VADO, N.M. (Jan. 12) — Bobby Pierce was great throughout the Rio Grande Waster Services Wild West Shootout. In Sunday’s 50-lap finale, though, he might have been at his absolute best.

Decimating his competition, the 28-year-old star from Oakwood, Ill., raced unchallenged the entire distance for a $25,000 victory that gave him four wins in five events and clinched his second straight miniseries points title at Vado Speedway Park.

Pierce wrestled the lead from front-row mate and polesitter Garrett Alberson of Las Cruces, N.M., on the opening lap and never looked back. He controlled a race slowed only by a lap-16 caution flag to defeat 10th-starter Chase Junghans of Manhattan, Kan., by a commanding margin of 3.173 seconds.

“The car was bad fast tonight,” Pierce said of his Longhorn Chassis machine, which he piloted to four wins worth a combined $70,000 plus a runner-up finish in Friday’s feature. “I can’t thank all my crew guys enough.”

Junghans’s runner-up finish was his best of the WWS though he wasn’t able to offer Pierce any sort of threat. He made his way forward from the fifth row predominantly using the inside lane, finally reaching second on lap 31 when he overtook Tyler Erb of New Waverly, Texas.

Alberson finished third after running second for all but one of the race’s first 19 circuits and slipping as far back as fourth. Friday’s feature winner rallied to pass Erb for third on lap 38 and stayed there to the finish.

Erb settled for a fourth-place result after holding second place for laps 20-30 while Collen Winebarger of Corbett, Ore., completed the top five with a spirited advance from the 19th starting spot that earned him hard-charger recognition.

Pierce authored a virtually flawless performance as he collected his second $25,000 triumph of the WWS, duplicating his take in Jan. 4’s opening event. It also left him with four victories at Vado for the second January in a row.

But while Pierce’s flag-to-flag run was so strong that the outcome never appeared to be in doubt, he acknowledged a couple moments that briefly raised his blood pressure.

“I feel like I didn’t have as much, like, lapped traffic to split tonight, but (there were) two pretty hairy scenarios,” Pierce said. “One down there (in turn two) — we’re going so fast around the top, and I think (Preston Luckman) broke (on lap 16) and I had to check up real quick and barely missed him. And then down here (in turn four), I know (lapped cars are) racing for position — heck, they’re probably up to 10th or so, they want to do good too — and the one went to the bottom down here and decided to get a better line and I just so happened to be on the bottom that lap.”

Pierce breathed a sign of relief when he escaped the turn-four situation with a lapped car.

“Luckily I checked up enough I didn’t get into him,” Pierce said. “It could’ve been a bad deal there.”

Pierce pushed his career win total at Vado to 10 and increased his total victories in Wild West Shootout competition (including years racing in Arizona) to 16. He’s the winningest driver in both categories.

A winner of 38 features overall in 2024, Pierce was pleased to leave New Mexico on the exact same pace he started last year and with another WWS title under his belt.

“It’s awesome,” Pierce said of winning the miniseries points crown. “It’s what we set our goals to do this trip and we got ‘er done. We’ve got a very determined team.”

Pierce also gave a special nod to the event’s spectators who braved braved wind chills to attend Sunday’s action.

“And thanks to the fans for sticking it out in this cold,” Pierce said. “I know it got really windy tonight. This has been the worst Vado weather we’ve had so far for this Wild West Shootout.”

The race’s lone caution caution flag on lap 16 resulted when Luckman slowed because a broken right-rear wheel cover on his car had caused his wheel to become packed with mud.

Feature lineup

Row 1: Garrett Alberson, Bobby Pierce
Row 2: Tyler Erb, Jon Kirby
Row 3: Ian Whisler, Clayton Stuckey
Row 4: Stormy Scott, Ross Bailes
Row 5: Drake Troutman, Chase Junghans
Row 6: Dustin Sorensen, Mike Marlar
Row 7: Brandon Sheppard, Mitch McGrath
Row 8: Ethan Dotson, Cade Dillard
Row 9: Preston Luckman, Sammy Mars
Row 10: Collen Winebarger, Don Shaw
Row 11: Steve Stultz, Bricen James
Row 12: Keaton Smith, Rob Sanders

Consolation results

(12 laps; top four transfer)

First consolation finish: Preston Luckman, Collen Winebarger, Steve Stultz, Keaton Smith, Kent Rosevear, Carson Brown, Richard Papenhausen, Terry Carter, Keko Perez, Luke Solis. Scratched: Jake Neal.

Second consolation finish: Sammy Mars, Don Shaw, Bricen James, Rob Sanders, Dillon McCowan, Jake Timm, Jason Miles, Seth Daniels, Kyle Beard, Brennon Willard. Scratched: Thomas Hunziker.

Heat results

(Eight laps; top four transfer)

First heat finish: Bobby Pierce, Ian Whisler, Drake Troutman, Brandon Sheppard, Steve Stultz, Collen Winebarger, Richard Papenhausen, Kent Rosevear, Keko Perez. Scratched: Jake Neal.

Second heat finish: Garrett Alberson, Stormy Scott, Dustin Sorensen, Ethan Dotson, Preston Luckman, Carson Brown, Keaton Smith, Terry Carter, Luke Solis.

Third heat finish: Jon Kirby, Clayton Stuckey, Chase Junghans, Mitch McGrath, Sammy Mars, Rob Sanders, Jason Miles, Seth Daniels, Brennon Willard. Scratched: Thomas Hunziker.

Fourth heat finish: Tyler Erb, Ross Bailes, Mike Marlar, Cade Dillard, Don Shaw, Bricen James, Dillon McCowan, Jake Timm, Kyle Beard.

Time trials

Group A
Driver (car no.), hometown
1. Bobby Pierce (32), Oakwood, Ill., 14.251
2. Garrett Alberson (58), Las Cruces, N.M., 14.323
3. Ian Whisler (82), Otis, Ore., 14.340
4. Stormy Scott (2s), Las Cruces, N.M., 14.427
5. Brandon Sheppard (B5), New Berlin, Ill., 14.454
6. Dustin Sorenson (19), Rochester, Minn., 14.457
7. Drake Troutman (22*), Hyndman, Pa., 14.481
8. Ethan Dotson (74x), Bakersfield, Calif., 14.510
9. Collen Winebarger (14S), Corbett, Ore., 14.512
10. Carson Brown (28B), New London, N.C., 14.517
11. Steve Stultz (78s), Peoria, Ariz., 14.534
12. Preston Luckman (77), Coos Bay, Ore., 14.661
13. Kent Rosevear (02), Yuma, Ariz., 14.827
14. Jake Neal (6), Omaha, Neb., 14.938
15. Keaton Smith (K7), Clinton, S.C., 14.984
16. Richard Papenhausen (4P), Chico, Calif., 15.149
17. Terry Carter (6T), Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, 15.173
18. Keko Perez (3), Chihuahua, Mexico, 15.768
19. Luke Solis (99), El Paso, Texas, 16.441
Group B   
1. Clayton Stuckey (15S), Shreveport, La., 14.184
2. Ross Bailes (69), Clover, S.C., 14.236
3. Jon Kirby (11), Russellville, Ark., 14.266
4. Tyler Erb (1), New Waverly, Texas, 14.306
5. Chase Junghans (18), Manhattan, Kan., 14.364
6. Cade Dillard (97), Robeline, La., 14.428
7. Sammy Mars (28M), Menomonie, Wis., 14.484
8. Mike Marlar (157), Winfield, Tenn., 14.525
9. Mitch McGrath (74), Waukesha, Wis., 14.586
10. Bricen James (13), Albany, Ore., 14.623
11. Thomas Hunziker (38), Bend, Ore., 14.660
12. Don Shaw (42S), Ham Lake, Minn., 14.709
13. Rob Sanders (10N), Bakersfield, Calif., 14.714
14. Dillon McCowan (8), Urbana, Mo., 14.743
15. Brennon Willard (3), Lebanon, Mo., 14.794
16. Kyle Beard (86), Trumann, Ark., 14.855
17. Seth Daniels (S21), Jackson, Ohio, 14.878
18. Jake Timm (49), Winona, Minn., 14.942
19. Jason Miles (53M), Nacogdoches, Texas, 15.266

Sunday’s schedule

(All times local)
1 p.m. - Pits open
2:30 p.m. - Drivers’ meeting
3 p.m. - Grandstands open
3:30 p.m. - On-track activity
- X-mod hot laps
- Modified hot laps
- Late Model group qualifying
5 p.m. - Opening ceremonies
- X-mod heats (8 laps)
- Modified heats (8 or 10 laps)
- Late Model heats (8 laps)
Consolations
- X-mods (10 laps)
- Modifieds (12 laps)
- Late Models (12 laps)
Features
- Late Models (50 laps)
- X-mods (25 laps)
- Modifieds (25 laps)