VADO, N.M. — Stellar racing reigned supreme on Sunday night during the 19th annual Rio Grande Waste Services Wild West Shootout presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts at FK Rod Ends Vado Speedway Park presented by Low Voltage Solutions.
All three features came down to the checkered flag with Bobby Pierce and Rob Moseley winning their second features in as many days with Jake Gallardo also visiting Hoker Trucking Victory Lane.
Super Late Model
In what was an instant classic, a pair of ‘Land of Lincoln’ drivers duked it out for the victory in the Dirt Track Bank Super Late Model division presented by Black Diamond Race Cars. Winning a late-race battle with fellow Illinois driver Brandon Sheppard with a last-lap pass, third-starting Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., made it 2-for-2 on the 19th annual Rio Grande Waste Services Wild West Shootout with a $10,000 victory Sunday at Vado Speedway Park.
Pierce slipped by Sheppard to lead lap 33, but Sheppard regained the point before Pierce found a way back by on the final circuit to add a $10,000 to his $25,000 victory in Saturday’s opener. Sheppard, who took the lead from early leader Collen Winebarger on the 22nd lap, settled for second after starting seventh.
For Pierce it was a chaotic race, which left him in primarily in limbo of where it might all end.
“It was kind of like a Hail Mary, in a way. It wasn’t a slider, but like Hail Mary in the sense of he was about five car lengths ahead of me coming to the white flag and I was like, ‘Well this is it. It’s going to stick down there or not and we’ll just see what happens.’ I went down there and it stuck when it gets that grip right there apex and you’re still in the traction line and you’re pointing off the corner and you can just mat it to get off that corner, it’s a good feeling. We went down the back stretch side by side — I knew I had him then.
“The whole race was interesting really from like lap five on. Heck, we were like, the top six were all right on top of each other, and and I didn’t know who’s going to win the race or be there at the end. I definitely didn’t think it was going to be me there for a long while.”
The racing was fast and furious throughout the field with Chase Junghans rocketing from 15th to finish third, while Tyler Erb rallied from eighth to fourth and Ethan Dotson raced from 11th to round out the Top 5.
Junghans received the $500 Rio Grande Waste Services Hard Charger Award for advancing 12 spots to a podium finish in the 40-lap finale.
X-Mod
One night after picking up his first-career Shocker Hitch X-Mod division feature presented by Border Tire, Rob Moseley went back-to-back on Sunday night with his second win as many nights. From the pole position, Moseley paced the main event and overcame an early battle with Scott Bintz to snare another $1,000 victory.
Bintz, Brian Craighead, Kale Murphrey and 14th-starting Blake Adams rounded out the top five.
Modified
The Mesilla Valley Transportation / Border Tire Modified division presented by Rancho Milagro rounded out the night and did not disappoint. Jake Gallardo grabbed the lead from the drop of the green flag from the outside front row. He ran unchallenged for much of the feature before sixth-starting Dustin Sorensen closed in late to do battle.
A Midwest Sheet Metal Caution Flag flew with two laps remaining in the 25-lap feature to regroup the field. The final two circuits saw Gallardo and Sorensen battle side-by-side with Gallardo snaring the win by a mere 0.020 seconds to secure the $2,000 victory.
Kyle Strickler, Terry Phillips and Carlos Ahumada Jr. rounded out the top-five finishers.
After an off day on Monday the 19th running of the Rio Grande Waste Services Wild West Shootout presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts will see an open practice session held on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at Vado from 5 – 9 p.m.
Racing action continues on Wednesday, Jan. 8 with the third round of the miniseries, which is headlined by Super Late Models ($10,000-to-win), Modifieds ($2,000-to-win) and X-Mods ($1,000-to-win).
The finish:
Bobby Pierce, Brandon Sheppard, Chase Junghans, Tyler Erb, Ethan Dotson, Garrett Alberson, Drake Troutman, Kyle Beard, Dustin Sorensen, Jake Timm, Collen Winebarger, Stormy Scott, Clay Stuckey, Mike Marlar, Dillon McCowan, Chad Mahder, Sammy Mars, Eston Whisler, Bricen James, Garrett Smith, Ross Bailes, Tony Jackson Jr., Cade Dillard, Don Shaw.
