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Dustin Strand (Nick Anderson Photo)

Dustin Strand cracks the top three in Modified main during Wild West Shootout

By Meghan Diemel, Editor
All The Dirt! Racing News

CASA GRANDE, AZ (January 17) – Three new faces made their way to victory lane Saturday night, January 17 at Central Arizona Raceway, as Garrett Alberson scored the Super Late Model victory, Jeremy Payne topped the Modifieds, and fan-favorite former NASCAR wheelman Ken Schrader took home the victory in the Limited Modifieds.

Garrett Alberson was the early leader of the Super Late Model feature, with Jonathan Davenport setting chase from second, Hudson O’Neal third, Bobby Pierce fourth and Jake O’Neil fifth in the early top five. Pierce worked his way by O’Neal, as Ethan Dotson supplanted O’Neil for fifth.

Alberson began to work his way through backmarkers about nine laps in, allowing Davenport to narrow the gap to the top spot. Alberson was using the top side to get through lapped traffic, and this allowed him to stretch his lead back out a bit as Davenport had to do the same. Pierce was third, with O’Neal right on his bumper in fourth and Dotson behind in fifth. About two laps later O’Neal drove back into third, but Pierce was still close behind.

At the halfway point of the feature Alberson had about a second lead ahead of Davenport, while O’Neal was pressured to his inside in the turns by Pierce for third. Drake Troutman had cracked the top five, with Dotson slipping back to sixth.

The lead Alberson had grew to more than 2 seconds with heavy lapped traffic ahead, with Davenport just ahead of Pierce and O’Neal in their race-long, side-by-side battle for third. Troutman remained steady in fifth, as Pierce made the pass on O’Neal with 13 laps to go to regain third behind Davenport, racing in tight quarters for those top-five positions. The trio battled through lapped traffic for second through fourth, allowing Alberson to gain a big advantage of 5 seconds in the lead.

Behind Alberson, Davenport continued in second, as O’Neal and Pierce continued to trade sliders for third. O’Neal had the spot with five laps to go, while Davenport had cut into Alberson’s lead by half a second.

Alberson was unstoppable Saturday night, as he drove on to the $15,000 victory ahead of O’Neal, who got by Davenport in the final stages for second. Pierce and Troutman were top-five finishers.

In the Limited Modifieds, Tyler Johnson shot to the lead from the fourth starting spot, jetting out to an immediate advantage as Cole Suckow, Josh Cain, Tyler Potter and Ken Schrader held top-five spots. A wreck ocurred with three laps in the books, involving a rollover and subsequent vicious T-bone of Remington Budd’s race car; he was okay.

Johnson was the leader once more under the green, with Cain and Suckow side by side for second and Potter moving into challenge for third. Christy Barnett was on the move from 14th to fourth, and Scott Bintz appeared in the top five. Behind them, Lucas Rodin and Schrader were working their way forward with nine laps in the books.

Out front Johnson had a 1.2 second lead ahead of Cain with 10 laps down but caught the concrete on the backstretch, bringing him to a halt and the caution was out once more.

Cain led the field back to green, with pressure along the high side from Suckow, who took the lead the next time by. Ken Schrader was also on the move, taking third and then second ahead of a charging Barnett, as Cain dropped back to fourth. Curtis Stieh was fifth.

With 12 laps left on the board, Suckow continued to be chased by Schrader and Barnett. Schrader went to the high side and made the pass for the lead, and turned back a slider from Suckow on the ensuing lap to hold the top spot. Barnett passed Suckow with eight to go for second, as Jake Smith took fourth — up from his 19th starting spot, and Stieh hung in fifth. Smith continued to move forward taking third with six to go, and working past Barnett along the low side one lap later. Lucas Rodin, on the move from 16th at the start, took fifth from Stieh.

Out front Schrader took the checkered flag for the first time ever at the Wild West Shootout. Smith, Barnett, Suckow and Rodin completed the top five.

Other WISSOTA racers finishing the feature included Bintz (7th), Parker Anderson (8th), Duke Erickson (12th), Brandon Rehill (21st), and Jaden Christ (23rd).

In the Modifieds, the original start was marred when the outside pole starter, Mark Smith, did not fire on time and bottlenecked the outside lane of the field. The start was kept green, however, and this allowed Jeremy Payne to escape with a healthy lead right from the get-go. A caution for a Talan Willis spin regrouped the field under yellow.

Back under green Payne took the lead, with Tyler Davis second, Tyler Wolff third, Reece Solander fourth and Dustin Sorensen fifth. Another caution, this time for Mark Smith, regrouped the field and Davis left the track under caution with a flat tire.

With the field back under power, Payne jumped back out to the lead, with Wolff second under pressure from Solander for the spot, and Sorensen making it three wide for the position. Wolff escaped a bit along the high side, with Sorensen along the low side in fourth and Solander challenging from the high side with seven laps complete. Solander made the pass to third, as Wolff began to cut into Payne’s lead.

With 15 laps left on the board, Wolff began to feel the heat from Solander, with Sorensen fourth and former WISSOTA National Champion Dustin Strand in the top five. Wolff and Solander were side by side for second, allowing Payne to slowly work away from the rest of the field in the lead. A yellow three laps later for Troy Morris III regrouped the field under yellow.

Payne drove out to the advantage back under green, with Solander driving by Wolff to second, and Strand pressuring Wolff for third and getting the spot at the flagstand the next time by. Sorensen was fifth, under pressure from 16th-starter Rodney Sanders.

The lead was slightly more than a second for Payne, as Solander was solid in second. Strand was third just ahead of a side-by-side battle between Wolff and Sanders for fourth. A caution with just six laps to go for Troy Gemmill brought the field to a halt under yellow.

Payne’s lead was in question back under green, as Solander applied heavy pressure for the top spot before brushing the wall and having to regroup. Strand slipped by into second, but Solander regained the spot with three laps left to go.

Payne drove onto the victory, ahead of Solander, Strand, Wolff, and Sanders in the top five. Of the WISSOTA racers on hand, multi-time WISSOTA National Champion Tyler Peterson charged from 21st to ninth at the finish, while former WISSOTA National Champ Lucas Rodin was scored 16th.

SUMMARY

Super Late Models:

A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 2. 6-Hudson O'Neal[3]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 4. 32-Bobby Pierce[6]; 5. 22*-Drake Troutman[8]; 6. 19R-Ryan Gustin[10]; 7. 74X-Ethan Dotson[7]; 8. 1-Tyler Erb[9]; 9. 97-Cade Dillard[12]; 10. 19-Dustin Sorensen[13]; 11. 0-Jake O'Neil[5]; 12. 15S-Clay Stuckey[11]; 13. 15D-Justin Duty[15]; 14. 18-Chase Junghans[16]; 15. 96T-RC Whitwell[14]; 16. 66-Eli Ross[17]; 17. 49T-Jake Timm[22]; 18. 86-Kyle Beard[21]; 19. 9T-Tim Isenberg[24]; 20. 8-Dillon McCowan[23]; 21. 13-Bricen James[20]; 22. 75-Terry Phillips[25]; 23. B5-Brandon Sheppard[18]; 24. 82-Eston Whisler[19]; 25. 157-Mike Marlar[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Hudson O'Neal[1]; 2. 0-Jake O'Neil[3]; 3. 1-Tyler Erb[2]; 4. 19-Dustin Sorensen[4]; 5. 66-Eli Ross[6]; 6. 86-Kyle Beard[5]; 7. 75A-Daniel Adam[7]; 8. 48-Brandon Lance[9]; 9. 1X-Amelia Eisenschenk[8]; 10. 6T-Terry Carter[10]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 2. 74X-Ethan Dotson[2]; 3. 15S-Clay Stuckey[3]; 4. 15D-Justin Duty[5]; 5. 82-Eston Whisler[6]; 6. 8-Dillon McCowan[4]; 7. 4TW-Tim Ward[7]; 8. 75-Terry Phillips[8]; 9. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[9]; 10. 78S-Steve Stultz[10]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 4. 96T-RC Whitwell[5]; 5. 49T-Jake Timm[4]; 6. 28-Sam Mars[7]; 7. 13-Bricen James[6]; 8. 88-Chance Mann[9]; 9. 21F-Gunner Frank[8]; 10. 15*-Cole Schill[10]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 22*-Drake Troutman[3]; 3. 97-Cade Dillard[4]; 4. 18-Chase Junghans[2]; 5. B5-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 6. 128-Kylan Garner[6]; 7. 9T-Tim Isenberg[7]; 8. 4P-Richard Papenhausen[8]; 9. 28C-John Cornell[9]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 66-Eli Ross[1]; 2. 82-Eston Whisler[2]; 3. 86-Kyle Beard[3]; 4. 8-Dillon McCowan[4]; 5. 75A-Daniel Adam[5]; 6. 75-Terry Phillips[8]; 7. 4TW-Tim Ward[6]; 8. 1X-Amelia Eisenschenk[9]; 9. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[10]; 10. 6T-Terry Carter[11]; 11. 48-Brandon Lance[7]; 12. 78S-Steve Stultz[12]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 2. 13-Bricen James[5]; 3. 49T-Jake Timm[1]; 4. 9T-Tim Isenberg[6]; 5. 21F-Gunner Frank[9]; 6. 28-Sam Mars[3]; 7. 128-Kylan Garner[4]; 8. 15*-Cole Schill[11]; 9. 88-Chance Mann[7]; 10. 28C-John Cornell[10]; 11. 4P-Richard Papenhausen[8]

Pro Power Dash (8 Laps): 1. 75-Terry Phillips[3]; 2. 75A-Daniel Adam[1]; 3. 4TW-Tim Ward[5]; 4. 28-Sam Mars[4]; 5. 1X-Amelia Eisenschenk[7]; 6. 21F-Gunner Frank[2]; 7. 88-Chance Mann[10]; 8. 15*-Cole Schill[8]; 9. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[9]; 10. 128-Kylan Garner[6]

Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 186-Jeremy Payne[1]; 2. 5-Reece Solander[7]; 3. 71-Dustin Strand[4]; 4. 4W-Tyler Wolff[5]; 5. 20S-Rodney Sanders[16]; 6. 19-Dustin Sorensen[11]; 7. 58X-Gary Christian[10]; 8. J17-Jake Gallardo[18]; 9. 112-Tyler Peterson[21]; 10. 65-Tyler Davis[3]; 11. 19SB-Lance Mari[15]; 12. 07X-Troy Morris III[13]; 13. G17-Fito Gallardo[9]; 14. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[14]; 15. 44N-Jason Noll[24]; 16. 19R-Lucas Rodin[12]; 17. 721-Troy Gemmill[23]; 18. 2SS-Mark Smith[2]; 19. 80XX-Jason Langford[8]; 20. 2K-Taylor Kuehl[22]; 21. 25-Kale Murphrey[17]; 22. 75-Terry Phillips[20]; 23. 29-Chris Spalding[19]; 24. 10M-Talan Willis[6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 80XX-Jason Langford[4]; 2. 20S-Rodney Sanders[3]; 3. 25-Kale Murphrey[5]; 4. 24X-Xavier Ortega[2]; 5. 75-Terry Phillips[7]; 6. 91-Joe Duvall[9]; 7. 85D-Mark Dotson[8]; 8. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[1]; 9. P17-Peyton Gallardo[10]; 10. 96-Taton Hansen[11]; 11. 17-Brent Holman[6]; 12. (DNS) 111-Logan Drake

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 65-Tyler Davis[6]; 2. G17-Fito Gallardo[5]; 3. 19R-Lucas Rodin[7]; 4. 50-Robert Adams[2]; 5. 2K-Taylor Kuehl[9]; 6. 88XXX-Randy Klein[11]; 7. 26S-Steven Glenn[10]; 8. 14X-CJ Thorne[1]; 9. 57-Gage McCaughan[4]; 10. 520T-Lukas Tellez[3]; 11. 38T-Dylan Thornton[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 186-Jeremy Payne[9]; 2. 58X-Gary Christian[5]; 3. 19SB-Lance Mari[6]; 4. 7G-Gabe Hodges[2]; 5. 112-Tyler Peterson[7]; 6. M19-JC Mattingly[1]; 7. 7-AJ Sharpensteen[8]; 8. 58-Devon Reed[3]; 9. 02LZ-Ellsworth Conover[4]; 10. 73S-Mike Szlauko[11]; 11. 413-Tate Johnson[10]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Reece Solander[5]; 2. 2SS-Mark Smith[10]; 3. 07X-Troy Morris III[7]; 4. 721-Troy Gemmill[4]; 5. 131-Royal Jones[3]; 6. 24C-Joe Chisholm[8]; 7. 46-Paul Miles[1]; 8. 97A-Cole Anderson[6]; 9. 22S-Cole Szlauko[11]; 10. 73-Jeff Helget[9]; 11. 3N-Gene Kay[2]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[2]; 2. 4W-Tyler Wolff[8]; 3. 10M-Talan Willis[10]; 4. 44N-Jason Noll[3]; 5. 12-Jay Rosales[1]; 6. 151-Lucas Gibbs[6]; 7. 44-Christy Barnett[4]; 8. 11N-Gene Nicholas[7]; 9. 97TB-Tyson Blood[11]; 10. L8-Ethan Stevens[9]; 11. 81-Devon Jobin[5]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand[6]; 2. 19-Dustin Sorensen[5]; 3. 29-Chris Spalding[1]; 4. J17-Jake Gallardo[7]; 5. 24-Rick Ortega[8]; 6. 12S-Hunter Sandy[11]; 7. J7-Jake Boles[9]; 8. 20-Cole Queensland[10]; 9. 6F-Matt Fester[3]; 10. 51-Dallas Caldwell[2]; 11. 0-Peyton George[4]

B Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 29-Chris Spalding[2]; 2. 2K-Taylor Kuehl[1]; 3. 91-Joe Duvall[3]; 4. 24C-Joe Chisholm[5]; 5. 44-Christy Barnett[9]; 6. 96-Taton Hansen[12]; 7. J7-Jake Boles[6]; 8. 73-Jeff Helget[13]; 9. 46-Paul Miles[10]; 10. 58-Devon Reed[11]; 11. 20-Cole Queensland[8]; 12. 73S-Mike Szlauko[17]; 13. 12S-Hunter Sandy[7]; 14. 24X-Xavier Ortega[4]; 15. 0-Peyton George[16]; 16. 413-Tate Johnson[14]; 17. 51-Dallas Caldwell[15]

B Feature 2 (8 Laps): 1. 75-Terry Phillips[2]; 2. 721-Troy Gemmill[3]; 3. 88XXX-Randy Klein[1]; 4. 97A-Cole Anderson[10]; 5. 50-Robert Adams[4]; 6. 26S-Steven Glenn[5]; 7. 11N-Gene Nicholas[9]; 8. 12-Jay Rosales[6]; 9. L8-Ethan Stevens[13]; 10. 17-Brent Holman[15]; 11. 520T-Lukas Tellez[14]; 12. 3N-Gene Kay[16]; 13. M19-JC Mattingly[8]; 14. 57-Gage McCaughan[12]; 15. 85D-Mark Dotson[7]; 16. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[11]

B Feature 3 (8 Laps): 1. 112-Tyler Peterson[2]; 2. 44N-Jason Noll[3]; 3. 151-Lucas Gibbs[6]; 4. 38T-Dylan Thornton[14]; 5. 24-Rick Ortega[1]; 6. 7-AJ Sharpensteen[7]; 7. P17-Peyton Gallardo[9]; 8. 81-Devon Jobin[15]; 9. 131-Royal Jones[5]; 10. 7G-Gabe Hodges[4]; 11. 97TB-Tyson Blood[8]; 12. 6F-Matt Fester[13]; 13. 14X-CJ Thorne[11]; 14. 111-Logan Drake[16]; 15. 02LZ-Ellsworth Conover[12]; 16. 22S-Cole Szlauko[10]

Limited Mods:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 9-Ken Schrader[7]; 2. 21-Jake Smith[19]; 3. 44-Christy Barnett[14]; 4. 75-Cole Suckow[2]; 5. 19R-Lucas Rodin[16]; 6. 32C-Curtis Stieh[10]; 7. 1S-Scott Bintz[11]; 8. 27P-Parker Anderson[17]; 9. 0-Dakota Girard[18]; 10. 3J-Josh Cain[1]; 11. 94-Tyler Potter[3]; 12. 57-Duke Erickson[12]; 13. 14J-Jacob Hodges[9]; 14. 711-Payce Herrera[22]; 15. 99-Jeremy Haddox[15]; 16. 13-Josh Beyer[5]; 17. 89-Chris Mangum[13]; 18. 75J-Tyler Johnson[4]; 19. 21B-Braxton James[23]; 20. 161-Remington Budd[6]; 21. 34-Brandon Rehill[8]; 22. 509-Brennan Davis[20]; 23. 79-Jaden Christ[24]; 24. M17-Rob Moseley[21]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 94-Tyler Potter[4]; 2. 13-Josh Beyer[6]; 3. 0G-Peyton George[1]; 4. 711-Payce Herrera[2]; 5. 22-Jonathon Ortega[5]; 6. 27P-Parker Anderson[11]; 7. 5-Shane McNutt[9]; 8. 11DW-Danny Wagner[12]; 9. 71B-Dave Siercks[3]; 10. 937-Joshua Sanchez[10]; 11. 23H-Hector Barraza[8]; 12. 22K-Keenan Glasser[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 75J-Tyler Johnson[4]; 2. 9-Ken Schrader[5]; 3. 32C-Curtis Stieh[6]; 4. 77-Chance Kodet[2]; 5. 509-Brennan Davis[8]; 6. 3R-Mel Romero[1]; 7. 91B-Brody Spangler[11]; 8. 30-Blake Davis[7]; 9. 27-Andy Davis[10]; 10. 980-Kaden Woodie[9]; 11. 54-Lance Relf[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 161-Remington Budd[3]; 2. 75-Cole Suckow[7]; 3. 1S-Scott Bintz[6]; 4. 89-Chris Mangum[8]; 5. 7X-Bubba Stafford Jr[4]; 6. 23B-Israel Ortega[9]; 7. 216-Camron Spangler[1]; 8. 28-David Pitt[11]; 9. 11D-Dave Smith[10]; 10. 562-Craig Walker[5]; 11. 196-Matt Micheli[2]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 34-Brandon Rehill[2]; 2. 3J-Josh Cain[10]; 3. 28T-Scott Tofte[1]; 4. 44-Christy Barnett[7]; 5. 14J-Jacob Hodges[11]; 6. 21-Jake Smith[6]; 7. 12C-Cale Riggs[8]; 8. 50X-Justen Yeager[3]; 9. 88-Tyler Delong[4]; 10. 82-Sherman Barnett[9]; 11. 10-Bryan Bennett[5]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Duke Erickson[1]; 2. 99-Jeremy Haddox[2]; 3. 19R-Lucas Rodin[4]; 4. M17-Rob Moseley[5]; 5. 0-Dakota Girard[3]; 6. 79-Jaden Christ[8]; 7. 21B-Braxton James[6]; 8. 05-Aasa Flores[10]; 9. 02-Deuce Teague[7]; 10. 28BY-Bryson Yeager[11]; 11. 14-Erick Barraza[9]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 27P-Parker Anderson[1]; 2. 21-Jake Smith[9]; 3. M17-Rob Moseley[2]; 4. 21B-Braxton James[11]; 5. 5-Shane McNutt[8]; 6. 22-Jonathon Ortega[6]; 7. 7X-Bubba Stafford Jr[7]; 8. 28BY-Bryson Yeager[14]; 9. 05-Aasa Flores[10]; 10. 980-Kaden Woodie[16]; 11. 10-Bryan Bennett[19]; 12. 71B-Dave Siercks[17]; 13. 27-Andy Davis[12]; 14. 28T-Scott Tofte[3]; 15. 91B-Brody Spangler[4]; 16. 216-Camron Spangler[13]; 17. 77-Chance Kodet[5]; 18. 196-Matt Micheli[20]; 19. 937-Joshua Sanchez[15]; 20. 14-Erick Barraza[18]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 0-Dakota Girard[7]; 2. 509-Brennan Davis[1]; 3. 711-Payce Herrera[4]; 4. 79-Jaden Christ[5]; 5. 23B-Israel Ortega[3]; 6. 11DW-Danny Wagner[6]; 7. 30-Blake Davis[11]; 8. 50X-Justen Yeager[13]; 9. 3R-Mel Romero[10]; 10. 12C-Cale Riggs[9]; 11. 23H-Hector Barraza[18]; 12. 88-Tyler Delong[15]; 13. 54-Lance Relf[19]; 14. 11D-Dave Smith[12]; 15. 22K-Keenan Glasser[20]; 16. 02-Deuce Teague[14]; 17. 82-Sherman Barnett[16]; 18. 28-David Pitt[8]; 19. 0G-Peyton George[2]; 20. 562-Craig Walker[17]