Dillard scrambles to second fourth at Wild west Shootout

A late-race scramble helped Cade Dillard score his second fourth-place finish in as many nights Wednesday at the 13th Annual Keyser Manufacturing Wild West Shootout presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts atop the 1/3-mile FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway clay oval.

Bobby Pierce moved one step closer to a potential Keyser’s Quarter-Million Challenge bonus payout by wiring Wednesday’s Super Late Model field. While the Oakwood, Ill., ace led all 30 non-stop rounds to collect the $5,000 victory, it wasn’t without strong challenges from Brandon Overton over the final dozen laps.

Taking the green flag on the front row outside of the Black Diamond Super Late Models presented by M&W Transport feature event, Pierce gunned into the lead at the outset and set a torrid pace on the top side of the track.

In his wake, sixth-starter Overton worked his past Chase Junghans by the ninth round and chipped away at Pierce’s advantage over the ensuing circuits. Working through traffic, Overton closed to Pierce’s rear bumper by the 20th round and challenged for the point several times before a pair of last lap efforts fell just short at the line.

“I love this track,” Pierce said from Hoker Trucking Victory Lane. “It’s just the perfect shape and it fits me really well.”

With the triumph, Pierce is still eligible for a $250,000 bonus courtesy of the Keyser’s Quarter-Million Challenge should he win all six events. One more win on the week assures a $10,000 bonus, two more is worth an extra $25,000 and three more to push his total to five would be worth $100,000.

“It’s a little more pressure, but I’m a lot more relaxed knowing that we’ve got a good car,” Pierce explained.

While Pierce took the checkered flag just ahead of Overton, the battle for third a half-straight-away back waged on between a handful of cars with Scott Bloomquist utilizing traffic to his advantage to surge into the show position in the final handful of laps after running fifth much of the way.

Hudson O’Neal held fourth until mechanical problems slowed him on the final round with Cade Dillard capitalizing to snare fourth with Brandon Sheppard slipping by Junghans on the final lap to round out the top five.

This time Dillard came from the 11th starting spot and sits fifth in Wild West Shootout points.

The Wild West Shootout continues at FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway on Friday, January 11, with racing action set to go green at 7:00 p.m. with ensuing rounds including a pair of events on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. and the finale on Sunday at 5:00 p.m.

A $5,000 winner’s share is up for grabs for the Super Late Models through the opening five nights of competition before the stakes are upped to $14,000-to-win for the January 14 Shaw Trucking finale.

Arizona Speedway is located just minutes from Phoenix. From Phoenix, take US 60 east to Ironwood Dr., turn right (south) and go four miles, Arizona Speedway is on the right hand side. For more information, visit www.wildwestshootout.net or call 520-664-2074.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
13th Annual Keyser Manufacturing Wild West Shootout presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts
FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway
Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Qualifying Group 1: 1. 0-Scott Bloomquist 14.552, 2. 2-Brandon Overton 14.570, 3. 7-Ricky Weiss 14.583, 4. 28m-Jimmy Mars 14.625, 5. 86-Kyle Beard 14.729, 6. 42s-Don Shaw 14.922, 7. 20v-Rece Vaught 15.244, 8. 37w-Scott Ward 15.419, 9. 37-Rob Mayea 15.434, 10. 7mm-Michael Maresca 15.522, 11. 83-Dennis Souza 17.207.

Qualifying Group 2: 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal 14.495, 2. 11-Pat Doar 14.656, 3. B5-Brandon Sheppard 14.668, 4. 2s-Stormy Scot 14.731, 5. 1g-Garrett Alberson 14.770, 6. 1p-Earl Pearson, Jr. 14.890, 7. 15d-Justin Duty 15.102, 8. 14m-Dean Moore 15.410, 9. 44-Cole Schill 15.494, 10. 76-Blair Northdurft 15.660, 11. 942-Terry Casey 15.674, 12. 28c-John Cornell 15.826.

Qualifying Group 3: 1. 32p-Bobby Pierce 14.820, 2. 32-Chris Simpson 14.820, 3. 97-Cade Dillard 14.838, 4. 6rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr. 14.949, 5. 17-Billy Franklin 15.006, 6. 71rc-R.C. Whitwell 15.257, 7. G17-Jacob Gallardo 15.640, 8. 6T-Terry Carter 16.003, 9. 54-Carlos Ahumada, 10. 78s-Steve Stultz 16.272, 11. 38-Thomas Hunziker 16.408, 12. 7w-Richard Wallace NT.

Qualifying Group 4: 1. 51-Joey Moriarty 14.705, 2. 91-Tony Toste 14.817, 3. 18-Chase Junghans 14.877, 4. 75-Terry Phillips 15.010, 5. 91p-Jason Papich 15.165, 6. 32b-Cody Laney 15.182, 7. 15v-Kolby Vandenbergh 15.550, 8. 3x-Lyndon Bolt 15.579, 9. 7w-Richard Wallace 16.199, 10. 46-Darren Coffell 16.222, 11. 24-Rick Ortega 16.306.

Heat One (8 laps, top 4 advance): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal, 2. 11-Pat Doar, 3. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 4. 2s-Stormy Scott, 5. 1g-Garrett Alberson, 6. 1p-Earl Pearson, Jr., 7. 15d-Justin Duty, 8. 14m-Dean Moore, 9. 76-Blair Northdurft, 10. 44-Cole Schill, 11. 942-Steve Isenberg, 12. 28c-John Cornell.

Heat Two (8 laps, top 4 advance): 1. 0-Scott Bloomquist, 2. 2-Brandon Overton, 3. 7-Ricky Weiss, 4. 28m-Jimmy Mars, 5. 86-Kyle Beard, 6. 42s-Don Shaw, 7. 7mm-Michael Maresca, 8. 37w-Scott Ward, 9. 20v-Rece Vaught, 10. 37-Rob Mayea, 11. 83-Dennis Souza.

Heat Three (8 laps, top 4 advance): 1. 32p-Bobby Pierce, 2. 32-Chris Simpson, 3. 97-Cade Dillard, 4. 71rc-R.C. Whitwell, 5. 17-Billy Franklin, 6. 6rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 7. 78s-Steve Stultz, 8. 54-Carlos Ahumada, 9. 6T-Terry Carter, 10. 38-Thomas Hunziker, 11. G17-Jacob Gallardo (DNS).

Heat Four (8 laps, top 4 advance): 1. 18-Chase Junghans, 2. 51-Joey Moriarty, 3. 32b-Cody Laney, 4. 91-Tony Toste, 5. 75-Terry Phillips, 6. 91p-Jason Papich, 7. 15v-Kolby Vandenbergh, 8. 3x-Lyndon Bolt, 9. 46-Darrenn Coffell, 10. 24-Rick Ortega, 11. 7w-Richard Wallace.

First “B” Main (12 laps, top 4 advance): 1. 75-Terry Phillips, 2. 86-Kyle Beard, 3. 7mm-Michael Maresca, 4. 37w-Scott Ward, 5. 15v-Kolby Vandenbergh, 6. 91p-Jason Papich, 7. 37-Rob Mayea, 8. 3x-Lyndon Bolt, 9. 20v-Rece Vaught, 10. 46-Darren Coffell, 11. 24-Rick Ortega, 12. 7w-Richard Wallace, 13. 42s-Don Shaw. DNS: g17-Jacob Gallardo, 28c-John Cornell.

Second “B” Main (12 laps, top 4 advance): 1. 1g-Garrett Alberson, 2. 6rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 3. 1p-Earl Pearson, Jr., 4. 15d-Justin Duty, 5. 44-Cole Schill, 6. 76-Blair Northdurft, 7. 28c-John Cornell, 8. 78s-Steve Stultz, 9. 54-Carlos Ahumada, 10. 14m-Dean Moore, 11. 38-Thomas Hunziker, 12. 6T-Terry Carter, 13. 17-Bill Franklin. DNS: 83-Dennis Souza.

“A” Main (30 laps): 1. 32p-Bobby Pierce, 2. 2-Brandon Overton, 3. 0-Scott Bloomquist, 4. 97-Cade Dillard, 5. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 6. 18-Chase Junghans, 7. 32-Chris Simpson, 8. 1p-Earl Pearson, Jr., 9. 7-Ricky Weiss, 10. 71c-R.C. Whitwell, 11. 28m-Jimmy Mars, 12. 71-Hudson O’Neal, 13. 2s-Stormy Scott, 14. 1g-Garrett Alberson, 15. 6rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 16. 7mm-Michael Maresca, 17. 86-Kyle Beard, 18. 75-Terry Phillips, 19. 91-Tony Toste, 20. 11-Pat Doar, 21. 15d-Justin Duty, 22. 32b-Cody Laney, 23. 37w-Scott Ward, 24. 51-Joey Moriarty.