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Bintz, Reinke & Adams drive to top-10s in the X-Mods at Vado Speedway Park

By Meghan Diemel
ATD Editor

VADO, NM (January 11) - Two repeat winners and a familiar Midwestern face parked themselves in victory lane at the conclusion of Saturday’s show at Vado Speedway Park January 11. Bobby Pierce and Rob Moseley each collected their third win of the miniseries, while Rochester, Minnesota’s Dustin Sorensen grabbed the victory in the Modifieds for his first win of the week.

Bobby Pierce and Carson Brown set the pace from the front row of the Super Late Model feature, with Cade Dillard and Drake Troutman in row two. Pierce was the early leader before Chase Junghans got crossed up and Kyle Beard was caught up in the incident, bringing out the early yellow.

Pierce led the restart, with Troutman second and Brandon Sheppard fighting Brown side by side for third. Dillard was close behind in fifth.

As Pierce and Troutman used the top side of the track, Troutman began to slowly chip away at Pierce’s lead. With eight laps scored, Sheppard and Dillard challenged Brown for third, as out front the leading duo began to enter lapped traffic – three wide ahead of them. Sheppard took third two laps later, and Dillard displaced him back another spot a lap later.

Pierce was in heavy lapped traffic out front with 14 scored, but danced his way through, leaving Troutman to deal with the pack on his own in second. Sheppard quickly closed in on Troutman, and Dillard was a few car lengths behind Sheppard, as Tyler Erb cracked the top five.

Six laps later Pierce continued to move through lapped traffic in both lanes, while Troutman did the same in second. Sheppard held third, Dillard was fourth and Erb was fifth. With 25 laps down, the caution fell for a slowed Preston Lueckman.

Pierce led the field back to green, with Troutman choosing the high side and Sheppard along the inside line. Pierce had a good restart, as Troutman held second and Sheppard settled into third, while Erb drove by Dillard for fourth. Dillard was left to duke it out with first Ross Bailes, and then Ethan Dotson for fifth; Dotson had the spot with just 10 laps to go. The yellow then fell for Don Shaw, who suffered a flat tire with nine to go.

Pierce led the field back to the green with nine to go, with Sheppard taking second from Troutman and Erb going after Troutman third. Dotson was fifth. Erb got by Troutman for the spot about a lap later.

With five to go, the best battle on the track was for fourth between Troutman and Dotson, who were trading everything but handshakes for the spot.

Out front, Pierce had a substantial lead, as Sheppard continued to hammer the top of the speedway. It was all Pierce however, as he grabbed his third win of the miniseries. Sheppard, Erb, Dotson and Troutman completed the top five.

WISSOTA-region racers on hand who made the feature included Don Shaw, Sam Mars, and Dustin Sorensen. Shaw, a former National Champion, started seventh and retired early with that flat tire, while Menomonie, Wisconsin’s Mars finished 14th. Sorensen retired early with mechanical failure and was scored 23rd.

In the X-Mods, Rob Moseley and Donavon Flores led the field to the green. Moseley was the early leader ahead of Flores, who was under heavy pressure from North Dakota’s Nate Reinke. Reinke, who had rolled the night before, was back on track and in contention, taking the spot about a lap and a half later. With four laps scored, Christy Barnett was on the move and got by Reinke for second, quickly catching Moseley for the lead. Reinke held onto third, with Flores fourth and Hunter Sandy driving by Gorham for fifth.

Six laps were scored when Barnett moved to the inside of Moseley and tried to gain the advantage. Moseley was able to pull back away for a lap, before Barnett gathered herself back up and cut into his lead once again. Reinke was third, Flores fourth and Gorham fifth with 10 laps scored.

With seven laps left, Moseley began to work his way through lapped traffic, before a caution fell one lap later for Gorham, who was spun on the track.

Moseley led the field back to green, with Barnett and Reinke in row two. Moseley drove back out to the lead, with Barnett close behind in second. Behind them, it was a fierce battle for third among Sandy, Reinke, and Josh Cain, who had started in 18th. Another caution with three laps left on the board brought the field under yellow.

Back under green, Moseley continued to lead Barnett, with now Cain right on her heels. Sandy was fourth and Scott Bintz cracked the top five.

Mosely hung on for his third win of the week, with Barnett second, Cain third, Sandy fourth and Bintz fifth.

Nate Reinke in action at Vado Speedway Park. (Contributed Photo)

Of the other WISSOTA-licensed drivers on hand, Reinke was sixth, while Cameron, Wisconsin’s Blake Adams was 10th. Sioux Falls, South Dakota’s Duke Erickson was 22nd.

Dustin Sorensen and Terry Phillips brought the stacked field of Modified talent to the green flag, led early on by Sorensen, as Phillips slipped up and over the cushion in turn one allowing Fito Gallardo, Nathan Smith, Glyndon, Minnesota’s Joe Thomas, and Cade Dillard to cruise by below.

Sorensen had a 1.2 second advantage with just one lap complete, with Fito Gallardo trying to hold off Thomas for second, and Smith and Dillard side by side for fourth. Thomas got by Fito for second, while Dillard also completed the pass on Smith for fourth. With six laps complete, Fito Gallardo began to smoke heavily, elevating Thomas to second, with Dillard moving into third. Gallardo hung in fourth, with Gary Christian in fifth. Four laps later the caution then fell for Gallardo, whose mechanical issues brought his car to a stop.

The field regrouped with 15 laps still on the board. Sorensen took off back under green, with Dillard diving to the inside in turn one and Thomas rolling through the middle. Dillard took second and they were side by side for the lead the following lap. Sorensen pulled away slightly with 13 laps still on board, with Dillard second, Thomas third, Christian fourth and Phillips in fifth. Two laps later Thomas fell into the clutches of Christian. Phillips and Kyle Strickler went to work on each other for fifth.

With five laps left on the board, Sorensen had a healthy lead as he began to work his way through lapped traffic. The field was back under yellow with four to go for a spin by Carlos Ahumada, Sr.

Sorensen led the restart and dominated the closing laps to the checkered flag, taking his first win of the miniseries. Dillard was second, Strickler grabbed two more spots in the final laps to finish third, Christian was fourth and Thomas completed the top five.

Other WISSOTA racers on hand who qualified for the A-main included Cameron, Wisconsin’s Kevin Adams. Adams, a multi-time WISSOTA National Champion, qualified for the feature through a B-feature and finished 24th.

SUMMARY

Super Late Models:

A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[6]; 3. 1-Tyler Erb[5]; 4. 74X-Ethan Dotson[15]; 5. 22*-Drake Troutman[4]; 6. 14S-Collen Winebarger[8]; 7. 58-Garrett Alberson[9]; 8. 97-Cade Dillard[3]; 9. 69-Ross Bailes[11]; 10. 157-Mike Marlar[20]; 11. 49-Jake Timm[13]; 12. 74-Mitch McGrath[17]; 13. 42S-Don Shaw[7]; 14. 28M-Sam Mars[10]; 15. 28B-Carson Brown[2]; 16. 8-Dillon McCowan[18]; 17. 13-Bricen James[25]; 18. 11-Jon Kirby[16]; 19. 77-Preston Luckman[22]; 20. 6-Jake Neal[24]; 21. 86-Kyle Beard[14]; 22. 2S-Stormy Scott[21]; 23. 19-Dustin Sorensen[19]; 24. 56-Tony Jackson Jr[23]; 25. 18-Chase Junghans[12]

Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 19-Dustin Sorensen[1]; 2. 97-Cade Dillard[7]; 3. 8-Kyle Strickler[11]; 4. 58X-Gary Christian[8]; 5. 51T-Joseph Thomas[6]; 6. 75-Terry Phillips[2]; 7. 65-Tyler Davis[18]; 8. 5-Reece Solander[10]; 9. 88-Nathan Smith[4]; 10. 20-Rodney Sanders[20]; 11. J17-Jake Gallardo[17]; 12. 127-Paden Phillips[19]; 13. 20Q-Cole Queensland[15]; 14. 3J-Josh Cain[22]; 15. 44-Christy Barnett[23]; 16. J7-Jake Boles[13]; 17. 2SS-Mark Smith[9]; 18. 18JR-Ricardo Olague Jr[12]; 19. 16B-Kaylin Lopez[21]; 20. 0-Jake O'Neil[14]; 21. 54-Carlos Ahumada Sr[3]; 22. G17-Fito Gallardo[5]; 23. 420-Kevin Adams[24]; 24. 77-CJ Hulsey[16]

X-Mods:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. M17-Rob Moseley[1]; 2. 44-Christy Barnett[6]; 3. 3J-Josh Cain[18]; 4. 7S-Hunter Sandy[7]; 5. 1S-Scott Bintz[8]; 6. 71-Nate Reinke[3]; 7. 02-Deuce Teague[10]; 8. 81-Devon Jobin[9]; 9. 23H-Hector Barraza[21]; 10. 40D-Blake Adams[17]; 11. 07-Donavon Flores[2]; 12. G3-Brian Craighead[24]; 13. 25K-Kale Murphrey[14]; 14. 510-Cody King[20]; 15. 93-Greg Gorham[5]; 16. 22-Keenan Glasser[16]; 17. 4-Chris Hooper[13]; 18. M77-Cameron Martin[11]; 19. 12M-Mike Rosales[22]; 20. 25C-Cory Polen[23]; 21. 23B-Israel Ortega[4]; 22. 57-Duke Erickson[15]; 23. 23T-Coty Tupper[12]; 24. 7-Shayne Bailey[19]