Once in a while, no matter how strong the field and no matter how good the race track, the racing program ends up producing stinkers of a show. Such was the case on Saturday, January 11th at the fifth round of the nineteenth annual Wild West Shootout at FK Rod Ends, Vado Speedway Park.
With a combination of strong running race cars and favorable starting positions, Bobby Pierce, Dustin Sorensen and Rob Moseley all cruised to easy victories in their respective main events on Saturday. All three starting on the inside pole of their main events and all three ended up leading all laps as they raced to victory. Their only challenges came following restarts but each managed to handle those situations correctly and all three would find victory lane.
The weather conditions are slowly improving as the week winds down here in the high desert with the sun shining down brightly and the temperatures slowly creeping upward. It is still heavy coat weather once that sun sets but the winds have also eased off and the conditions are now more manageable. The large tent that is set up as a heating station for the fans, even equipped with tv's, was largely unused on Friday.
Car counts have remained strong throughout the week and while the number of new drivers was down to a trickle on Saturday, most everyone that has been racing all week continues to do so.
Activity was probably at a weekly high so far in the pits with a couple of drivers making amazing rebounds after having endured very bad luck less than twenty four hours ago. Both Jake Timm in the Late Models and Nate Reinke in the X Mods were able to fix their cars after both rolled over quite hard on Friday night. With the way both cars looked as they were dragged off the track on Friday, it seemed unlikely that either could run the following day but the race teams can do some amazing things some times. When I arrived in the pits early Saturday afternoon, Timm and crew had his car almost ready to go already with Jake telling me that "they don't give up easily" and I guess he proved that to the rest of the field later.
Reinke's situation looked even more dire as he and his small crew from North Dakota had their X Mod stripped of body panels but their looked to be much work to be done and time was growing short before racing would begin. Track officials told him to draw a number just in case and then let them know if he needed to scratch. That's what I assumed would happen as I headed to the grandstands but come heat race time, there he was on the track and ready to go!
And what was most amazing was how well both drivers fared, especially given their circumstances. Reinke would finish second in a heat race and start the feature from the second row. He would run both second and third for much of the race until a late restart bit him and he ended up sixth. Still, not a bad ending to a tough beginning. Timm would also qualify for the main and ended up just one spot short of a top ten finish, his best feature finish of the week. So both were rewarded for their hard efforts.
There were also others having to scramble as the racing week finally started to lengthen. Cade Dillard and Mike Marlar both went to back up cars for Saturday and Tony Jackson Jr. was added to that list when he lost a motor early on. In the Mods, Cade Dillard swapped motors after he blew one up on Friday while challenging for the lead and Jake Boles went to a back up car after blowing up also on Friday.
The track slowed down on Saturday with Drake Troutman setting quick time overall at 14.451 seconds while young Carson Brown would top group A to secure a pole position for a heat race also.
The program would be the same as usual with heats, B features and a main event for all three classes. There was the final Pro Power dash of the weekend and Oregon's Bricen James took the win and then turned down the thousand dollars for that win, wanting instead to run the feature race. Ten extra laps were run in the feature on Saturday, however they probably could have run an extra hundred laps and no one would have caught Pierce.
It was smooth sailing for Pierce as he got the jump on the green with the race only going one lap before the yellow flew as Chase Junghans blew a motor and clogged up the field. Back on green, Pierce was gone with Troutman moving into second and giving chase but as the field settled in, Pierce would gradually pull away. Brandon Sheppard, Tyler Erb and Ethan Dotson have been among the noticed all week and they continued to provide action. Sheppard has been forced to dig through the field most of the week after not qualifying the best and on Saturday he was up to third by the halfway point of the race and chasing Troutman for second. Erb and Dotson have been "flame throwers" all week with their wild slide jobs and bold moves and once again they were at it.
A late yellow with just nine laps remaining when Don Shaw got a flat tire bunched the field and while Pierce was away clean, Sheppard was able to get past Troutman for second but he had nothing to offer the leader. Troutman had things go bad for him as both Erb and Dotson got past him for position in the final laps with Dotson completing a noteworthy charge from fifteenth to fourth. Only three drivers failed to go the distance in what was a relatively smooth race.
Rob Moseley has been on a tear this week and matched Pierce's win total as he took his third X Mod feature, leading all laps after starting on the pole. Reinke got past Donovan Flores to take second early on, but he was unable to cut into Moseley's lead. The only driver that seemed able to stay with Moseley was Christy Barnett who quickly moved up after starting sixth.
After a good battle, she got past Reinke for second and set off after the leader. She was able to cut into Moseley's lead and did indeed poke a nose under him in the corners but Rob had enough to hold her off. A late restart set up a three lap battle to the finish but Moseley held his line and Christy was forced to settle for second.
Josh Cain got third after coming all the way from eighteenth but it was slightly tainted after contact between himself and Greg Gorham upset Gorham who ended up spinning. Hunter Sandy and Scott Bintz, continuing his steady runs, completed the top five.
Sorensen shook off the disappointment of a failed charge in his Late Model when his radiator got a hole in it to come back and dominate the Modified feature. Sorensen has been fast all week with his Mod but circumstances haven't worked out for him, that is until Saturday when he started on the pole, got the jump on Terry Phillips and then ran away from the pack.
Dillard chases Sorensen for twenty five laps but was never able to get a solid run on the Minnesota driver who was using the cushion to set a frantic pace. Fito Gallardo was in the top five when a tire rub eventually caused him to get a flat tire, slowing the race with ten laps complete. Gary Christian started to move up, getting past Joseph Thomas to move into third by the halfway point of the race.
One late yellow for a spin proved to be a big help for Kyle Strickler who had started eleventh. He was up to fifth when the late yellow set up a four lap dash to the finish and he was able to pick off both Thomas and Christian to get to third and was pressuring Dillard for second. But no one had anything for Sorensen who drove home the winner.
It was a smooth night of racing with not the many crashes of Friday night and a relatively early completion time for the twenty two race program.
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