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Joseph Thomas had a great early start to the season, driving his uncle Tim’s No. 51 in the Modified class at Vado Speedway Park. He finished third Jan. 12. (Contributed Photo)

Thomas secures the final podium position in the Mods during Vado’s finale

By Meghan Diemel
ATD Editor

VADO, NM (January 12) - Drivers from across the country – including the WISSOTA region – were on hand for the final night of action Sunday at Vado Speedway Park January 12. The Wild West Shootout finale was marked by a fast race track and windy conditions. Three repeat winners greeted victory lane at the end of the night, marking the end of the 2025 series installment that featured little parity among the Late Model and X-Mod classes.

Winners included Kyle Strickler, Bobby Pierce and Rob Moseley.

Bobby Pierce got by early leader Garrett Alberson for the top spot to complete the first lap of the Super Late Model feature. With four laps scored, Erb began to reel in Alberson for second, with Stormy Scott fourth and Clayton Stuckey fifth.

With Pierce out front by a healthy advantage, Erb closed in on Alberson three laps later, at times side by side to the inside of Alberson, who was committed to the top lane. Alberson was able to pull away slightly each time, as the field began to work through the back of the field with 10 in the books.

Pierce had a couple of rows of side-by-side lapped cars just ahead. It was near disaster as they worked lap 16, when Preston Lueckman shut down suddenly directly in front of Pierce, and Pierce had to take evasive action to avoid the lapped car. Lueckman took it to the infield for mud removal in one of his wheels, and the field regrouped for a restart.

Back under green, Pierce drove off with the lead once again, while Alberson and Erb fought hard for second, exchanging sliders in each turn for several laps. This allowed Chase Junghans to move in and he watched closely from fourth. Minnesota’s Dustin Sorensen cracked the top five. Erb had second secured by the time the field worked lap 20.

Three laps later, Erb began to slowly chip away at Pierce’s lead. Alberson was right behind Erb, with Junghans several car lengths behind in fourth. Sorensen remained fifth.

Back out front, Pierce began to work through lapped traffic again, as Junghans got by Alberson for third along the low side. Alberson and Sorensen then raced side by side for fourth with 19 to go.

As the field worked lap 29 of the 50-lap race, Junghans was gaining momentum in the corners on Erb. Junghans swung past Erb for second to complete lap 31.

With Pierce comfortably out front by more than two seconds with 17 left on the board, Junghans was second, Erb was third, and Alberson was fourth under heavy pressure from Sorensen.

Five laps later Pierce was in heavy lapped traffic again, as Junghans continued to hold back Alberson – who regained third, Erb and now Collen Winebarger in the top five.

As the laps began to wind down, Pierce remained out front with five to go. He had two lapped cars ahead of him, while Junghans, Alberson, Erb and Winebarger continued to hold their top five spots.

Pierce was consistent out front and grabbed the checkered flag, his fourth of the miniseries. Junghans, Alberson, Erb, and Winebarger were top-five finishers.

Of the other WISSOTA-area racers on hand in the Late Model class, Don Shaw and Sam Mars both made the feature. Mars started 18th on the grid after a B-feature victory, and finished just outside the top 10 in 12th. Don Shaw was 18th.

Bobby Pierce was crowned the series champion in the Late Models.

The X-Mods were next on the track, and they were two and three wide to start the feature Sunday, with three-time winner Rob Moseley shaking out into the early lead once again. Hunter Sandy took second from Rick Ortega after a side-by-side battle, and Aiden Frazier and Christy Barnett were close behind in fourth and fifth. A caution two laps into the race regrouped the field under yellow.

Moseley worked the front of the field back under green, while Sandy moved into second and Ortega was third. Barnett moved into fourth and Cain was fifth, but a huge wreck in the back of the pack down the backstretch regrouped the field once again.

Moseley was the leader back under green. With five laps scored, Sandy and Ortega remained side by side for second, with Cain getting by Ortega into third. Barnett was hot on Sandy’s heels in fifth.

Two laps later, Moseley continued to lead while Sandy held onto second. Cain was third, Ortega was fourth and Barnett held fifth.

After another handful of green-flag laps, Moseley appeared to have the race in hand out front, ahead of Sandy, Cain, Ortega and Barnett, before a caution Isiah Mendoza regrouped the field. Twelve laps remained on the board.

Moseley led the field back to the green, as Sandy held off a brief charge from Cain for second. Ortega and Barnett completed the top five, while farther back Jamestown, North Dakota’s Scott Bintz and Cameron, Wisconsin’s Blake Adams represented WISSOTA in the top 10. Bintz started 16th and had climbed into seventh, while Adams was hanging in ninth.

Moseley had a good lead with six laps left in the feature, while Sandy had several car lengths on Ortega, who supplanted Cain a few laps before for the spot. Barnett remained fifth.

Moseley remained a picture of consistency to close out his Wild West Shootout, as he duplicated Bobby Pierce’s efforts and took his fourth victory for the week.

WISSOTA-licensed drivers finishing in the top 10 include Bintz in seventh, Adams in ninth, and Nate Reinke finished his week with a top 10. Sioux Falls, South Dakota’s Duke Erickson had also qualified for the A-main, and he finished 19th.

With four feature wins, Moseley garnered the X-Mod series championship.

In the Modifieds, the field was led to the green by Carlos Ahumada, Jr. and Kyle Strickler, with Royal Jones and Nathan Smith in row two. Strickler was the early leader, as Ahumada, Jr. raced side by side with him to complete the first lap. Nathan Smith moved into third, with Glyndon, Minnesota’s Joseph Thomas fourth and Rodney Sanders fifth.

Ahumada took the lead to complete lap two, as Strickler fought back along the high line and regained the top spot two laps later. Disaster then struck for Ahumada, as he spun in turn one and the field was reset.

Strickler was in the lead for the restart, with Thomas now second, Smith third, Sanders fourth and Paden Phillips fifth with four laps complete. Thomas and Smith fought for second, with Smith getting by, while Sanders moved to fourth. Paden Phillips was fifth. Sorensen drove past Phillips into the top five eight laps into the feature.

Strickler continued to lead out front with 12 laps scored, with Thomas second and Smith third. Sanders was fourth and Sorensen was close behind in fifth before a caution brought the field back together again.

Strickler was the leader for the restart, with Thomas and Smith side by side for second, and Sorensen very close behind in fourth; Sanders dropped back to fifth. One lap later Sorensen drove by Smith for third. Sanders moved into fourth a lap after that, and Cade Dillard raced into fifth. The caution fell once again for a spin on the track.

With nine left to go, Strickler led the field back to green with Thomas choosing the outside lane for the restart. Sorensen got by to second down the backstretch, with Thomas and Sanders close behind in third and fourth. Dillard was fifth.

Two laps later Thomas moved back in on Sorensen, pressuring him to the inside in the corners. With five to go, Thomas remained close, as Dillard had driven past Sanders into fourth.

Sorensen broke away from Thomas and began to catch Strickler with three laps to go. Both were along the high side, and though Sorensen attempted a slider in the final turn, he didn’t have enough momentum off the corner and Strickler came out on top for the victory. Sorensen had to settle for second, Thomas was third, Dillard was fourth and Sanders completed the top five.

Strickler garnered the series championship.

SUMMARY

Super Late Models:

A Feature 1 (50 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. 18-Chase Junghans[10]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 4. 1-Tyler Erb[3]; 5. 14S-Collen Winebarger[19]; 6. 19-Dustin Sorensen[11]; 7. 2S-Stormy Scott[7]; 8. 74X-Ethan Dotson[15]; 9. 97-Cade Dillard[16]; 10. 22*-Drake Troutman[9]; 11. 69-Ross Bailes[8]; 12. 28M-Sam Mars[18]; 13. B5-Brandon Sheppard[13]; 14. 13-Bricen James[22]; 15. 15S-Clayton Stuckey[6]; 16. 74-Mitch McGrath[14]; 17. 82-Ian Whisler[5]; 18. 42S-Don Shaw[20]; 19. 78S-Steve Stultz[21]; 20. 10N-Rob Sanders[24]; 21. K7-Keaton Smith[23]; 22. 157-Mike Marlar[12]; 23. 11-Jon Kirby[4]; 24. 77-Preston Luckman[17]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. 82-Ian Whisler[2]; 3. 22*-Drake Troutman[4]; 4. B5-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 5. 78S-Steve Stultz[6]; 6. 14S-Collen Winebarger[5]; 7. 4P-Richard Papenhausen[8]; 8. 02-Kent Rosevear[10]; 9. 3K-Keko Perez[9]; 10. 6-Jake Neal[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 2. 2S-Stormy Scott[2]; 3. 19-Dustin Sorensen[3]; 4. 74X-Ethan Dotson[4]; 5. 77-Preston Luckman[6]; 6. 28B-Carson Brown[5]; 7. K7-Keaton Smith[7]; 8. 6T-Terry Carter[8]; 9. 99-Luke Solis[9]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Jon Kirby[2]; 2. 15S-Clayton Stuckey[1]; 3. 18-Chase Junghans[3]; 4. 74-Mitch McGrath[5]; 5. 28M-Sam Mars[4]; 6. 10N-Rob Sanders[7]; 7. 53M-Jason Miles[10]; 8. S21-Seth Daniels[9]; 9. 3-Brennon Willard[8]; 10. 38-Thomas Hunziker[6]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[2]; 2. 69-Ross Bailes[1]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar[4]; 4. 97-Cade Dillard[3]; 5. 42S-Don Shaw[6]; 6. 13-Bricen James[5]; 7. 8-Dillon McCowan[7]; 8. 49-Jake Timm[9]; 9. 86-Kyle Beard[8]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 77-Preston Luckman[2]; 2. 14S-Collen Winebarger[3]; 3. 78S-Steve Stultz[1]; 4. K7-Keaton Smith[6]; 5. 02-Kent Rosevear[7]; 6. 28B-Carson Brown[4]; 7. 4P-Richard Papenhausen[5]; 8. 6T-Terry Carter[8]; 9. 3K-Keko Perez[9]; 10. 99-Luke Solis[11]; 11. 6-Jake Neal[10]

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 28M-Sam Mars[1]; 2. 42S-Don Shaw[2]; 3. 13-Bricen James[4]; 4. 10N-Rob Sanders[3]; 5. 8-Dillon McCowan[6]; 6. 49-Jake Timm[8]; 7. 53M-Jason Miles[5]; 8. S21-Seth Daniels[7]; 9. 86-Kyle Beard[10]; 10. 3-Brennon Willard[9]; 11. 38-Thomas Hunziker[11]

Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 8-Kyle Strickler[2]; 2. 19-Dustin Sorensen[18]; 3. 51T-Joseph Thomas[5]; 4. 97-Cade Dillard[11]; 5. 420-Rodney Sanders[6]; 6. 127-Paden Phillips[8]; 7. 58X-Gary Christian[19]; 8. 75-Terry Phillips[9]; 9. 5-Reece Solander[22]; 10. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[1]; 11. 65-Tyler Davis[14]; 12. 37-John Neal Reid[17]; 13. 88-Nathan Smith[4]; 14. 0-Jake O'Neil[20]; 15. J7-Jake Boles[13]; 16. 2SS-Mark Smith[23]; 17. 131-Royal Jones[3]; 18. J17-Jake Gallardo[21]; 19. 111-Bumper Jones[15]; 20. 171-Philip Houston[10]; 21. 16B-Kaylin Lopez[7]; 22. 12-Jay Rosales[12]; 23. 37T-Coty Tanquary[16]; 24. 3J-Josh Cain[24]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Kyle Strickler[2]; 2. 12-Jay Rosales[1]; 3. J7-Jake Boles[4]; 4. 65-Tyler Davis[6]; 5. 2SS-Mark Smith[5]; 6. 0-Jake O'Neil[8]; 7. 58X-Gary Christian[7]; 8. 5-Reece Solander[9]; 9. 54-Carlos Ahumada Sr[3]; 10. 17-Peyton Gallardo[10]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 131-Royal Jones[2]; 2. 420-Rodney Sanders[4]; 3. 37-John Neal Reid[3]; 4. 80XX-Jason Langford[5]; 5. 11-Lucas Ward[6]; 6. 9R-Jimmy Ray[1]; 7. J17-Jake Gallardo[8]; 8. 18JR-Ricardo Olague Jr[7]; 9. 39-David Gonzales Jr[9]; 10. G17-Fito Gallardo[10]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Nathan Smith[2]; 2. 16B-Kaylin Lopez[4]; 3. 171-Philip Houston[5]; 4. 51T-Joseph Thomas[9]; 5. 37T-Coty Tanquary[8]; 6. 3J-Josh Cain[3]; 7. 5X-Ryder McCutcheon[6]; 8. 24D-Diego Alvarado[1]; 9. 96C-Carson Ditsch[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 75-Terry Phillips[1]; 2. 127-Paden Phillips[4]; 3. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[8]; 4. 111-Bumper Jones[6]; 5. 97-Cade Dillard[9]; 6. 19-Dustin Sorensen[7]; 7. 20Q-Cole Queensland[3]; 8. 44-Christy Barnett[2]; 9. 2G-Troy Girolamo[5]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 37-John Neal Reid[1]; 2. 58X-Gary Christian[5]; 3. J17-Jake Gallardo[4]; 4. 2SS-Mark Smith[3]; 5. 20Q-Cole Queensland[7]; 6. 11-Lucas Ward[2]; 7. G17-Fito Gallardo[11]; 8. 5X-Ryder McCutcheon[6]; 9. 96C-Carson Ditsch[9]; 10. 2G-Troy Girolamo[10]; 11. 39-David Gonzales Jr[8]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 19-Dustin Sorensen[3]; 2. 0-Jake O'Neil[2]; 3. 5-Reece Solander[6]; 4. 3J-Josh Cain[4]; 5. 9R-Jimmy Ray[5]; 6. 18JR-Ricardo Olague Jr[7]; 7. 44-Christy Barnett[8]; 8. 54-Carlos Ahumada Sr[11]; 9. 17-Peyton Gallardo[10]; 10. 80XX-Jason Langford[1]; 11. 24D-Diego Alvarado[9]

X-Mods:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. M17-Rob Moseley[1]; 2. 7S-Hunter Sandy[3]; 3. 22R-Rick Ortega[4]; 4. 3J-Josh Cain[11]; 5. 44-Christy Barnett[6]; 6. 44JT-Jesse Haynie[17]; 7. 1S-Scott Bintz[16]; 8. 02-Deuce Teague[10]; 9. 40D-Blake Adams[9]; 10. 71-Nate Reinke[21]; 11. 510-Cody King[22]; 12. 12M-Mike Rosales[12]; 13. 10-Bryan Bennett[19]; 14. 81-Devon Jobin[24]; 15. 25K-Kale Murphrey[13]; 16. 33-Justin Allen[8]; 17. 5-Steve Holzkamper[18]; 18. 75J-Jeremy LaCoe[20]; 19. 57-Duke Erickson[15]; 20. 23B-Israel Ortega[23]; 21. 12-Isiah Mendoza[5]; 22. 93-Greg Gorham[14]; 23. 28-Aiden Frazier[2]; 24. 07-Donavon Flores[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Isiah Mendoza[1]; 2. 33-Justin Allen[3]; 3. 7S-Hunter Sandy[8]; 4. 93-Greg Gorham[6]; 5. 71-Nate Reinke[4]; 6. 10-Bryan Bennett[7]; 7. G3-Brian Craighead[9]; 8. 23-Kyle Nanco[10]; 9. 24K-Shane Krafka[5]; 10. CP3-Nathaniel Cruz[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Christy Barnett[1]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[3]; 3. 22R-Rick Ortega[6]; 4. 44JT-Jesse Haynie[2]; 5. 510-Cody King[4]; 6. 5-Steve Holzkamper[7]; 7. 81-Devon Jobin[5]; 8. 23B-Israel Ortega[9]; 9. 23H-Hector Barraza[10]; 10. 00-Joseph Swearingen[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 07-Donavon Flores[1]; 2. 02-Deuce Teague[2]; 3. 25K-Kale Murphrey[4]; 4. 1S-Scott Bintz[5]; 5. 3J-Josh Cain[9]; 6. 22-Keenan Glasser[7]; 7. 75J-Jeremy LaCoe[10]; 8. 161-Remington Budd[8]; 9. M77-Cameron Martin[3]; 10. 21R-Riella LaRae Fanning[6]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. M17-Rob Moseley[4]; 2. 28-Aiden Frazier[6]; 3. 57-Duke Erickson[3]; 4. 562-Craig Walker[1]; 5. 12M-Mike Rosales[9]; 6. 14-Dawson Manicki[8]; 7. 25-Josh Baucom[7]; 8. 96-Cale Riggs[2]; 9. 25C-Cory Polen[5]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 44JT-Jesse Haynie[1]; 2. 10-Bryan Bennett[4]; 3. 71-Nate Reinke[3]; 4. 23B-Israel Ortega[7]; 5. 22-Keenan Glasser[5]; 6. 161-Remington Budd[8]; 7. 25C-Cory Polen[10]; 8. 96-Cale Riggs[9]; 9. 00-Joseph Swearingen[11]; 10. 562-Craig Walker[2]; 11. 23-Kyle Nanco[6]; 12. CP3-Nathaniel Cruz[12]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 5-Steve Holzkamper[4]; 2. 75J-Jeremy LaCoe[2]; 3. 510-Cody King[3]; 4. 81-Devon Jobin[7]; 5. G3-Brian Craighead[5]; 6. 23H-Hector Barraza[8]; 7. 14-Dawson Manicki[1]; 8. M77-Cameron Martin[10]; 9. 24K-Shane Krafka[9]; 10. 25-Josh Baucom[6]; 11. 21R-Riella LaRae Fanning[11]