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A top five for Ebert in the Mods tops night two news at Vado; Rodin third in X Mods

By Meghan Diemel, Editor
All The Dirt! Racing News

VADO, NM (January 7) - As the winds picked up in great force Sunday night at Vado Speedway Park for the second night of the Wild West Shootout, Cade Dillard and JC Morton left their foes in the dust in the Mods and X Mods.

The X Mods took to the New Mexico oval, led to the green flag by Nick Rivera and John Carney. Rivera led lap one, as Carney, Christy Barnett, JC Morton, and Jacob Hodges completed the early top five. With two laps scored Carney limped off the track to bring out the caution.

With two laps scored, Saturday night’s winner, Rivera, led the field back to green. Morton had a great run along the top side down the backstretch, drawing to the bumper of Rivera to complete the lap, and getting by the next go-round to take over out front. Rivera was a very close second, Tanner Kade was third, Barnett was fourth and Hodges was fifth. Lucas Rodin, a previous winner of this event and North Dakota native, was sixth. Nate Reinke, also of North Dakota, was back in 13th.

A caution for Hector Barraza with six laps down brought the field back together.

Morton led the restart, and it was three wide for second among Kade, Rivera and Barnett, as 14th-starter Rodin moved into fifth.

Four laps later Rodin had moved into third and set chase after Rivera in second, while Morton continued in the lead.

With 11 laps to go Morton had a substantial lead, with Rivera second. Rodin came under fire from Christy Barnett once again for third. Kade was fifth, while Reece Solander, Josh Cain, and Jessie Haynie were three wide for sixth. Reinke had advanced to 11th.

Cain got by Kade to fifth to with six to go, and one lap later Morton began to catch lapped traffic out front. A caution then fell with four to go for Jonathan Ortega.

Morton drove off into the lead following the restart, as Rodin tried to work around Rivera for second. Barnett was fourth, and Cain held fifth. Farther back Reinke moved into the top 10.

Another caution brought the field to a halt just before the white flag for a Rob Mosely slowdown. Yet another caution on the restart held the field at a standstill.

Morton led what was the final restart, with heavy pressure down low from Rivera. But Morton was able to hold off the last-ditch effort of Rivera for victory. Rodin, Barnett and 18th-starter Cain completed the top five, while Kade, Haynie, Solander, Reinke and Barraza completed the top 10.

In the Modifieds, the field was led to the green by Gary Christian and Cade Dillard, with Chad Wheeler, former mini series champion Dereck Ramirez, and Tyler Davis behind in the top five.

Dillard raced into the lead, as Ramirez and Christian began a several-lap battle for second. Rodney Sanders got by Davis two laps later, and displaced Wheeler for fourth that same lap.

A few laps later, Christian pulled away with second, as Sanders got by Ramirez to third with eight laps complete.

Sanders raced to the inside of Christian one lap later, as out front Dillard began to lap the back of the field. Sanders took sole position of second with 14 laps to go, while Christian came under fire from Ramirez for third. Lake Shore, Minnesota’s Dan Ebert, who started 12th, cracked the top five, and Elk Mound, Wisconsin’s AJ Diemel made his first appearance inside the top 10 in 10th.

Sanders began to reel in Dillard with eight to go, cutting his five-second advantage to two seconds, as both moved their way through heavy lapped traffic. Behind them, Christian was feeling the heat from Ramirez and Ebert for third. They were three wide for position coming to the start/finish line with three to go; Ramirez was along the bottom, Christian held the middle and Ebert was up top. Christian pulled out ahead for third, while Ebert and Ramirez were left to settle it on their own.

With the checkered in the air, Dillard drove off to the win ahead of Sanders, Christian, Ramirez, and Ebert in the top five.

SUMMARY

Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 97-Cade Dillard[2]; 2. 20-Rodney Sanders[8]; 3. 58X-Gary Christian[1]; 4. 4R-Dereck Ramirez[4]; 5. 60-Dan Ebert[12]; 6. 65-Tyler Davis[5]; 7. 32-DJ Shannon[9]; 8. 88-Chad Wheeler[3]; 9. 02-Tanner Mullens[13]; 10. 89-AJ Diemel[10]; 11. 4W-Tyler Wolff[18]; 12. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[11]; 13. T75-Terry Phillips[19]; 14. 189-Steven Whiteaker Jr[16]; 15. 2SS-Mark Smith[7]; 16. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[17]; 17. 71-Philip Houston[15]; 18. 7G-Gabe Hodges[20]; 19. 1ST-Johnny Scott[23]; 20. 45-Chase Holland[24]; 21. 69-Lucas Schott[21]; 22. 27X-Calvin Iverson[22]; 23. 64-Casey Fowler[14]; 24. G17-Fito Gallardo[6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. G17-Fito Gallardo[2]; 2. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[1]; 3. 32-DJ Shannon[6]; 4. 24X-Xavier Ortega[3]; 5. 4W-Tyler Wolff[9]; 6. 14BT-Blake Thornell[8]; 7. 1ST-Johnny Scott[7]; 8. 88S-Nathan Smith[5]; 9. 37S-Spencer Rolenc[4]; 10. (DNS) 44-Christy Barnett

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[1]; 2. 20-Rodney Sanders[4]; 3. 58X-Gary Christian[9]; 4. 111-Logan Drake[2]; 5. 96-Taton Hansen[5]; 6. 7G-Gabe Hodges[10]; 7. 75-Alan Sharpensteen[3]; 8. 16JR-Dustin Henigan[8]; 9. 07T-Randy Thornell[6]; 10. 12-Paul Miles[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2SS-Mark Smith[2]; 2. 65-Tyler Davis[5]; 3. 97-Cade Dillard[9]; 4. 131-Royal Jones[1]; 5. 57-Duke Erickson[6]; 6. 18JR-Ricardo Olague Jr[8]; 7. J17-Jake Gallardo[10]; 8. 71T-Billy Wilker[4]; 9. 3J-Lewis Jackson[7]; 10. 28S-Ronnie Leathem Jr[3]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 60-Dan Ebert[1]; 2. 37-John Neal Reid[2]; 3. 89-AJ Diemel[6]; 4. 64-Casey Fowler[8]; 5. 9R-Jimmy Ray[4]; 6. 34-Noah Daspit[3]; 7. 69-Lucas Schott[9]; 8. D25-David Tanner[7]; 9. 75J-Jeremy LaCoe[5]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Chad Wheeler[4]; 2. 4R-Dereck Ramirez[6]; 3. 33-Jaren Martin[3]; 4. 24-Rick Ortega[1]; 5. 28-Tom Georges[8]; 6. 15W-Wyatt Gaggero[7]; 7. 17-Peyton Gallardo[2]; 8. 16-Chris Henigan[9]; 9. 11N-Gene Nicholas[5]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 02-Tanner Mullens[1]; 2. 71-Philip Houston[3]; 3. 189-Steven Whiteaker Jr[5]; 4. 45-Chase Holland[2]; 5. 27X-Calvin Iverson[6]; 6. T75-Terry Phillips[9]; 7. 5-Jon Mitchell[7]; 8. 77-CJ Hulsey[8]; 9. J7-Jake Boles[4]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[2]; 2. T75-Terry Phillips[4]; 3. 69-Lucas Schott[11]; 4. 1ST-Johnny Scott[12]; 5. J17-Jake Gallardo[9]; 6. 33-Jaren Martin[3]; 7. 16-Chris Henigan[13]; 8. 111-Logan Drake[6]; 9. 57-Duke Erickson[5]; 10. 44-Christy Barnett[21]; 11. 17-Peyton Gallardo[15]; 12. 88S-Nathan Smith[16]; 13. 16JR-Dustin Henigan[14]; 14. 75J-Jeremy LaCoe[18]; 15. 3J-Lewis Jackson[17]; 16. 12-Paul Miles[20]; 17. 131-Royal Jones[8]; 18. 37S-Spencer Rolenc[19]; 19. 9R-Jimmy Ray[10]; 20. 37-John Neal Reid[1]; 21. 14BT-Blake Thornell[7]

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 4W-Tyler Wolff[1]; 2. 7G-Gabe Hodges[3]; 3. 27X-Calvin Iverson[5]; 4. 45-Chase Holland[6]; 5. 15W-Wyatt Gaggero[10]; 6. 18JR-Ricardo Olague Jr[7]; 7. 24-Rick Ortega[8]; 8. 75-Alan Sharpensteen[13]; 9. D25-David Tanner[15]; 10. 07T-Randy Thornell[17]; 11. J7-Jake Boles[19]; 12. 28-Tom Georges[2]; 13. 11N-Gene Nicholas[18]; 14. 71T-Billy Wilker[16]; 15. 24X-Xavier Ortega[4]; 16. 28S-Ronnie Leathem Jr[20]; 17. 96-Taton Hansen[9]; 18. 77-CJ Hulsey[14]; 19. 5-Jon Mitchell[12]; 20. 34-Noah Daspit[11]

X Mods:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 18-JC Morton[8]; 2. A0S-Nick Rivera[1]; 3. 19-Lucas Rodin[14]; 4. 44-Christy Barnett[4]; 5. 3J-Josh Cain[18]; 6. 21X-Tanner Kade[12]; 7. X15-Jesse Haynie[7]; 8. 5-Reece Solander[16]; 9. 71-Nate Reinke[9]; 10. 23H-Hector Barraza[17]; 11. J2-Kris Jackson[21]; 12. 15A-Mike Anderson[13]; 13. 198-Jake Haddox[15]; 14. 44JT-Jaime Torres[19]; 15. 81-Devon Jobin[22]; 16. 21K-Brian Kleine[23]; 17. 24X-Jonathon Ortega[20]; 18. 21A-Andrew Hodges[24]; 19. 88-Andrew Fanning[3]; 20. M17-Rob Moseley[5]; 21. 14J-Jacob Hodges[6]; 22. 93-Greg Gorham[11]; 23. 12-Mike Rosales[10]; 24. 7C-John Carney[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. X15-Jesse Haynie[1]; 2. 15A-Mike Anderson[2]; 3. J2-Kris Jackson[3]; 4. 5-Reece Solander[6]; 5. 24X-Jonathon Ortega[4]; 6. 81-Devon Jobin[8]; 7. 25K-Kale Murphrey[5]; 8. 40-Ruben Ortega[7]; 9. (DNS) 5M-Eric McNutt

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 18-JC Morton[1]; 2. 88-Andrew Fanning[4]; 3. 44-Christy Barnett[6]; 4. 93-Greg Gorham[7]; 5. 21K-Brian Kleine[2]; 6. 3J-Josh Cain[10]; 7. M77-Cameron Martin[5]; 8. 25-Clayton Schroer[9]; 9. 05N-Jimmy Nicholas[3]; 10. 02-Deuce Teague[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Nate Reinke[1]; 2. 7C-John Carney[5]; 3. M17-Rob Moseley[6]; 4. 21X-Tanner Kade[7]; 5. 12-Mike Rosales[10]; 6. 21A-Andrew Hodges[8]; 7. 44JT-Jaime Torres[9]; 8. 96V-Victor Barraza[4]; 9. 96-Dusty Riggs[3]; 10. X0-Tyler Tallmon[2]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. A0S-Nick Rivera[8]; 2. 198-Jake Haddox[1]; 3. 14J-Jacob Hodges[6]; 4. 23H-Hector Barraza[5]; 5. 19-Lucas Rodin[9]; 6. 24-Shane McNutt[2]; 7. 07-Donavon Flores[3]; 8. 23B-Israel Ortega[7]; 9. 94-Justin Garrett[4]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 23H-Hector Barraza[2]; 2. 44JT-Jaime Torres[4]; 3. J2-Kris Jackson[1]; 4. 07-Donavon Flores[7]; 5. 21A-Andrew Hodges[3]; 6. 24-Shane McNutt[5]; 7. 23B-Israel Ortega[8]; 8. 96-Dusty Riggs[10]; 9. 94-Justin Garrett[9]; 10. X0-Tyler Tallmon[11]; 11. 25K-Kale Murphrey[6]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 3J-Josh Cain[1]; 2. 24X-Jonathon Ortega[3]; 3. 81-Devon Jobin[2]; 4. 21K-Brian Kleine[4]; 5. 02-Deuce Teague[10]; 6. M77-Cameron Martin[6]; 7. 25-Clayton Schroer[5]; 8. 40-Ruben Ortega[7]; 9. 96V-Victor Barraza[8]; 10. 05N-Jimmy Nicholas[9]; 11. (DNS) 5M-Eric McNutt