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Sheppard, Campbell, and Mullens Visit WWS Victory Lane in Round #2

Sheppard, Campbell, and Mullens Visit Hoker Trucking Victory Lane in Wild West Shootout Round #2
Practice Set for Tuesday; Racing Action Resumes Wednesday

VADO, N.M. (01/09/22) — In trying to avoid a slowing driver with a flat tire on the fifth lap, Brandon Sheppard nearly wrecked twice, his hopes for the Penske Racing Shocks $300,000 Paydirt Jackpot looking dim.

Twenty minutes later, the 28-year-old New Berlin, Ill., driver was standing in Hoker Trucking Victory Lane at Vado Speedway Park after a dramatic rally to outduel home-state hero Garrett Alberson and Texan Tyler Erb in the second round of the Wild West Shootout presented by O'Reilly Auto Parts.

"We didn't come here to run second," the 10th-starting Sheppard said after adding another $5,000 miniseries payday to go along with Saturday's victory.

The four-time World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series champion is in position for a $300,000 bonus if he can sweep the final four Dirt Track Bank Super Late Model events presented by Black Diamond Race Cars beginning Wednesday at the 3/8-mile oval, with hefty consolation prizes of $100,000 (for five victories) or $25,000 (for four victories) also in play in the bonus program.

If Sheppard collects bonus money, Sunday's victory might rank as the most unlikely as he was the fourth leader in a race where Alberson (laps 1-5, 12-38), Erb (laps 6-7) and Mike Marlar (laps 8-11) were official leaders in a 40-lap thriller with a dozen or more unofficial lead changes.

"Honestly I don't even remember half of it. It was definitely crazy," Sheppard said after his last-corner crossover move repelled Erb's last-ditch slide job. "It reminded me a lot of Fairbury (Speedway in Illinois) when it's really good and there's a lot of sliders going on. That was a heckuva fun race. Me and Terbo and Mikey and Alberson there. It was a good, hard, clean racing, and you can't ask for much more than that. I know we put on a good show for the fans tonight."

Sheppard's sixth career Wild West Shootout victory came by 0.189 of a second ahead of Erb, the New Waverly, Texas, driver who dove under the leader in turn three on the final lap to briefly edge ahead. The pole-starting Alberson, the Las Cruces, N.M., driver for Iowa-based Roberts Motorsports seeking his first miniseries victory, settled for third with Winfield, Tenn.'s Marlar and Jake Timm of Winona, Minn., rounding out the top five.

Alberson was in control with a two-second lead with 11 laps remaining, but he continually struggled on the high side in turns three and four as Sheppard closed in, pulling alongside exiting turn two with four laps remaining. Alberson edged back ahead, but when he bobbled and was forced to drop low exiting turn four on lap 38, it allowed Sheppard to go by and nip Alberson at the line at the white flag.

On the final lap, Erb grabbed second from Alberson and took his best shot at Sheppard in the final corners, but it wasn't enough.

"As long as (Sheppard) entered on the top there, he was probably going to be able to cross me back. I definitely had to give it hell," Erb said. "We're going to make Shepp work for it. We can't just give him the money. I think tonight he should split it with me for putting on a show."

Sheppard, who started outside the fifth row, would like to win without so much drama.

"We've gotta do better qualifying," said Sheppard, who has been in the top five in WWS competition for each of his last 16 starts. "We got behind qualifying there and started third in the heat race and that put me behind and made me have to work a lot harder than I wanted to, that's for sure. I'm sure that's fun for the fans, but that's definitely harder on my equipment than I want to be."

Alberson promised his fans that "we'll get one for you guys," but it was a disappointing defeat.

"I'm not going to lie. I'm really bummed out. I've tried so hard to win one of these things and man it hurts to see it taken away at the end like that," he said. "Good job to Brandon and Tyler. We had a good race right there. I just got so tight I just couldn't (hang on) anymore. That just bums me out really bad."

Six cautions slowed the action, none for serious incidents.

A caution flew for a tangle between Jeff Schildmeyer and Clayton Holland on the backstretch before the field could take the green. Holland retired. Schildmeyer drew the race's second on the second lap when he spun in turn four.

The third yellow dropped on the fifth lap when Ricky Weiss, who ran in the top-five early, slowed with a left-rear flat tire and nearly left Sheppard nowhere to go.

A fourth-running Rusty Schlenk drew the fourth caution when he slowed on the ninth lap with engine failure (just after Mason Oberkramer pulled to the infield with a wadded up left-front tire).

The fifth caution appeared just before halfway when Cade Dillard, who started outside the front row, slowed while running fifth with issues to the right front.

The sixth and final yellow flag dropped on lap 23 for a turn-three incident involving Terry Phillips, Jason Papich and Johnny Scott, who retired with damage.

In the night’s second feature, Cole Campbell survived a late-race tangle to bag the RHRSwag.com X-Mod division presented by Barnett Harley-Davidson victory. Campbell led the first two circuits of the 25 lapper before Saturday night’s winner Kris Jackson took control on the third circuit.

Jackson’s stay at the front would be short lived as mechanical issues sidelined him on the fifth lap as Campbell jumped back to the top spot.

Campbell maintained the top spot until lap 21, when Andy Bryant raced past. Entering turn one on lap 22, Campbell made a bid to retake the lead, which saw him make contact in turn 2 with Bryant. The ensuing contact ended Bryant’s night, while Campbell inherited the lead and went on to survive a last-lap challenge from Aasa Flores to take the win. Thirteenth-starting Jake Smith finished third with Josh Cain and Greg Gorham rounding out the Top 5 finishers.

The night drew to a close with Tanner Mullens rallying sixteen positions to take the $2,000 victory in the Mesilla Valley Transportation / Border Tire competition presented by Rancho Milagro. Third-starting Tyler Wolff led the first circuit before Fito Gallardo took control and paced the next 12 laps.

Unfortunately for the Las Cruces native he jumped the cushion on the 14^th circuit, which allowed Mullens to take over the top spot. Once out front Mullens raced to his first victory of the week. He was followed across the finish line by Tyler Wolff, Bo Day, and Fito Gallardo.

On Tuesday evening an Open Practice Session will be held from 5-9 pm. Any Super Late Model, Modified, or X-Mod, who would like to practice can do so for $200. No pit passes or grandstand passes will be sold.

Racing action continues on Wednesday afternoon with the pit gate opening at 2 p.m. MST, and grandstand gates opening at 4:00 p.m. The driver’s meeting for the second round of the mega miniseries is at 3:30 p.m. with on-track action beginning at 4:30 p.m.

Super Late Models ($5,000 to win), Modifieds ($1,000 to win), and X-Mods ($500 to win) will contest complete programs.

For more information on the event, please visit www.WildWestShootout.net .

Wild West Shootout presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts
FK Rod Ends Vado Speedway Park
Jan. 9, 2022

Dirt Track Bank Super Late Models presented by Black Diamond Race Cars
A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[10]; 2. 1-Tyler Erb[5]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar[3]; 5. 49-Jake Timm[11]; 6. 86-Kyle Beard[15]; 7. 7-Ricky Weiss[4]; 8. 32-Bobby Pierce[18]; 9. 42S-Don Shaw[8]; 10. 29-Austin Kirkpatrick[17]; 11. 15-Donny Schatz[6]; 12. 75-Terry Phillips[13]; 13. 38-Thomas Hunziker[19]; 14. 14W-Dustin Walker[21]; 15. 01-Devan Smith[24]; 16. 503-Jason Miles[20]; 17. 91P-Jason Papich[14]; 18. 1ST-Johnny Scott[16]; 19. 97-Cade Dillard[2]; 20. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[12]; 21. 1CJ-Rusty Schlenk[7]; 22. 93-Mason Oberkramer[9]; 23. 02-Kent Rosevear[22]; 24. 19-Jeff Schildmeyer[23]; 25. 71-Clayton Holland[25]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 29-Austin Kirkpatrick[1]; 2. 38-Thomas Hunziker[2]; 3. 14W-Dustin Walker[3]; 4. 19-Jeff Schildmeyer[5]; 5. 78S-Steve Stultz[4]; 6. 2S-Stormy Scott[7]; 7. 6T-Terry Carter[8]; 8. 3-Javier Zapien Jr[6]; 9. 77-Dustin Knight[9]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. 503-Jason Miles[2]; 3. 02-Kent Rosevear[4]; 4. 01-Devan Smith[5]; 5. 71-Clayton Holland[9]; 6. 42-John David Duffie[8]; 7. 18-Deven Brown[6]; 8. 20-Rodney Sanders[3]; 9. 16-Matthew Ratzlaff[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 2. 1-Tyler Erb[2]; 3. 93-Mason Oberkramer[3]; 4. 75-Terry Phillips[4]; 5. 29-Austin Kirkpatrick[7]; 6. 14W-Dustin Walker[6]; 7. 19-Jeff Schildmeyer[8]; 8. 2S-Stormy Scott[5]; 9. 77-Dustin Knight[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Ricky Weiss[1]; 2. 1CJ-Rusty Schlenk[2]; 3. 49-Jake Timm[3]; 4. 86-Kyle Beard[6]; 5. 38-Thomas Hunziker[4]; 6. 78S-Steve Stultz[7]; 7. 3-Javier Zapien Jr[8]; 8. 6T-Terry Carter[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Cade Dillard[1]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[2]; 3. B5-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 4. 91P-Jason Papich[4]; 5. 32-Bobby Pierce[5]; 6. 20-Rodney Sanders[6]; 7. 01-Devan Smith[7]; 8. 16-Matthew Ratzlaff[9]; 9. 71-Clayton Holland[8]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 2. 42S-Don Shaw[2]; 3. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 4. 1ST-Johnny Scott[4]; 5. 503-Jason Miles[6]; 6. 02-Kent Rosevear[5]; 7. 18-Deven Brown[7]; 8. 42-John David Duffie[8]

Qualifying 1: 1. 58-Garrett Alberson, 00:14.214[6]; 2. 7-Ricky Weiss, 00:14.252[15]; 3. 1-Tyler Erb, 00:14.307[9]; 4. 1CJ-Rusty Schlenk, 00:14.447[12]; 5. 93-Mason Oberkramer, 00:14.459[8]; 6. 49-Jake Timm, 00:14.525[14]; 7. 75-Terry Phillips, 00:14.629[11]; 8. 38-Thomas Hunziker, 00:14.769[16]; 9. 2S-Stormy Scott, 00:14.819[10]; 10. 6T-Terry Carter, 00:14.942[1]; 11. 14W-Dustin Walker, 00:14.959[2]; 12. 86-Kyle Beard, 00:14.982[7]; 13. 29-Austin Kirkpatrick, 00:15.016[5]; 14. 78S-Steve Stultz, 00:15.194[17]; 15. 19-Jeff Schildmeyer, 00:15.888[3]; 16. 3-Javier Zapien Jr, 00:16.051[13]; 17. 77-Dustin Knight, 00:16.629[4]

Qualifying 2: 1. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:14.231[1]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:14.372[17]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz, 00:14.400[12]; 4. 42S-Don Shaw, 00:14.476[15]; 5. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:14.493[11]; 6. 46-Earl Pearson Jr, 00:14.506[4]; 7. 91P-Jason Papich, 00:14.520[14]; 8. 1ST-Johnny Scott, 00:14.526[9]; 9. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:14.722[6]; 10. 02-Kent Rosevear, 00:14.818[7]; 11. 20-Rodney Sanders, 00:14.834[10]; 12. 503-Jason Miles, 00:15.183[5]; 13. 01-Devan Smith, 00:15.426[13]; 14. 18-Deven Brown, 00:16.018[16]; 15. 71-Clayton Holland, 00:16.077[8]; 16. 42-John David Duffie, 00:16.242[2]; 17. 16-Matthew Ratzlaff, 00:17.217[3]

Pro Power Dash (10 Laps): 1. 71-Clayton Holland[1]

Mesilla Valley Transportation / Border Tire Modifieds presented by Rancho Milagro
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 02-Tanner Mullens[17]; 2. 4R-Dereck Ramirez[20]; 3. 4W-Tyler Wolff[3]; 4. 4-Bo Day[10]; 5. G17-Fito Gallardo[1]; 6. 20-Rodney Sanders[23]; 7. 4RX-Jared Russell[11]; 8. 10BG-Brandon Givens[8]; 9. 87M-Patrick Daniels[6]; 10. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[7]; 11. 21-Jacob Bleess[19]; 12. 2SS-Mark Smith[21]; 13. 71-Philip Houston[15]; 14. 28-Cory Davis[18]; 15. 22J-Jonathon Ortega[9]; 16. 88-Nathan Smith[5]; 17. 18R-Ricardo Olague Jr[16]; 18. 65-Tyler Davis[12]; 19. 111-Bumper Jones[2]; 20. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[4]; 21. 32-DJ Shannon[13]; 22. 99-Terry Tipton[14]; 23. 26G-Ryan Gierke[22]; 24. 60-Dan Ebert[24]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 02-Tanner Mullens[5]; 2. 21-Jacob Bleess[4]; 3. 2SS-Mark Smith[8]; 4. 20-Rodney Sanders[11]; 5. 131-Royal Jones[2]; 6. 25-Adam Bohlman[6]; 7. 88C-Matt Crafton[3]; 8. 8-Dillon McCowan[18]; 9. 18JR-Chase Sigg[7]; 10. 21K-Brian Kleine[12]; 11. 127-Paden Phillips[10]; 12. 64-Casey Fowler[9]; 13. 44-Christy Barnett[15]; 14. 28X-Tom Georges[17]; 15. 08-Glen Maga[16]; 16. J17-Jake Gallardo[1]; 17. J16-Josh Gallardo[13]; 18. M17-Rick Gallardo[14]; 19. 97-Brooks Strength[19]

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 28-Cory Davis[1]; 2. 4R-Dereck Ramirez[4]; 3. 26G-Ryan Gierke[9]; 4. 60-Dan Ebert[5]; 5. 10-Dustin Robinson[2]; 6. 24X-Xavier Ortega[3]; 7. 57-Duke Erickson[12]; 8. 22-Alan Bohlman[11]; 9. D25-David Tanner[10]; 10. 32G-Tag Georges[7]; 11. 28S-Ronnie Leathem Jr[8]; 12. 1M-Curt Myers[6]; 13. 3B-Nic Bidinger[14]; 14. 16B-Randy Brown[16]; 15. 26-Cory Hemphill[15]; 16. 51-Dallas Caldwell[13]; 17. 7M-Daniel Miller[17]; 18. J7-Jake Boles[18]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Nathan Smith[2]; 2. G17-Fito Gallardo[8]; 3. 28-Cory Davis[1]; 4. 10-Dustin Robinson[4]; 5. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[12]; 6. 4R-Dereck Ramirez[7]; 7. 02-Tanner Mullens[9]; 8. 64-Casey Fowler[6]; 9. 20-Rodney Sanders[5]; 10. 127-Paden Phillips[11]; 11. J16-Josh Gallardo[13]; 12. 44-Christy Barnett[10]; 13. 28X-Tom Georges[3]; 14. (DNS) 7M-Daniel Miller

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 87M-Patrick Daniels[2]; 2. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[4]; 3. 10BG-Brandon Givens[6]; 4. 111-Bumper Jones[11]; 5. 18R-Ricardo Olague Jr[8]; 6. 25-Adam Bohlman[1]; 7. 60-Dan Ebert[9]; 8. 28S-Ronnie Leathem Jr[7]; 9. 21K-Brian Kleine[3]; 10. 22-Alan Bohlman[10]; 11. (DNS) 8-Dillon McCowan; 12. (DNS) J7-Jake Boles; 13. (DQ) 97-Brooks Strength[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Bo Day[1]; 2. 99-Terry Tipton[2]; 3. 22J-Jonathon Ortega[6]; 4. 4RX-Jared Russell[8]; 5. 21-Jacob Bleess[5]; 6. 131-Royal Jones[9]; 7. 18JR-Chase Sigg[4]; 8. 26G-Ryan Gierke[3]; 9. D25-David Tanner[7]; 10. 32G-Tag Georges[13]; 11. 51-Dallas Caldwell[11]; 12. 3B-Nic Bidinger[12]; 13. 08-Glen Maga[10]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 4W-Tyler Wolff[3]; 2. 71-Philip Houston[1]; 3. 65-Tyler Davis[5]; 4. 88C-Matt Crafton[4]; 5. J17-Jake Gallardo[8]; 6. 32-DJ Shannon[12]; 7. 2SS-Mark Smith[2]; 8. 24X-Xavier Ortega[13]; 9. 1M-Curt Myers[11]; 10. 57-Duke Erickson[6]; 11. M17-Rick Gallardo[7]; 12. 26-Cory Hemphill[10]; 13. 16B-Randy Brown[9]

RHRSwag.com X-Mods presented by Barnett Harley-Davidson
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 22C-Cole Campbell[1]; 2. 05-Aasa Flores[2]; 3. 21-Jake Smith[16]; 4. 3J-Josh Cain[8]; 5. 93-Greg Gorham[5]; 6. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[17]; 7. 07-Donavon Flores[12]; 8. 71-Nate Reinke[20]; 9. 65-Dustin Smith[4]; 10. 47-Mingo Jauregui[21]; 11. 7G-Gabriel Hodges[9]; 12. 13B-Jess Brekke[23]; 13. 12-Justin Allen[18]; 14. 44-Christy Barnett[10]; 15. 4-Jackson Mulder[24]; 16. 1P-Parker Anderson[19]; 17. 3S-Sal Gomez[22]; 18. 4C-Chris Hooper[15]; 19. 23-Justin Rexwinkle[14]; 20. 28-Andy Bryant[3]; 21. M17-Rob Moseley[7]; 22. 5-Reece Solander[13]; 23. G3-Fito Gallardo[11]; 24. J2-Kris Jackson[6]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[3]; 2. 1P-Parker Anderson[1]; 3. 47-Mingo Jauregui[2]; 4. 13B-Jess Brekke[4]; 5. 23B-Israel Ortega[6]; 6. 15C-Chris Edmonds[13]; 7. 1S-Scott Bintz[5]; 8. 36-Joe Alvarado[9]; 9. 14A-Andrew Hodges[10]; 10. X44-Mark Maga[8]; 11. 66-Sam Alanzo[7]; 12. 23H-Hector Barraza[12]; 13. 241-David Jay Jr[11]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 12-Justin Allen[1]; 2. 71-Nate Reinke[3]; 3. 3S-Sal Gomez[2]; 4. 4-Jackson Mulder[9]; 5. 1C-Chris Deaton[7]; 6. 25-Kenny McDonald Jr[4]; 7. JH45-Jay Hill[10]; 8. 21S-Damon Sanchez[8]; 9. 14G-Justin Garrett[11]; 10. 14J-Jacob Hodges[5]; 11. 96V-Victor Barraza[6]; 12. 96-Dusty Riggs[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 22C-Cole Campbell[8]; 2. 3J-Josh Cain[4]; 3. 7G-Gabriel Hodges[5]; 4. 5-Reece Solander[6]; 5. 65-Dustin Smith[12]; 6. 23-Justin Rexwinkle[10]; 7. 3S-Sal Gomez[9]; 8. 4C-Chris Hooper[14]; 9. X44-Mark Maga[1]; 10. 21S-Damon Sanchez[3]; 11. 96V-Victor Barraza[13]; 12. 14A-Andrew Hodges[7]; 13. 15C-Chris Edmonds[2]; 14. 14G-Justin Garrett[11]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. J2-Kris Jackson[2]; 2. G3-Fito Gallardo[1]; 3. 07-Donavon Flores[4]; 4. 05-Aasa Flores[11]; 5. 47-Mingo Jauregui[3]; 6. 12-Justin Allen[7]; 7. 21-Jake Smith[10]; 8. 1S-Scott Bintz[9]; 9. 66-Sam Alanzo[6]; 10. 14J-Jacob Hodges[12]; 11. 4-Jackson Mulder[5]; 12. 36-Joe Alvarado[13]; 13. 241-David Jay Jr[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Andy Bryant[3]; 2. 44-Christy Barnett[2]; 3. 93-Greg Gorham[7]; 4. M17-Rob Moseley[9]; 5. 1P-Parker Anderson[5]; 6. 25-Kenny McDonald Jr[1]; 7. 71-Nate Reinke[8]; 8. 13B-Jess Brekke[10]; 9. 5BA-Aaron Blacklance[13]; 10. 23B-Israel Ortega[11]; 11. 1C-Chris Deaton[12]; 12. JH45-Jay Hill[6]; 13. 23H-Hector Barraza[4]

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