Story By: BEN SHELTON / WILD WEST SHOOTOUT – VADO, NM – Bobby Pierce made history on Saturday night at the 18th annual Rio Grande Waste Services Wild West Shootout presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts at FK Rod Ends Vado (N.M.) Speedway Park.
He became the first driver to win four Dirt Track Bank Super Late Model division features presented by Black Diamond Race Cars to claim the $25,000 portion of the Penske Paydirt Jackpot Bonus.
If he can win Sunday’s miniseries finale, he’ll replace the $25,000 bonus with a $100,000 bonus for five wins.
“With the full track prep we didn’t know what it was gonna do there,” Pierce said in Hoker Trucking Victory Lane. “Had a lot of different mixtures of tires, of guys running up front with different (compounds). It feels awesome (to be in the Penske Paydirt bonus money). No one has ever won more than three — I’ve done it before — and we knew this would be the year, with how consistent we were last year and coming into this being fast right out of the gate with this new car. We got a lot of pressure on us for tomorrow.”
After chasing fellow front-row starter Brandon Sheppard on the first lap, Pierce charged to the lead on the second circuit and survived late-race cautions to score his fourth-straight miniseries victory, which was worth $11,000. Brandon Sheppard, Stormy Scott, Kyle Larson (started 16th), and Cade Dillard completed the Top-5 finishers.
The Shocker Hitch X-Mod action presented by Border Tire finale proved to be a barnburner between Nick Rivera and J.C. Morton. The lead duo battled throughout the feature with Rivera nipping Morton at the line to score the $1,000 win, which was his second of the miniseries.
Gary Christian wired the field in the Mesilla Valley Transportation / Border Tire Modifieds presented by Rancho Milagro. The Broken Bow, Oklahoma racer led all 25 laps from the outside-front-row to snare the $2,000 triumph, which marked the first of his career. Terry Phillips, Tyler Wolff, Dan Ebert, and Noah Daspit.
Action continues with Round #6 of the miniseries on Sunday, Jan. 14 at FK Rod Ends Vado (N.M.) Speedway Park with complete shows for Super Late Models ($26,000-to-win), Modifieds ($2,000-to-win), and X-Mods ($1,000-to-win).
The pit gate opens at 1 p.m. MT with the driver’s meeting at 2 p.m. and hot laps at 3:30 p.m.. The grandstand gate opens at 3 p.m.
Daily general grandstand admission on Sunday, Jan. 14 is $30 for adults, $10 for children (ages 6-12) and free for kids (ages 5-and-under). Reserved seats are $35. Pit admission is $45.
18th annual Rio Grande Waste Services Wild West Shootout presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts: Round #5
FK Rod Ends Vado (N.M.) Speedway Park
Jan. 13, 2024
Dirt Track Bank Super Late Models presented by Black Diamond Racecars
A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 3. 2S-Stormy Scott[3]; 4. 6-Kyle Larson[16]; 5. 97-Cade Dillard[5]; 6. 18B-Shannon Babb[6]; 7. 157-Mike Marlar[4]; 8. 7-Ricky Weiss[12]; 9. 19-Dustin Sorensen[8]; 10. 1-Tyler Erb[17]; 11. 14S-Collen Winebarger[9]; 12. 73-Rodney Sanders[18]; 13. 49T-Jake Timm[19]; 14. 77-Preston Luckman[23]; 15. 1R-BJ Robinson[25]; 16. 25-Mikey Kile[10]; 17. 86-Kyle Beard[22]; 18. 32B-Cody Laney[15]; 19. 58-Garrett Alberson[7]; 20. 7T-Drake Troutman[13]; 21. 42S-Don Shaw[14]; 22. 18-Chase Junghans[21]; 23. 15-Justin Duty[24]; 24. 11-Jon Kirby[11]; 25. 13-Bricen James[20]
Mesilla Valley Transportation / Border Tire Modified presented by Rancho Milagro
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 58X-Gary Christian[2]; 2. T75-Terry Phillips[1]; 3. 4W-Tyler Wolff[7]; 4. 60-Dan Ebert[3]; 5. 34-Noah Daspit[6]; 6. 65-Tyler Davis[4]; 7. 4R-Dereck Ramirez[9]; 8. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[11]; 9. J17-Jake Gallardo[13]; 10. 97-Cade Dillard[14]; 11. 20-Rodney Sanders[17]; 12. 19SB-Lance Mari[5]; 13. 89-AJ Diemel[10]; 14. 02-Tanner Mullens[19]; 15. 69-Lucas Schott[16]; 16. 32-DJ Shannon[8]; 17. 0-Jake O’Neil[21]; 18. 45-Chase Holland[20]; 19. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[23]; 20. 88-Chad Wheeler[12]; 21. 131J-Johnny Scott[18]; 22. 88S-Nathan Smith[15]; 23. 16-Chris Henigan[22]; 24. 71-Philip Houston[24]
Shocker Hitch X-Mods presented by Border Tire
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. A0S-Nick Rivera[1]; 2. 18-JC Morton[4]; 3. X15-Jesse Haynie[9]; 4. 3J-Josh Cain[10]; 5. 44-Christy Barnett[2]; 6. 5-Reece Solander[7]; 7. 71-Nate Reinke[5]; 8. 1J-Jaden Christ[11]; 9. M17-Rob Moseley[6]; 10. 15A-Mike Anderson[20]; 11. 24-Jonathon Ortega[17]; 12. 198-Jake Haddox[15]; 13. 19-Lucas Rodin[16]; 14. 5M-Eric McNutt[3]; 15. 17-Peyton Gallardo[12]; 16. 7-Willie Gammill[14]; 17. 7CC-Colby Williams[19]; 18. 12-Mike Rosales[22]; 19. 21X-Tanner Kade[23]; 20. 14J-Jacob Hodges[18]; 21. 96-Dusty Riggs[13]; 22. 44JT-Jaime Torres[21]; 23. 58-Chad Reid[24]; 24. 23H-Hector Barraza[8]