Sheppard Romps to $13K Wild West Shootout Finale Win with Strand & Searing Scoring as Well

Lonnie Wheatley, SAN TAN VALLEY, Ariz. (January 14, 2018) – Reigning World of Outlaws Late Model champion stormed to a $13,000 triumph in dominant fashion by wiring the field in Sunday night’s 50-lap Super Late Model feature that put the finishing touches on the Keyser Manufacturing Wild West Shootout presented O’Reilly Auto Parts at the 1/3-mile FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway clay oval.

Joining the New Berlin, IL, ace in Hoker Trucking Victory Lane in the finale of the six-race mini-series were Dustin Strand in Modifieds and Cole Searing in X Modifieds.

Coming away with Wild West Shootout crowns were Mike Marlar in Super Late Models, Johnny Scott in Modifieds and Searing in X Modifieds.

In the 50-lap Black Diamond/Club 29 Super Late Models presented by M&W Transportation Wild West Shootout finale, Sheppard gunned into the lead at the outset and slipped away from the field after some early challenges from Marlar.

Even after the race’s first caution erased Sheppard’s substantial lead with just seven laps to go, he took off again and flashed under the checkered flag with a 1.884-second advantage despite losing power at the stripe.

“As soon as I took the white flag, it started vibrating pretty bad,” Sheppard explained.  “It was a good thing I had a pretty lead.  I eased it around and it shut off at the line.”

In Sheppard’s wake, Marlar outdueled two-race series winner Ricky Weiss to finish off the Wild West Shootout title with a runner-up finish.  It was Marlar’s fifth finish among the top four in the six-race series.

“I was eyeballin’ that trophy when we got here, thinking to myself that I’d like to that home,” Marlar said after securing the title.

Weiss settled for the show position with Don Shaw and Cade Dillard rounding out the top five while Ryan Gustin was the final car on the lead lap in sixth.

Dustin Strand emerged atop the 25-lap MVT/Border International USRA Modifieds presented by Arizona Differential winner in as many events by taking the finale as Las Cruces’ Johnny Scott edged Shane Sabraski by just three points for the Wild West Shootout title.

Strand took the win in the finale from the fourth position ahead of pole starter Alex Stanford, 21st-starter Stormy Scott, 18th-starter Sabraski and 17th-starter Lucas Schott.

Johnny Scott rebounded from an early incident to salvage a ninth place finish that proved just enough to edge Sabraski for the crown.

Cole Searing put an exclamation point on his Wild West Shootout championship by edging Jason VandeKamp at the line for his third RHRSwag.com X-Mods presented by Barnett Harley-Davidson feature win of the series.

Working the top side of the track, Searing surged past VandeKamp exiting the final corner to take the win by just .046-seconds ahead of VandeKamp with Cole Haugland, Dewayne Tesch and Steve Muilenberg among the top five.
Dates for the 2019 Wild West Shootout have been set for January 5, 6, 9, 11, 12 and 13.

The 2018 Wild West Shootout is made possible by Keyser Manufacturing, O’Reilly Auto Parts, FK Rod Ends, Black Diamond/Club 29 Race Cars, M&W Transport, Mesilla Valley Transportation, Border International Trucks, Arizona Differential, RHR RacingSwag, Barnett Harley Davidson, Hoker Trucking, Total Seal Piston Rings, Karl Performance, Textron Off-Road, Shaw Trucking, M&S Concrete, AR Bodies, Earnhardt Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge Ram, Pro Power Engines, VP Racing Fuel, Penske Racing Shocks and Hoosier Tires.

Keyser Manufacturing Wild West Shootout presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts Results
FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway – Sunday, January 14, 2018

Black Diamond/Club 29 Super Late Models presented by M&W Transportation:

Qualifying:

Group 1: 1. 97-Cade Dillard 14.997, 2. 42s-Don Shaw 15.176, 3. 157-Mike Marlar 15.206, 4. 37w-Scott Ward 15.222, 5. 18-Chase Junghans 15.247, 6. 20-Rodney Sanders, 15.303, 7. 90-Lance Matthees 15.304, 8. 89-Mike Spatola 15.322, 9. 7d-Austin Theiss 15.497, 10. 3k-Tanner Kelick 15.552, 11. 12-Nick Bartels 16.121, 12. 01-Garrett Alberson NT.

Group 2:  1. 32-Chris Simpson 15.000, 2. 91T-Tony Toste 15.130, 3. 16-Austin Seibert 15.232, 4. 2T-Ryan Gustin 15.416, 5. 15-Justin Duty 15.574, 6. 32b-Clay Daly 15.586, 7. 37x-Rob Mayea 15.602, 8. 15v-Colby Vandenbergh 15.609, 9. 28-John Cornell 16.041, 10. 96rc-R.C. Whitwell 16.101, 11. 3x-Lyndon Bolt 16.448.

Group 3:  1. B5-Brandon Sheppard 15.318, 2. 7mm-Michael Maresca 15.435, 3. 7w-Ricky Weiss 15.438, 4. 75-Terry Phillips 15.724, 5. 44x-Clint Smith 15.741, 6. 20rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr. 15.947, 7. 15k-Justin Kay 16.201, 8. 0-Jake O’Neil 16.300, 9. 38-Thomas Hunziker 16.335, 10. 22-Jonathan Ortega 16.352, 11. 26-Jon Brinkley 16.754.

Group 4:  1. 54x-David Breazeale 15.324, 2. 17-Billy Franklin 15.523, 3. 86-Kyle Beard 15.526, 4. 98-Jason Rauen 15.582, 5. 10n-Rob Sanders 15.617, 6. 44-Eric Mass 15.846, 7. 18x-Cody Barnett 15.972, 8. 6T-Terry Carter 16.056, 9. 6-Casey Skyberg 16.253, 10. 32p-Bobby Pierce 16.296, 11. 78-Ed Peters 17.707.

Heat Races – Top 4 advance to “A” Main, balance to 2 “B” Mains

Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 42s-Don Shaw, 2. 157-Mike Marlar, 3. 97-Cade Dillard, 4. 20-Rodney Sanders, 5. 18-Chase Junghans, 6. 37w-Scott Ward, 7. 01-Garrett Alberson, 8. 90-Lance Matthees, 9. 3k-Tanner Kelick, 10. 12-Nick Bartels, 11. 89-Mike Spatola, 12. 7d-Austin Theiss.

Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. 91T-Tony Toste, 2. 16-Austin Seibert, 3. 15v-Colby Vandenbergh, 4. 15-Justin Duty, 5. 2T-Ryan Gustin, 6. 32b-Clay Daly, 7. 96rc-R.C. Whitwell, 8. 37x-Rob Mayea, 9. 28-John Cornell, 10. 3x-Lyndon Bolt, 11. 32-Chris Simpson.

Heat Three (8 Laps):  1. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 2. 7w-Ricky Weiss, 3. 7mm-Michael Maresca, 4. 75-Terry Phillips, 5. 20rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 6. 44x-Clint Smith, 7. 0-Jake O’Neil, 8. 15k-Justin Kay, 9. 26-Jon Brinkley, 10. 22-Jonathan Ortega, 11. 38-Thomas Hunziker.

Heat Four (8 Laps):  1. 54x-David Breazeale, 2. 17-Billy Franklin, 3. 98-Jason Rauen, 4. 86-Kyle Beard, 5. 32p-Bobby Pierce, 6. 18x-Cody Barnett, 7. 10n-Rob Sanders, 8. 6-Casey Skyberg, 9. 44-Eric Mass, 10. 78-Ed Peters, 11. 6T-Terry Carter.

“B” Mains – Top 4 from each advance to “A” Main

First “B” Main (12 Laps):  1. 18-Chase Junghans, 2. 2T-Ryan Gustin, 3. 37w-Scott Ward, 4. 32b-Clay Daly, 5. 01-Garrett Alberson, 6. 90-Lance Matthees, 7. 96rc-R.C. Whitwell, 8. 3k-Tanner Kelick, 9. 28-John Cornell, 10. 89-Mike Spatola, 11. 7d-Austin Theiss, 12. 32-Chris Simpson. DNS: 12-Nick Bartels, 37x-Rob Mayea, 3x-Lyndon Bolt.

Second “B” Main (12 Laps):  1. 20rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 2. 32p-Bobby Pierce, 3. 0-Jake O’Neil, 4. 44x-Clint Smith, 5. 15k-Justin Kay, 6. 18x-Cody Barnett, 7. 6-Casey Skyberg, 8. 10n-Rob Sanders, 9. 22-Jonathan Ortega, 10. 6T-Terry Carter, 11. 38-Thomas Hunziker, 12. 26-Jon Brinkley, 13. 78-Ed Peters. DNS: 44-Eric Mass.

“A” Main

“A” Main (50 Laps):  1. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 2. 157-Mike Marlar, 3. 7w-Ricky Weiss, 4. 42s-Don Shaw, 5. 97-Cade Dillard, 6. 2T-Ryan Gustin, 7. 32p-Bobby Pierce, 8. 7mm-Michael Maresca, 9. 0-Jake O’Neil, 10. 15-Justin Duty, 11. 17-Billy Franklin, 12. 16-Austin Siebert, 13. 18-Chase Junghans, 14. 98-Jason Rauen, 15. 75-Terry Phillips, 16. 20-Rodney Sanders, 17. 32b-Clay Daly, 18. 37w-Scott Ward, 19. 44x-Clint Smith, 20. 20rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 21. 15v-Colby Vandenbergh, 22. 91T-Tony Toste, 23. 86-Kyle Beard, 24. 54x-David Breazeale.  

 

MVT/Border International USRA Modifieds presented by Arizona Differential:

Heat Races – Top 16 in passing points advance to “A” Main, balance to 2 “B” Mains

Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 82-Christy Barnett, 2. X57-Richie Davis, 3. 98-Alex Stanford, 4. J17-Jake Gallardo, 5. 27-Chris Unrau, 6. 8a-Al Giesbrecht, 7. 2s-Stormy Scott, 8. 2J-Blake Jegtvig, 9. 29d-Brad Dierks, 10. 6d-Dustin Arneson.

Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. 71-Dustin Strand, 2. 10c-Chad Olsen, 3. 1st-Johnny Scott, 4. 111-Bumper Jones, 5. G17-Fito Gallardo, 6. 101-Butch Reid, 7. 77x-Austin Kuehl, 8. 15k-Justin Kay, 9. 23x-Matt Gilbertson.

Heat Three (8 Laps):  1. 131-Royal Jones, 2. 5g-Scott Greer, 3. 20rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 4. 6-Casey Skyberg, 5. 69-Lucas Schott, 6. 65x-Carlos Ahumada, Jr., 7. 36-Ryan Cousins, 8. 2a-Casey Arneson, 9. 7-Ken McCleskey.

Heat Four (8 Laps):  1. 1tpo-Tyler Peterson, 2. 30-Matt Leer, 3. 19sb-Lance Mari, 4. 23-Adam Cates, 5. 7k-Jason Krohn, 6. 18z-Zane Devilbiss, 7. 7a-Shane Sabraski, 8. 96-R.C. Whitwell, 9. 71h-Jesse Hoskins.

“B” Mains – Top 8 advance to “A” Main

“B” Main (12 Laps):  1. 69-Lucas Schott, 2. 7a-Shane Sabraski, 3. 23x-Matt Gilbertson, 4. G17-Fito Gallardo, 5. 2s-Stormy Scott, 6. 18z-Shane Devilbiss, 7. 2J-Blake Jegtvig, 8. 2a-Casey Arneson, 9. 101-Butch Reid, 10. 65x-Carlos Ahumada, Jr., 11. 71h-Jesse Hoskins, 12. 36-Ryan Cousins, 13. 15k-Justin Kay, 14. 8a-Al Giesbrecht, 15. 7-Ken McCleskey, 16. 27-Chris Unrau, 17. 77x-Austin Kuehl, 18. 96-R.C. Whitwell.  DNS: 7k-Jason Krohn, 29d-Brad Dierks, 232-Kent Arment, 60-Austin Arneson.

“A” Main

“A” Main (25 Laps):  1. 71-Dustin Strand, 2. 98-Alex Stanford, 3. 2s-Stormy Scott, 4. 7a-Shane Sabraski, 5. 69-Lucas Schott, 6. 23-Adam Cates, 7. 1tpo-Tyler Peterson, 8. 30-Matt Leer, 9. 1st-Johnny Scott, 10. 131-Royal Jones, 11. 6-Casey Skyberg, 12. 111-Bumper Jones, 13. 2a-Casey Arneson, 14. 10c-Chad Olsen, 15. 82-Christy Barnett, 16. X57-Richie Davis, 17. 20rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 18. J17-Jake Gallardo, 19. 5g-Scott Greer, 20. 23x-Matt Gilbertson, 21. 19sb-Lance Mari, 22. 2J-Blake Jeftvig, 23. G17-Fito Gallardo, 24. 18z-Zane Devilbiss (DNS).

 

RHRSwag.com X-Mods presented by Barnett Harley-Davidson:

Heat Races – Top 16 in passing points advance to “A” Main, balance to 2 “B” Mains

Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 17s-Lance Schill, 2. 30-Dewayne Tesch, 3. 71-Brian Strand, 4. 67-Rex Conrad, 5. 10c-Cole Haugland, 6. 82-Sherman Barnett, 7. 56-Terry Bahr, 8. 7T-Joseph Thomas, 9. 7d-Heath Dry, 10. 99-Shawn Fernkes.

Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. 14-Shawn Strong, 2. 8n-Nick Rivera, 3. 19-Lucas Rodin, 4. 5c-Preston Carr, 5. 2-Jesse Haynie, 6. 6-Dean Eggebraaten, 7. 777-Mike Rosales, 8. 44JT-Jaime Torres, 9. 17az-Neil Eckhart, 10. 81x-Matt Spardy.

Heat Three (8 Laps):  1. 0-Cole Searing, 2. 3J-Josh Cain, 3. 93-Gary Gorham, 4. 88-Nathan Smith, 5. 6c-Calvin Caitlin, 6. 271-Kelly Hagel, 7. 7g-Dennis Gates, 8. 5m-Wes Meeks. DNS: 3h-Noah Hollingshead.

Heat Four (8 Laps):  1. 16-Jason VandeKamp, 2. 39-Steve Muilenberg, 3. 7-Donovan Flores, 4. 1s-Scott Bintz, 5. 32-Eric Haugland, 6. 75c-Bo Partain, 7. 31-Scott Hansen, 8. 3-Dickie Gorham, 9. 15a-Aaron Phillips.

“B” Main – Top 8 advance to “A” Main

“B” Main (10 Laps):  1. 1s-Scott Bintz, 2. 32-Eric Haugland, 3. 31-Scott Hansen, 4. 88-Nathan Smith, 5. 777-Mike Rosales, 6. 271-Kelly Hagel, 7. 7T-Joseph Thomas, 8. 81x-Matt Spardy, 9. 82-Sherman Barnett, 10. 6c-Calvin Caitlin, 11. 17az-Neil Eckhart, 12. 7d-Heath Dry, 13. 44JT-Jaime Torres, 14. 56-Terry Bahr, 15. 7g-Dennis Gates, 16. 99-Shawn Fernkes, 17. 6-Dean Eggebraaten, 18. 15a-Aaron Phillips, 19. 75c-Bo Partain. DNS: 3-Dickie Gorham, 5m-Wes Meeks, 3h-Noah Hollingshead.

“A” Main

“A” Main (20 Laps):  1. 0-Cole Searing, 2. 16-Jason VandeKamp, 3. 10c-Cole Haugland, 4. 30-Dewayne Tesch, 5. 39-Seve Muilenberg, 6. 8n-Nick Rivera, 7. 777-Mike Rosales, 8. 7-Donovan Flores, 9. 71-Brian Strand, 10. 19-Lucas Rodin, 11. 32-Eric Haugland, 12. 31-Scott Hansen, 13. 1s-Scott Bintz, 14. 93-Gary Gorham, 15. 3J-Josh Cain, 16. 7T-Joseph Thomas, 17. 67-Rex Conrad, 18. 271-Kelly Hagel, 19. 81x-Matt Spardy, 20. 14-Shawn Strong, 21. 2-Jesse Haynie, 22. 88-Nathan Smith, 23. 17s-Lance Schill, 24. 5c-Preston Carr.

Final Wild West Shootout Points through Night Six of Six:

Late Models

1

157

Mike Marlar

379

2

B5

Brandon Sheppard

351

3

42s

Don Shaw

339

4

32p

Bobby Pierce

313

5

7w

Ricky Weiss

298

6

97

Cade Dillard

255

7

32

Chris Simpson

246

8

2T

Ryan Gustin

211

9

37W

Scott Ward

203

10

O1

Garrett Alberson

200

11

18

Chase Junghans

191

12

54X

David Braeazale

177

13

75

Terry Phillips

165

14

16

Austin Siebert

163

15

89

Mike Spatola

146

16

86

Kyle Beard

142

17

20

Rodney Sanders

132

18

7mm

Michael Maresca

125

19

32b

Clay Daly

123

20

96rc

R.C. Whitwell

121

21

20rt

Ricky Thornton, Jr.

110

22

0

Jake O'Neil

98

23

15

Justin Duty

96

24

17

Billy Franklin

95

25

44X

Clint Smith

87

26

37x

Robert Mayea

70

27

90

Lance Matthees

70

28

91t

Tony Toste

64

29

15k

Justin Kay

60

30

98

Earl Pearson, Jr.

59

31

7D

Austin Theiss

55

32

3k

Tanner Kelick

52

33

51

Joey Moriarty

46

34

98

Jason Rauen

43

35

90

Pat Doar

42

36

15v

Colby Vandenbergh

37

37

12

Nick Bartels

36

38

10n

Rob Sanders

24

39

18x

Cody Barnett

20

40

28

John Cornell

17

41

3x

Lyndon Bolt

16

42

44

Eric Mass

16

43

6T

Terry Carter

15

44

38

Thomas Hunziker

14

45

22

Jonathan Ortega

13

46

78

Ed Peters

12

47

26

Jon Brinkley

10

48

6

Casey Skyberg

9

49

45

Dustin Bluhm

9

50

7DX

Jake Davis

8

51

5

David Deetz

7

52

15x

John Duty

6

53

54

Carlos Ahumanda

5

54

78s

Steve Stultz

5

55

81b

Bud Grossenbacher

2

56

J17

Jake Gallardo

2

57

9

Mike Masters

1

Modifieds

1

1ST

Johnny Scott

342

2

7A

Shane Sabraski

339

3

2s

Stormy Scott

277

4

69

Lucas Schott

274

5

20RT

Ricky Thornton Jr

240

6

30

Matt Leer

219

7

7K

Jason Krohn

213

8

23

Matt Gilbertson

204

9

2A

Casey Arneson

201

10

1TPO

Tyler Peterson

200

11

15K

Justin Kay

194

12

71

Dustin Strand

176

13

0

Jake O'Neil

167

14

10c

Chad Olsen

162

15

2J

Blake Jegtvig

161

16

99

Josh Angst

146

17

6

Casey Skyberg

139

18

111

Bumper Jones

134

19

23

Adam Cates

133

20

96

RC Whitwell

130

21

65X

Carlos Ahumada Jr

119

22

5g

Scott Greer

111

23

29d

Brad Dierks

106

24

19sb

Lance Mari

104

25

J17

Jake Gallardo

85

26

G17

Fito Gallardo

81

27

82

Christy Barnett

79

28

6D

Dylan Goplen

78

29

131

Royal Jones

77

30

98

Alex Stanford

72

31

X57

Richie Davis

57

32

77X

Austin Kuehl

57

33

18Z

Zane DeVilbiss

52

34

71H

Jesse Hoskins

52

35

21

Austin Bonner

39

36

19

Lucas Rodin

38

37

101

Butch Reid

35

38

160

Michael Maggard

35

39

4

Billy Vogel

22

40

232

Kent Arment

19

41

75

Spencer Wilson

19

42

17s

Lance Schills

18

43

36

Ryan Cousins

16

44

27

Chris Unrau

12

45

7

Ken McCleskey

12

46

5m

Anthony Madrid

11

47

8a

Al Giesbrecht

9

48

65S

Carlos Ahumada Sr

9

49

33

Steve Muilenberg

9

50

81X

Brian Ruhlman

9

51

2

Rusty Koleman

8

52

82

Austin Adams

6

53

196

Joey Olschowka

6

54

F27

Lynnsee Provence

6

55

A1

Phil Dixon

6

56

40jr

Bubba Stafford

4

57

121

Tim Tharp

4

58

6d

Dustin Arneson

1

59

5L

Cody Laney

1

60

L8

Brian Schultz

1

61

81

Scott Hansen

1

X-Modifieds

1

0

Cole Searing

403

2

30

Dewayne Tesch

318

3

39

Steve Muilenburg

310

4

19

Lucas Rodin

280

5

3J

Josh Cain

274

6

1s

Scott Bintz

270

7

16

Jason VandeKamp

269

8

32

Eric Haugland

219

9

10c

Cole Hauglend

209

10

777

Mike Rosales

173

11

99

Shawn Fernkes

172

12

782

Miah Christensen

170

13

7

Donavon Flores

165

14

31

Scott Hansen

162

15

44GT

Jaime Torres

135

16

5C

Preston Carr

134

17

14

Shawn Strong

125

18

6

Dean Eggebraaten

106

19

55

Mike Hailmann

102

20

5

Daniel Anders

99

21

17s

Lance Schill

97

22

88

Nathan Smith

96

23

17az

Neil Eckhart

90

24

71

Dustin Strand

78

25

5r

Ryan Doron

75

26

7T

Joseph Thomas

74

27

2

Jesse Haynie

71

28

271

Kelly Hagel

71

29

93

Greg Gorham

67

30

67

Rex Conrad

63

31

8n

Nick Rivera

57

32

81X

Matt Spardy

46

33

82

Sherman Barnett

35

34

57x

Chad Horst

34

35

6C

Calvin Caitlin

33

36

51W

Ronald Webster

31

37

2jg

Jason George

30

38

28

Jesse Horst

28

39

20

Mark Harrison

28

40

3

Dickie Gorham

26

41

1

Ronny Gould

25

42

7d

Heath Dry

19

43

75C

Bo Partain

18

44

56

Terry Bahr

15

45

171

Jed smith

11

46

7g

Dennis Gates

10

47

15

Speedy Madrid

9

48

5m

Wes Meeks

7

49

11

Richie Jones

7

50

15a

Aaron Phillips

6

51

5m

Justin Minx

5

52

93ar

A.R. Smith

4

53

94

Jalen Rice

4

54

34

James Meile

4

55

28

Peyton George

4

56

98s

R.J. Bishop

2

57

8

D.J. Werkmeister

2

58

22

Todd Hoff

1

59

3h

Noah Hollingshead

1