Dillard starts 2016 season with opening night win at Wild West Shootout

TUCSON, Ariz.—Cade Dillard of Robeline, La., kicked off USA Raceway’s Keyser Manufacturing Wild West Shootout by racing to victory lane over a stellar field of USRA Modified competitors in Saturday night’s 25-lap main event.

Dillard, who started eighth after winning the second heat race, battled past Rodney Sanders for the lead just past the midway point and led the rest of the way to take top honors.

“I messed up a little on about the second lap and smoked the wall there in turn two,” Dillard explained. I thought we were done.

“I was just riding, hoping to get a top five, then we started running through the ruts and made up some ground.

It was Dillard's first night behind the wheel of a new MB Customs chassis owned by Shane and Shelly Sprinkle of S&S Fishing & Rental.

Dillard was chased to the stripe by Sanders with Darron Fuqua, S&S Fishing & Rental teammate Phillip Houston and Fito Gallardo rounding out the top five.

The Keyser Manufacturing Wild West Shootout continues at USA Raceway on Sunday with racing action set to go green at 5 p.m. with ensuing rounds to follow on Wednesday, Jan. 13, and then Friday through Sunday, Jan. 15-17.

The USA Raceway is located east of Tucson, Ariz., off I-10 at exit 268, then 1.6 miles south on Craycroft Rd., which turns into Los Reales. For more information, please contact the track at 520-664-2074 or visit www.raceusaraceway.com.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

Keyser Manufacturing Wild West Shootout

USA Raceway, Tucson, Ariz.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

USRA MODIFIEDS

Top 16 in passing points advance to “A” Main, balance to “B” Mains.

Heat #! (8 laps): 1. 87-Darron Fuqua, 2. 6T-Corky Thomas, 3. 71-Phillip Houston, 4. 15-Ryan Mikkelson, 5. 55ak-Scott Sluka, 6. 86-Kyle Beard, 7. 23J-Greg Jelvik, 8. 65x-Carlos Ahumada, Jr. (DNS), 9. 44-Christy Georges-Barnett (DNS).

Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. 97-Cade Dillard, 2. 5-Todd Schute, 3. 26-Shawn Fletcher, 4. 29d-Brad Dierks, 5. 30-Justin Rexwinkle, 6. 1sx-Scott Bintz, 7. 9-Mykel Atkinson, 8. 59-Bob Salmon, 9. 10c-Chad Olsen.

Heat #3 (8 laps): 1. 23-Matt Gilbertson, 2. G17-Fito Gallardo, 3. 05-Jake Hartung, 4. 9k-Kent Arment, 5. 48-Brent Dutanhoffer, 6. 17s-Stoney Kruk, 7. 1x-Steve Streeter, 8. 31-Daryl Fisher, 9. 2s-Stormy Scott.

Heat #4 (8 laps): 1. 20rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 2. 131-Royal Jones, 3. 9r-Jimmy Ray, 4. 36-Danny Bayor, 5. 90-Casey Skyberg, 6. 51T-Tim Thomas, 7. J17-Jake Gallardo, 8. 97-Greg Chulsuy (DNS), 9. 43-Jake Falco (DNS).

Heat #5 (8 laps): 1. 20-Rodney Sanders, 2. 2J-Blake Jegtvig, 3. 2-Bobby Hogge, 4. 30L-Matt Leer, 5. 13-Jeff Hartley, 6. 19r-Ryan Gustin, 7. 5c-Dallas Caldwell, 8. 23h-Terry Haven (DNS).

“B” Main #1 (12 laps, top 4 advance): 1. 15-Ryan Mikkelson, 2. 19r-Ryan Gustin, 3. 30L-Matt Leer, 4. 29d-Brad Dierks, 5. 97-Greg Chusluy, 6. 10c-Chad Olsen, 7. 44-Christy Georges-Barnett, 8. 55ak-Scott Sluka, 9. 23J-Greg Jelvik, 10. 51T-Tim Thomas, 11. 65x-Carlos Ahumada, Jr., 12. 86-Kyle Beard, 13. 13-Jeff Hartley, 14. 5c-Dallas Caldwell.

“B” Main #2 (12 lap, top 4 advance): 1. 2-Bobby Hogge, 2. 2s-Stormy Scott, 3. 1sx-Scott Bintz, 4. 36-Danny Bayor, 5. 90-Casey Skyberg, 6. 1x-Steve Streeter, 7. 59-Bob Salmon, 8. J17-Jake Gallardo, 9. 17s-Stoney Kruk, 10. 31-Daryl Fisher, 11. 48-Brent Dutanhoffer, 12. 43-Chad Falco, 13. 23h-Terry Haven, 14. 9-Mykel Atkinson.

“A” Main (25 laps): 1. 97-Cade Dillard, 2. 20-Rodney Sanders, 3. 87-Darron Fuqua, 4. 71-Phillip Houston, 5. G17-Fito Gallardo, 6. 23m-Matt Gilbertson, 7. 9r-Jimmy Ray, 8. 15-Ryan Mikkelson, 9. 26-Shawn Fletcher, 10. 30L-Matt Leer, 11. 131-Royal Jones, 12. 30-Justin Rexwinkle, 13. 5-Todd Schute, 14. 36-Danny Bayor, 15. 2-Bobby Hogge, 16. 20rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 17. 9k-Kent Arment, 18. 05-Jake Hartung, 19. 2J-Blake Jegtvig, 20. 6T-Corky Thomas, 21. 1sx-Scott Bintz, 22. 19r-Ryan Gustin, 23. 29d-Brad Dierks, 24. 2s-Stormy Scott.