Pierce and Moseley Repeat as WWS Winners, Jake Gallardo Tops Modified Field

 Round two of the nineteenth annual Wild West Shootout was held on Sunday, January 5th at the Vado Speedway Park in Vado New Mexico. It was an excellent show on Sunday, with all three  feature races providing plenty of action, passing and close finishes and the winners included Bobby Pierce and Rob Moseley, who both went back to back after each won main events during Saturday's opener while Jake Gallardo edged out Dustin Sorensen in the closest finish of the week so far, as the local driver nipped the Minnesota driver by .022 seconds in a thrilling finish. 

Minus just a few drivers that did not return after Saturday action, nearly one hundred and fifty drivers took the green flag for racing in three divisions again on Sunday. While the X Mods and Modified drivers would be racing the exact same program as on Saturday, the Late Model drivers were racing for ten grand to win during the second event of the series while also racing ten fewer laps in the main. 

It was a seasonal day here in the high Plains where the altitude is just over four thousand feet with a sunny day with temperatures near sixty but when the sun sets, it does cool off quickly. The track  prep crew put some extra water on the track for Sunday's show and it made for faster speeds, quicker time trials and just a bit of track chop. While there was nothing wrong with Saturday's program, I felt the racing was even better for the Sunday show. The track did have some "character" to it and while many of us that attend races would argue that a few bumps and a heavy cushion makes for better racing, many of the drivers would and indeed were complaining that the track was too bumpy. 

And while the racers perhaps were not all happy, we that were watching were more than happy to witness a program that will go down as one of the best of the entire year with great feature racing in all three classes, passing and much side by side racing and perhaps one of the best Late Model features that we will see all year. Seldom do you see the big advances that drivers in all three classes made and as the track changed during the main events, drivers surged to the front while some fell back, all making for great entertainment. 

Moving the show along well on a Sunday, racing would begin at just before 5 pm Mountain time after Garrett Alberson turned the quickest time of the night and week so far at 14.304 seconds. 

The program would be an exact copy of Saturday's show with the lone exception that the Late Model main would be ten laps shorter. I was amazed to see that after the twenty qualifying events had been completed, it was noted that all twenty events saw the winners start in the front row. To me, this was very misleading as there were some fine racing battles in the heats with much passing and since passing points were used to set the feature fields in two classes while the Late Models had plenty of competition that required them to go very hard in their heats, the preliminaries were nothing short of entertaining. 

Mitch McGrath, who pounded the wall in qualifying on Saturday and tore up his brand new Longhorn chassis to the point that he couldn't race on Saturday, won the Pro Power dash and cut his losses by taking the grand to the winner and passing on racing the main Sunday.

The Late Model feature would be up first, as it always is for this series and after a bit of track prep where they worked on a blown out section on the back chute, the track turned out great for the three features and provided some of the best racing that will probably be seen all year. 

Twenty four cars started the Late Model feature and to a man, likely everyone in the stands was shocked when Collen Winebarger got the jump on Mike Marlar to take the early lead. And not only did Winebarger grab the lead, he proceeded to pull away from a pack of some of the finest drivers in the country, stretching his lead to over two seconds as the pack swarmed upon each other behind him. Marlar quickly fell back as he was passed by Bobby Pierce, Garrett Alberson and Cade Dillard. 

Winebarger was storming the cushion and Pierce was unable to cut into his lead when the first of two yellows flew with ten laps complete when Don Shaw hammered the front stretch wall. Those that expected Winebarger to fade were surprised when he again pulled away from the pack but there was much position changing going on behind him as Alberson drove past Pierce for second and Brandon Sheppard also on the move. The next ten laps were wild as suddenly Marlar picked back up the pace after looking to be in trouble and he brought Sheppard with him, as they moved into second and third by the halfway point with Pierce getting shuffled all the way back to fifth. 

The second yellow proved to be Winebarger's downfall as after a Bricen James spin, Sheppard roared into the lead while Pierce also gathered himself and moved back into third and then quickly into second and while Winebarger faded after that, he did show that he, among several Western cars entered here this year, have picked up much speed over what they showed in previous years. 

The final fifteen laps or so proved to be a battle between Sheppard and Pierce as Bobby searched for an opening to make a pass. He would get past briefly on lap thirty three, only to blow the next corner and let Sheppard get back around him. The leaders caught lapped traffic at this point, adding to the drama and they tried to get through the slower cars while not leaving an opening for a winning pass. 

Off the final turn one corner, Sheppard got just a bit higher than he wanted as he tried to steer around a slower car and Pierce got a humungous run on him down the back chute, dove low and was able to get under Sheppard as both slide dangerously high toward the wall. Bobby was able to recover first and would edge out Sheppard for the win in just a dandy race. Almost unnoticed, Chase Junghans had come storming to the front using the low side and he, along with Tyler Erb and Ethan Dotson, all cracked the top five with late rushes while Alberson and Marlar both faded. Twenty cars completed the distance. 

The X Mod feature was a two car battle with Moseley and "The Red Headed Rebel", Scott Bintz battling it out for the win. Moseley had a great run in his heat and he then started on the pole for the main. He would take the early lead but that only lasted for a lap as Bintz made a great dive low in turn four, sliding under Moseley to take over the top spot. 

Bintz would hold the top spot for two laps before Moseley again took over the top spot with a strong move of his own. Two yellows in the early going kept the field bunched and following the second yellow, Kale Murphrey accelerated past Bintz to take over second. Those two would then battle for the second spot as Moseley was able to put just a bit of distance on the field. 

Also on the move was Brian Craighead who raced up to fourth by the halfway point. Bintz would again take the second spot and the closing eight laps, after the fourth and final yellow, would see he and Moseley battle for the win. 

Lap after lap, Bintz would bore deep into the corners and try to edge up inside Moseley but Rob was just fast enough to hold off all his attempts. To the line they surged with Moseley holding off Bintz by just a couple car lengths for the win. Craighead continued his charge and moved up to third by the finish with Murphrey and a late charging Blake Adams completing the top five. 

Jake Gallardo would be scored the leader of all twenty five laps of the Modified feature but that would be just a bit misleading. And while he had a nice sized lead for much of the event, at the end things would get very tight and it took the electronic scoring to determine just who had won the race. 

Gallardo got the jump from the outside of the front row to beat Terry Phillips to the first corner with Troy Gemmill moving in behind them as the yellow flew early when Jimmy Ray spun on the front chute. As Gallardo pulled away, the battle for second was a good one with the driver on the move being Rodney Sanders. 

Driving an experimental car, he moved to the cushion from his fourth row starting spot and fought his way up to second by the halfway point of the race. Also on the charge and following Sanders was Dustin Sorensen who has shown big speed both nights so far. 

Both he and Sanders started to close in on Gallardo, who was fighting his way through considerable traffic. Then Sanders began to fade as Sorensen and several others also passed him before Rodney pulled up lame on the track with some mechanical issues that sidelined him. 

This set up a two lap dash to the finish and it turned out to be a dandy conclusion. Sorensen moved to the cushion on the single file restart and he got a run on Gallardo. Continuing to pound the outside, they came off the final corner side by side with Gallardo holding off Sorensen by inches for the thrilling win. And as the leaders battled for the win, so also were Phillips and Kyle Strickler fighting it out for third with Strickler making a last corner slider to guarantee the spot. Carlos Ahumada Jr came from fourteenth to complete the top five.  The fast paced program was completed shortly after 9 pm. 

Drivers and crews will now get a couple days off to relax and unwind. There will be a practice session on Tuesday night for those interested and racing will resume with another three division program on Wednesday night. Amazingly, Late Model legend Thomas Hunziker and his business, AM-1 Roofing of Oregon will offer free admission to this event. That's correct, a ten grand to win Late Model program highlighting a three division program and there will be FREE admission to all fans. When's the last time you ever heard of that happening? The Wild West Shootout never fails to amaze. 

New Year Begins, Same Old Problem For Late Model Drivers; Catch Pierce!

 The FK Rod Ends Vado Speedway Park hosted the nineteenth annual Rio Grande Waste Services Wild West Shootout presented by O"Reilly Auto Parts which started its six night run on Saturday, January 4th in the "Land of Enchantment" of New Mexico. Late Models, Modifieds and X Mods will be running all six nights as has been the case for years at the Wild West Shootout. 

For the Late Model drivers, the scenario from 2024 doesn't seem to have changed, even though the calendar has flipped to a new year as everyone continues to chase Bobby Pierce to get a win. For Pierce, it was his thirteenth feature win in the history of this six night mini series that has settled here in New Mexico after racing at various different tracks across the border in Arizona, which ties him with Billy Moyer Jr. for first in the all time wins in this series, a record he seems ready to break perhaps before this opening weekend of racing is completed. 

Cade Dillard, who has flexed his muscle in recent years in both the Late Models and Modified classes, did so again on Saturday as along with a fourth place finish in the Late Model feature, he dominated the Modified main event, leading from start to finish to take the win in that class. 

The X Mods put on perhaps the most exciting feature race of the three presented and after a series of slide jobs and exchanging of the top spot, Rob Moseley would take the win in that class. 

One hundred and forty six drivers signed in to race for the Saturday opener with this being just a three division show. Drivers were on hand from coast to coast and even included a couple of Canadian drivers for the 2025 presentation of this event. Vado Speedway Park was in excellent condition for the opening night of racing with the preliminary events providing some great racing action. The format would be unchanged from recent years with the Late Models qualifying which set their running order for the heats while the Mods and X Mods drew for starting positions in their qualifying events with the top sixteen in passing points in each class locked into the feature race with the rest of the fields fighting it out in some Last Chance events. Twenty four drivers would start the main events except for the Late Models where Bill Schlieper again put on the Pro Power Dash with the winner Carson Brown opted to pass on the cash offered and instead start on the tail of the Late Model main. 

Racing would begin promptly at 5 pm with farming sessions scheduled after qualifying and directly before the three main events. The Late Models always go first here for their feature as the Flo Racing pay per view is a large consideration here with their viewership for this event among the highest of any race they broadcast all year. 

Garrett Alberson, wanting so badly to win a feature in his home town, was quick qualifier for the night at 14.818 seconds and would also redraw the outside pole position for the fifty lap feature that paid twenty five grand to the winner. 

Alberson jumped into the early lead after using the outside to edge past Chase Junghans with Pierce coming up from the second to quickly move into second. An early disaster was avoided after Ethan Dotson got sideways in front of most of the field off turn two and while Garrett Smith did bite the wall, it could have been much worse. 

Alberson would maintain a slim lead early over Pierce with Mike Marlar on the move. He got past both Dillard and Junghans and moved into third and indeed at one point was putting much pressure on Pierce for second. Brandon Sheppard was also gradually moving to the  front and by the halfway point had cracked the top five. 

Alberson was able to maintain a slight lead over Pierce who perhaps was just cruising and waiting for the proper time to flex his muscle. That would occur with twenty eight laps in the book as Marlar slowed with a flat tire, triggering yellow number four. 

On the restart, Alberson was just a bit high in turn one and lost just a ting of momentum and that was all Pierce needed as he smelled blood in the water, made a hard charge into turn three and was able to take over the lead on lap thirty. As luck would have it, the final twenty laps of the race would run off nonstop with the two leaders breaking away from the pack. Pierce would hit quite a bit of traffic but he handled it well and while Alberson would remain fairly close, he wasn't able to fashion a hard change as Pierce would maintain his pace. Pierce would flash across the finish line with plenty of space to spare as he took the win over Alberson. Sheppard continued his charge and would finish up third with Dillard and Tyler Erb next in line. 

Erb, Dotson, Drake Troutman and Dustin Sorensen put on a pleasing battle for position for the second half of the race with much sparing and daring driving a part of that battle. Twenty cars would complete the race with twelve still left on the lead lap. 

It was heart break early in the Modified feature as Paden Phillips earned the pole position. However, he had to go to a back up car which relegated him to the tail of the field and Dillard moved up one row and took his pole position. This proved to be bad news to the field as Dillard would jump into an immediate lead and truly never be severely challenged as he drove on to a twenty five lap feature win. 

The only other driver that seemed capable of hanging with Dillard was Kyle Strickler and he moved up quickly from the second row to grab second and stayed relatively close to Dillard. The first sixteen laps of this race would go green as Dillard and Strickler pulled away from the field. It was a Gallardo battle for third as Jake fought to hold off his father Fito who had moved up from the fourth row to challenge for a podium finish. 

Another driver to watch was Dustin Sorensen after he started ninth but gradually worked his way forward, cracking the top five by the halfway point. Sorensen continued to charge to the front, getting by both Gallardo's and moving into third. 

One last yellow slowed the action with just six laps to go and while Dillard was able to pull away once again, Strickler had his hands full. Sorensen and he had a great battle right down to the wire with Dustin prevailing in one of his rare Modified starts in the last year, having focused on his WoO Late Model last year. 

The X Mods provided an entertaining twenty five lap feature of their own. Exchanging the lead four times among the top three drivers, it was Rob Moseley that would drive home for the win. Moseley started on the pole for the feature but Hunter Sandy provided a spectacular opening lap as he charged forward after starting fourth, threw a monster slider on Moseley in turn four and lead the opening lap. 

Moseley came right back two laps later with his own slider to retake the lead and over the next nine laps, while Moseley was officially scored the leader of each lap, both he and Sandy were busy exchanging lanes and edging back and forth into the lead. Suddenly, as the two leaders were still busy with their own battle, a third challenger emerged as Jesse Haynie, who started fifth, suddenly became a player and probably stunned both the leaders as on lap twelve he drove under both to take over the top spot. 

The first yellow flew for a spinner at this time and on the green, Moseley gathered himself and made another change, getting past Haynie and retaking the lead. Haynie would hang right with Moseley though while Sandy dropped out with problems. 

One final yellow flew with just eight laps to go and this slowdown allowed another hard charger, Josh Cain, to move up into the top three after he started eleventh. While the running order didn't change over the last few laps, the top three were engaged in quite a battle with Moseley holding off both Haynie and Cain. Nate Reinke drove a steady race to finish fourth and Christy Barnett charged all the way from seventeenth to complete the top five as twenty one of the starters were still on the track at the finish, all on the lead lap. 

The final checkers would wave right at 10 pm on what was a comfortable, although windy at times, January night. There is always plenty to see and do at the supreme Vado facility with live music to entertain the spectators before the racing begins and even a trick roping exhibition behind the grandstands during the track prep break. I got to meet new Track Manager Mike Garcia who seems to be doing an excellent job and we even had Christina Mitchell to do a spectacular job of playing the National Anthem on her violin. Probably the only thing missing was the Canadian and Mexican anthems since we do have drivers from both countries also participating. It was a very strong opening night performance for what is one of the finest racing events of the entire calendar.