead of Shane Sabraski.
Overall it was one of the wildest nights of racing in memory for this series although it was also one of the latest and we hope the late hour (nearly 11 pm) doesn't lead to some repercussions from the local authorities. It will also be a long night for a number of the racing crews to get things back in order to race on Saturday.
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