Brandon Sheppard Tops Night Number Two Of Wild West Shootout

Story By: AARON CLAY / ARIZONA SPEEDWAY – SAN TAN VALLEY, AZ – Twelve. It took Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., twelve days to score his first feature victory of the year. Sheppard entered the 2020 Keyser Manufacturing Wild West Shootout presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts as the defending event champion, as well as the back-to-back and defending World of Outlaws Late Model champion.

After three straight runner-up finishes in Vado, New Mexico last weekend, along with a fourth place finish on Saturday night, it was only a matter of time before Sheppard found Hoker Trucking victory lane.

“B-Shepp” started the evening off well, earning the second quickest time amongst the second qualifying group in Dirt Track Bank Super Late Model action presented by Black Diamond Race Cars, coming just one tenth of a second short of Ricky Weiss’ 14.878 second lap around the 3/8-mile FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway track surface. Sheppard made easy work of his heat race, winning over Weiss by nearly two and a half seconds. Along with the other three heat race winners, this placed Sheppard in the redraw. Ironically, each heat race winner drew the starting position that matched the order of their heat races. This meant Sheppard would start on the outside pole, sharing the front row with Don Shaw of Ham Lake, Minn.

Shaw jumped out to the early lead in the 40-lap feature, with Sheppard in hot pursuit, followed by the night’s quickest qualifier, Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa. Birkhofer’s 14.790 lap was the quickest time of the night and quickest of the event, to this point, earning him the $100 Fast Qualifier award, courtesy of SportTruck RV and Screven Motor Speedway. Unfortunately for Birky, this would be the closest that he would be to the leaders, for the rest of the evening. Meanwhile, Sheppard wasted little time in disposing of Shaw for the lead, claiming the top spot at the completion of lap eight.

The first Midwest Sheet Metal caution flag flew just a few laps later, when Johnny Scott of Las Cruces, N.M., lost his entire left rear wheel and tire. The second and final caution occurred just before halfway, when Cade Dillard of Robeline, La., slowed to a stop at pit entrance. Sheppard executed flawless restarts and continued to maintain his lead, while positions were being swapped behind him.

Sunday night’s race began taking its final mold with fifteen laps to go, as Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., charged to second place and started reeling-in Sheppard. Ricky Weiss of Headingley, Manitoba followed, keeping pace with both of them, as they began to encounter lapped traffic. However, nothing was going to rattle Sheppard on this night, as he sliced his way through the slower traffic with perfection. Weiss was able to catch and pass Pierce with five laps to go, focusing his sights on Sheppard and began cutting into his lead. However, Weiss could only pull within a couple car lengths of Sheppard and settled for the runner-up position.

Brandon Sheppard’s Sunday night triumph netted him a $5,000 payday and marked his second career Keyser Manufacturing Wild West Shootout victory. Pierce faded in the closing laps and finished a distant third position, with Chase Junghans of Manhattan, Kan., and Birkhofer completing the top five.

Rodney Sanders of Happy, Texas claimed this third feature victory of the brief year in Mesilla Valley Transportation/Border Tire Arizona Differential Modified competition and his first win in the 2020 Keyser Manufacturing Wild West Shootout presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts. Unlike the Late Model feature, the pole-sitter did not get the early jump in this one, as outside front row starter Travis Saurer of Elizabeth Minn., led the first few laps. However, it didn’t take Sanders long before he passed Saurer and began to stretch his lead. Fellow MB Customs Chassis competitors, Lucas Schott of Chatfield, Minn., and Tyler Wolff of Fayetteville, Ark., remained within striking distance of Sanders, but they didn’t have enough to make a move. Sanders won the 25-lap, $2,000 feature by nearly two seconds over Schott and Wolff, while Dustin Strand of Grand Forks, N.D. and Matt Gilbertson of Montevideo, Minn., rounded-out the top five finishers.

The RHRSwag.com Barnett Harley-Davidson X-Mods also raced for 25 laps on Sunday night, one of two times that division will compete for a $1,000 prize during the 2020 Keyser Manufacturing Wild West Shootout, presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts. Kris Jackson of Lebanon, Mo., controlled the first half of the race and seemed on his way to his first career event victory. However, Josh Cain of Albuquerque, N.M., had other plans, as he tracked down Jackson and made the pass easily near the halfway mark. Jackson slipped into the grips of Saturday night’s feature winner, Brock Gronwold of Fergus Falls, Minn., and the two made heavy contact at the exit of turn four, ending both of their chances of winning. This eliminated Cain’s biggest challengers and he cruised to the win over Clint Johnson of Neosho, Mo., while Lance Schill of Langdon, N.D. earned his second podium finish in as many nights, finishing third on Sunday.

The 2020 Keyser Manufacturing Wild West Shootout presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts continues on Wednesday night, January 15th, with hot laps at 5:00pm local time and racing scheduled to begin at 6:30pm local time (8:30pm eastern).

Online sales of single and multi-day tickets continue for the popular miniseries, which will pay over $200,000 in purses over six nights of Super Late Model, Modified and X-Mod racing with tripleheaders set for Jan. 11, 12, 15, 17, 18 and 19. Fans can pick up their advanced tickets by visiting http://www.wildwestshootout.net/schedule/

Fans and competitors planning trips to FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway can also now book rooms at the Wild West Shootout’s official hotel, Hyatt Place Phoenix Gilbert, located approximately 20 minutes from the track in Gilbert, Ariz. Call 1-888-591-1234 or visit www.HyattPlaceGilbert.com to schedule your stay.

For more information on the 14th annual Wild West Shootout, please visit www.WildWestShootout.net

Dirt Track Bank Super Late Models presented by Black Diamond Race Cars
A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 2. 7-Ricky Weiss[6]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 4. 18-Chase Junghans[9]; 5. 15B-Brian Birkhofer[3]; 6. 32S-Chris Simpson[17]; 7. 3S-Brian Shirley[10]; 8. 89-Mike Spatola[5]; 9. 75T-Terry Phillips[11]; 10. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[14]; 11. 19R-Ryan Gustin[13]; 12. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[21]; 13. 2-Garrett Alberson[12]; 14. 91T-Tony Toste[24]; 15. 74-Mitch McGrath[20]; 16. 37-Rob Mayea[16]; 17. 91P-Jason Papich; 18. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[8]; 19. 2S-Stormy Scott[18]; 20. 42S-Don Shaw[1]; 21. 28M-Jimmy Mars[15]; 22. 97-Cade Dillard[23]; 23. 1ST-Johnny Scott[7]; 24. 77M-Jay Morris[22]; 25. 15-Justin Duty[19]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 32S-Chris Simpson[1]; 2. 15-Justin Duty[2]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[4]; 4. 97-Cade Dillard[12]; 5. 91P-Jason Papich[3]; 6. 81X-Matt Sparby[11]; 7. 28T-Brian Barrett[10]; 8. 2M-Allen Murray[7]; 9. 38-Thomas Hunziker[6]; 10. 75-Kenny Densman[9]; 11. 76-Blair Northdurft[5]; 12. 86-Kyle Beard[8]; 13. 7W-Richard Wallace[13]

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 2S-Stormy Scott[1]; 2. 74-Mitch McGrath[3]; 3. 77M-Jay Morris[5]; 4. 91T-Tony Toste[2]; 5. 99-Clay Fisher[7]; 6. 6-Casey Skyberg[4]; 7. 6T-Terry Carter[9]; 8. 28-John Cornell[8]; 9. 3X-Lyndon Bolt[10]; 10. 24-Rick Ortega[13]; 11. 89L-James Laing[12]; 12. 17-Mclain Beaudoin[11]; 13. 78S-Steve Stultz[6]

Pro Power Dash (6 Laps): 1. 91P-Jason Papich[1]; 2. 6-Casey Skyberg[4]; 3. 99-Clay Fisher[2]; 4. 28T-Brian Barrett[5]; 5. 81X-Matt Sparby[3]; 6. 6T-Terry Carter[6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 42S-Don Shaw[4]; 2. 89-Mike Spatola[1]; 3. 18-Chase Junghans[5]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin[6]; 5. 32S-Chris Simpson[10]; 6. 91P-Jason Papich[7]; 7. 76-Blair Northdurft[3]; 8. 2M-Allen Murray[8]; 9. 75-Kenny Densman[9]; 10. 81X-Matt Sparby[11]; 11. 97-Cade Dillard[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 2. 7-Ricky Weiss[1]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 4. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[3]; 5. 2S-Stormy Scott[8]; 6. 74-Mitch McGrath[5]; 7. 77M-Jay Morris[6]; 8. 99-Clay Fisher[7]; 9. 6T-Terry Carter[9]; 10. 17-Mclain Beaudoin[10]; 11. 24-Rick Ortega[11]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 15B-Brian Birkhofer[1]; 2. 1ST-Johnny Scott[3]; 3. 75T-Terry Phillips[2]; 4. 28M-Jimmy Mars[4]; 5. 15-Justin Duty[6]; 6. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[5]; 7. 38-Thomas Hunziker[8]; 8. 86-Kyle Beard[7]; 9. 28T-Brian Barrett[9]; 10. 7W-Richard Wallace[10]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[1]; 3. 2-Garrett Alberson[4]; 4. 37-Rob Mayea[6]; 5. 91T-Tony Toste[5]; 6. 6-Casey Skyberg[3]; 7. 78S-Steve Stultz[8]; 8. 28-John Cornell[7]; 9. 3X-Lyndon Bolt[10]; 10. 89L-James Laing[9]

Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 89-Mike Spatola, 00:14.998[5]; 2. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:15.165[11]; 3. 76-Blair Northdurft, 00:15.241[6]; 4. 42S-Don Shaw, 00:15.403[8]; 5. 18-Chase Junghans, 00:15.416[2]; 6. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:15.564[7]; 7. 91P-Jason Papich, 00:15.589[1]; 8. 2M-Allen Murray, 00:15.718[4]; 9. 75-Kenny Densman, 00:15.870[9]; 10. 32S-Chris Simpson, 00:15.907[3]; 11. 81X-Matt Sparby, 00:16.273[10]

Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 7-Ricky Weiss, 00:14.878[11]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:14.978[5]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 00:15.028[3]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:15.146[10]; 5. 74-Mitch McGrath, 00:15.309[1]; 6. 77M-Jay Morris, 00:15.327[2]; 7. 99-Clay Fisher, 00:15.351[4]; 8. 2S-Stormy Scott, 00:15.456[9]; 9. 6T-Terry Carter, 00:15.739[7]; 10. 17-Mclain Beaudoin, 00:16.324[6]; 11. 24-Rick Ortega, 00:16.657[8]

Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 15B-Brian Birkhofer, 00:14.790[6]; 2. 75T-Terry Phillips, 00:14.985[7]; 3. 1ST-Johnny Scott, 00:15.003[5]; 4. 28M-Jimmy Mars, 00:15.100[3]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:15.149[1]; 6. 15-Justin Duty, 00:15.276[10]; 7. 86-Kyle Beard, 00:15.364[4]; 8. 38-Thomas Hunziker, 00:15.672[2]; 9. 28T-Brian Barrett, 00:16.450[9]; 10. 7W-Richard Wallace, 00:16.450[8]

Qualifying 4 (2 Laps): 1. 1-Earl Pearson Jr, 00:15.083[4]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:15.181[5]; 3. 6-Casey Skyberg, 00:15.329[3]; 4. 2-Garrett Alberson, 00:15.368[9]; 5. 91T-Tony Toste, 00:15.504[6]; 6. 37-Rob Mayea, 00:15.586[2]; 7. 28-John Cornell, 00:15.942[1]; 8. 78S-Steve Stultz, 00:16.555[8]; 9. 89L-James Laing, 00:16.613[7]; 10. 3X-Lyndon Bolt, 00:16.696[10]

Mesilla Valley Transportation/ Border Tire Modifieds presented by Arizona Differential
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 20-Rodney Sanders[1]; 2. 69-Lucas Schott[11]; 3. 4W-Tyler Wolff[3]; 4. 71-Dustin Strand[8]; 5. 11X-Matt Gilbertson[5]; 6. 0-Jake O’Neil[24]; 7. 21X-Travis Saurer[2]; 8. 37-Kelly Estey[10]; 9. 27X-Calvin Iverson[22]; 10. J17-Jake Gallardo[12]; 11. 20T-Trevor Anderson[21]; 12. 10C-Chad Olsen[4]; 13. 02-Tanner Mullens[17]; 14. 5M-Zachary Madrid[20]; 15. 52-Mitch Keeter[23]; 16. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[13]; 17. 111X-Bumper Jones[19]; 18. 85D-Mark Dotson[6]; 19. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[9]; 20. 2C-Dave Cain[16]; 21. 91-Joe Duvall[7]; 22. 30T-RC Whitwell[14]; 23. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[15]; 24. G17-Fito Gallardo[18]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 02-Tanner Mullens[2]; 2. 111X-Bumper Jones[6]; 3. 20T-Trevor Anderson[1]; 4. 52-Mitch Keeter[4]; 5. 32-DJ Shannon[10]; 6. 22-Jonathon Ortega[3]; 7. 5K-Mike Kirby[13]; 8. 23-Justin Rexwinkle[9]; 9. 51T-Tim Thomas[5]; 10. 54-Carlos Ahumada Sr[12]; 11. 75-Alan Sharpensteen[8]; 12. 8-Joe Dietrich[11]; 13. 30-Matt Leer[7]

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. G17-Fito Gallardo[1]; 2. 5M-Zachary Madrid[2]; 3. 27X-Calvin Iverson[4]; 4. 0-Jake O’Neil[3]; 5. 21XXX-Randy Klein[6]; 6. 57-Duke Erickson[9]; 7. 88-Nathan Smith[7]; 8. 8C-Chris Clark[11]; 9. 24-Xavier Ortega[5]; 10. 72-Dustin Grabowski[10]; 11. 44-Christy Barnett[12]; 12. 5G-Scott Greer[8]; 13. 196-Joey Olschowka Jr[13]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10C-Chad Olsen[4]; 2. 20-Rodney Sanders[9]; 3. 21X-Travis Saurer[10]; 4. 11X-Matt Gilbertson[11]; 5. 22-Jonathon Ortega[3]; 6. 51T-Tim Thomas[6]; 7. 88-Nathan Smith[2]; 8. 5G-Scott Greer[5]; 9. 72-Dustin Grabowski[1]; 10. 32-DJ Shannon[7]; 11. 44-Christy Barnett[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[2]; 2. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[1]; 3. 69-Lucas Schott[5]; 4. 20T-Trevor Anderson[3]; 5. 02-Tanner Mullens[4]; 6. 5M-Zachary Madrid[7]; 7. 0-Jake O’Neil[9]; 8. 27X-Calvin Iverson[11]; 9. 23-Justin Rexwinkle[10]; 10. 8C-Chris Clark[8]; 11. 5K-Mike Kirby[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Kelly Estey[1]; 2. J17-Jake Gallardo[2]; 3. 71-Dustin Strand[7]; 4. 2C-Dave Cain[4]; 5. G17-Fito Gallardo[6]; 6. 111X-Bumper Jones[3]; 7. 52-Mitch Keeter[9]; 8. 30-Matt Leer[8]; 9. 57-Duke Erickson[5]; 10. 196-Joey Olschowka Jr[10]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 4W-Tyler Wolff[5]; 2. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[2]; 3. 85D-Mark Dotson[8]; 4. 91-Joe Duvall[10]; 5. 30T-RC Whitwell[9]; 6. 24-Xavier Ortega[6]; 7. 21XXX-Randy Klein[3]; 8. 75-Alan Sharpensteen[7]; 9. 8-Joe Dietrich[1]; 10. 54-Carlos Ahumada Sr[4]

Hotlaps 1: 1. J17-Jake Gallardo[7]; 2. 02-Tanner Mullens[14]; 3. 5M-Zachary Madrid[26]; 4. 20-Rodney Sanders[33]; 5. 0-Jake O’Neil[34]; 6. 37-Kelly Estey[3]; 7. 8C-Chris Clark[30]; 8. 111X-Bumper Jones[11]; 9. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[8]; 10. 54-Carlos Ahumada Sr[16]; 11. 22-Jonathon Ortega[9]; 12. 24-Xavier Ortega[24]; 13. 21XXX-Randy Klein[12]; 14. 30-Matt Leer[31]; 15. 5G-Scott Greer[17]; 16. 4W-Tyler Wolff[20]; 17. 75-Alan Sharpensteen[28]; 18. 91-Joe Duvall[40]; 19. 85D-Mark Dotson[32]; 20. 5K-Mike Kirby[22]; 21. 52-Mitch Keeter[35]; 22. 196-Joey Olschowka Jr[39]; 23. 30T-RC Whitwell[36]; 24. 23-Justin Rexwinkle[38]; 25. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[2]; 26. 20T-Trevor Anderson[10]; 27. 88-Nathan Smith[5]; 28. 8-Joe Dietrich[4]; 29. 57-Duke Erickson[19]; 30. 10C-Chad Olsen[13]; 31. 32-DJ Shannon[25]; 32. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[6]; 33. 72-Dustin Grabowski[1]; 34. 71-Dustin Strand[27]; 35. 21X-Travis Saurer[37]

RHRSwag.com X-Mods presented by Barnett Harlety Davidson
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 3J-Josh Cain[8]; 2. 37-Clint Johnson[10]; 3. 17-Lance Schill[4]; 4. 2SS-Mark Smith[13]; 5. 4H-Grant Hall[11]; 6. 37X-Skeeter Estey[18]; 7. 65-Kris Jackson[2]; 8. 13B-Jess Brekke[17]; 9. 71AZ-Tyler Mecl[1]; 10. 17X-Mike Striegel[9]; 11. 19-Lucas Rodin[15]; 12. 82X-Christy Barnett[12]; 13. 7B-Bailey Cousins[5]; 14. 2G-Brock Gronwold[6]; 15. 777-Justin Allen[21]; 16. 17B-Zach Benson[16]; 17. 16-Brock Hess[14]; 18. 27X-Andy Miskowic[22]; 19. 8272-Sherman Barnett[24]; 20. 112X-Brennan Gave[20]; 21. 22-Matt Heinzerling[23]; 22. 10C-Cole Haugland[19]; 23. 476X-Troy Hovey[3]; 24. 39-Stephen Muilenburg[7]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 13B-Jess Brekke[1]; 2. 10C-Cole Haugland[4]; 3. 777-Justin Allen[3]; 4. 22-Matt Heinzerling[2]; 5. 15X-Blake Davis[9]; 6. 96F-Eric Folstad[7]; 7. 08-Glen Maga[12]; 8. 13-Steve Bitting Jr[10]; 9. 15-Speedy Madrid[8]; 10. 10-Cole Searing[11]; 11. 11X-Tyler Griggs[13]; 12. 20-Al Ferguson[5]; 13. 53-Scott Walker[6]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 37X-Skeeter Estey[2]; 2. 112X-Brennan Gave[3]; 3. 27X-Andy Miskowic[8]; 4. 8272-Sherman Barnett[6]; 5. 33S-Ben Stockton[1]; 6. X44-Mark Maga[9]; 7. 56-Terry Bahr[7]; 8. 14M-Blake Meyer[11]; 9. 97X-Don Schaefer[10]; 10. 11-Bryan Kakela[4]; 11. 17E-Neil Eckhart[5]; 12. 25-Kenneth McDonald[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2G-Brock Gronwold[1]; 2. 3J-Josh Cain[3]; 3. 37-Clint Johnson[5]; 4. 777-Justin Allen[2]; 5. 17X-Mike Striegel[10]; 6. 22-Matt Heinzerling[9]; 7. 53-Scott Walker[11]; 8. 15-Speedy Madrid[4]; 9. 13-Steve Bitting Jr[7]; 10. 14M-Blake Meyer[6]; 11. 25-Kenneth McDonald[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 476X-Troy Hovey[3]; 2. 71AZ-Tyler Mecl[6]; 3. 33S-Ben Stockton[2]; 4. 4H-Grant Hall[7]; 5. 10C-Cole Haugland[5]; 6. 37X-Skeeter Estey[9]; 7. 8272-Sherman Barnett[1]; 8. 27X-Andy Miskowic[4]; 9. 96F-Eric Folstad[10]; 10. 10-Cole Searing[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 7B-Bailey Cousins[2]; 2. 17-Lance Schill[5]; 3. 17B-Zach Benson[3]; 4. 112X-Brennan Gave[1]; 5. 19-Lucas Rodin[8]; 6. 13B-Jess Brekke[10]; 7. 20-Al Ferguson[7]; 8. 56-Terry Bahr[6]; 9. X44-Mark Maga[9]; 10. 08-Glen Maga[4]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 39-Stephen Muilenburg[1]; 2. 82X-Christy Barnett[2]; 3. 65-Kris Jackson[10]; 4. 16-Brock Hess[8]; 5. 2SS-Mark Smith[9]; 6. 11-Bryan Kakela[7]; 7. 17E-Neil Eckhart[5]; 8. 15X-Blake Davis[4]; 9. 97X-Don Schaefer[3]; 10. 11X-Tyler Griggs[6]

Hotlaps 1: 1. 37X-Skeeter Estey[34]; 2. 4H-Grant Hall[26]; 3. 10-Cole Searing[30]; 4. 37-Clint Johnson[17]; 5. 777-Justin Allen[5]; 6. 15-Speedy Madrid[13]; 7. 71AZ-Tyler Mecl[22]; 8. 13-Steve Bitting Jr[25]; 9. 15X-Blake Davis[16]; 10. X44-Mark Maga[35]; 11. 8272-Sherman Barnett[2]; 12. 16-Brock Hess[32]; 13. 22-Matt Heinzerling[33]; 14. 56-Terry Bahr[23]; 15. 65-Kris Jackson[40]; 16. 39-Stephen Muilenburg[4]; 17. 2SS-Mark Smith[36]; 18. 476X-Troy Hovey[10]; 19. 97X-Don Schaefer[12]; 20. 7B-Bailey Cousins[7]; 21. 33S-Ben Stockton[6]; 22. 3J-Josh Cain[9]; 23. 08-Glen Maga[15]