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LMR/Ryan Neuharth
CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (January 16) - Multi-time NAPA-MDA champion Eddie Kirchoff of Gillette, WY made the bold decision in 2007 to race for a living, and he started by tackling the nations most grueling series, the UMP Summernationals. The experience gained six months ago paid of handsomely Wednesday night as Kirchoff tracked down and passed race long leader Jack Sullivan in his ESSI, Inc/Jay Dickens Racing Engines/Mastersbilt by Mars during the closing laps to capture his first career Wild West Shootout main event win.
Sullivan and 4-Time IMCA Modified National Champion David Murray, Jr. lead the field of 24 to the green with Sullivan taking the advantage down the backstretch. Murray, would slot second, young Missouri pilot Will Vaught placed third, Oregon's Trevor Glaser was fourth, Californian Nick Bartels was fifth and Kirchoff rounded out the top six after one of 25 laps.
Battles quickly began to wage throughout the top 10 at Mark Voigt jumped to seventh on lap two while Glaser and Vaught would race side by side for third. Bartels would jump the cushion in turn two and go over the banking on lap three moving Kirchoff to fifth as Glaser took third from Vaught.
The races first yellow would come on lap three as Keith Noyes spun to a halt in turn two. On the restart, Sullivan continued to lead and pulled away from what now was a battle for second between Murray and Glaser while Kirchoff and Voigt swapped fifth and sixth. Glaser would take the runner-up spot on lap four momentary as Murray battled back on the low side. Vaught would slip high in turn two on lap five bottling up Voigt in the process which allowed Kirchoff to sneak low and shot quickly into fourth.
John Anderson was on the move from his 12th starting position as he was up to ninth on lap four and used the restart to his advantage to shot by Jeremy Payne, a fading Mike Tahtinan and found himself fifth when Voigt went over the turn one banking.
After securing fourth Kirchoff closed on the rear of Glaser and the two young drivers put on a show for third with Kirchoff riding the rim while Glaser worked the middle. The yellow would blink on once again on lap seven when the 52 of Tommy Hussek and the 7 of Ricky Weiss would come together in turn one.
Sullivan again pulled away on the restart leaving Murray to battle it out for the runner up spot with Kirchoff with Eddie taking the spot on lap eight. Positions five through ten where up for grabs as a wild scramble was taking place between Payne, Vaught, Glaser, Terry Phillips and 19th starting Andrew McKay.
Phillips would bring out the yellow on lap 10 with a cut left rear, and before another lap could be completed, Glaser and Payne made contact in turn one on the restart fighting for fifth. Track officials charged the yellow to Glaser sending him to the rear of the field.
With a third lap 10 restart in the works, Sullivan continued to pace the field while Murray and Kirchoff battled in out for second, running high & low, side by side lap after lap. Payne and Anderson battle for fourth while McKay and Vaught contested sixth as Stacy Taylor, Brad Seng and Mike Balcaen traded seventh through tenth.
As the field completed 15 laps, Sullivan's lead began to diminish as he approached potential lapped traffic for the first time in the event. Kirchoff, having secured second on lap 14 began to close on the leader all the while fighting off Murray and awaiting the arrival of Anderson who moved to fourth on lap 16.
Just as Sullivan was entering lapped traffic with the top four nose to tail a slowing Mark Voigt would bring out yet another yellow allowing Sullivan to enjoy a clear view ahead for another restart.
Sullivan would again lead off the restart with Kirchoff leaving Murray to battle with Anderson for third. Payne stood fifth, McKay sixth, Balcaen seventh, Vaught eighth, Seng ninth and Taylor tenth.
Using the cushion, Kirchoff began to run down the races only leader as the top two took five to go from the flagstand. Anderson finally dispatched a fading Murray for third as McKay took fifth from Payne. McKay would go to fourth one lap later bringing Payne, Vaught, Seng and Balcaen all along for the ride past Murray.
Kirchoff would being a torrid side by side battle for the lead with Sullivan on lap 21 which would last the final four laps. With Sullivan down low and Kirchoff up high, the two would trade the lead numerous time each lap, with Kirchoff getting the advantage off the banking only to be run down by Sullivan at the end of the straightaway.
Coming to the white flag, Sullivan would encounter the slower Terry Phillips on the bottom side allowing Kirchoff to pull even off of four as the two would take the white flag side by side and enter turn one dead even. Sullivan edged ahead on the low side in the middle of one and two as Kirchoff used the banking to pull even for the final run down the backstretch.
Entering three, Sullivan edge ahead on the low side and drifted to the middle to try and squeeze by slower traffic ahead and slide in front of Kirchoff. It was to no avail as Kirchoff entered turn third hard on the cushion and used his high side momentum to sweep past Sullivan off of turn four and take the win.
The Wild West Shootout continues on Saturday Afternoon with anther $3000 to win event for the Super Dirt Late Models along with BRA Modifieds and Crate Late Models. The week long mini-series wraps up on Sunday with a $7,500 to win event for the Super Late Models.
Main Event:
1) Eddie Kirchoff 2) Jack Sullivan 3) John Anderson 4) Andrew McKay 5) Jeremy Payne 6) Will Vaught 7) Brad Seng 8) Mike Balcaen 9) David Murray, Jr 10) Stacy Taylor 11) Billy Peden 12) Don Shaw 13) Tommy Hussek 14) Art Lacy 15) Rob Mayea 16) Ricky Weiss 17) Nick Bartels 18) Terry Phillips 19) Mark Voigt 20) Trevor Glaser 21) Keith Noyes 22) Mike Tahtinan 23) Ryan Corbett 24) Paul Mueller
Heat 1: 1) Mike Tahtinan 2) Ricky Weiss 3) Rob Mayea 4) Steve Ricehouse 5) Andrew McKay 6) Brad Seng 7) Robbie Ireland 8) Mike McCord 9) Jon Mitchell
Heat 2: 1) Will Vaught 2) Jeremy Payne 3) Mark Voigt 4) Butch Reid 5) Billy Peden 6) Paul Gugleimoni 7) Paul Mueller 8) Jeremy Patrell 9) Steve Drake
Heat 3: 1) Jack Sullivan 2) Nick Bartels 3) Ryan Corbett 4) Eric Mass 5) Art Lacy 6) Ronnie Harvey 7) John Dowson 8) Sonny Findling 9) Cody Skytland
Heat 4: 1) David Murray, Jr. 2) Trevor Glaser 3) Darryn Waldo 4) Terry Phillips 5) Don Shaw 6) Randy Carder 7) Brad Looney 8) Ed Turnbull 9) Wes Hall
Heat 5: 1) Eddie Kirchoff 2) John Anderson 3) Mike Balcaen 4) Keith Noyes 5) Tommy Hussek 6) Mary Harvie 7) Stacy Taylor 8) Mike Stadel
B-Main 1: 1) Corbett 2) Balcaen 3) Lacy 4) MaKay 5) Taylor 6) Hussek 7) M. Harvey 8) Ricehouse 9) Dowson 10) McCord 11) Skytland 12) R. Harvie 13) Mass 14) Mitchell 15) Turnbull 16) Ireland
B-Main 2: 1) Phillips 2) Noyes 3) Peden 4) Seng 5) Shaw 6) Mueller 7) Reid 8) Carder 9) Gugleimoni 10) Drake 11) Looney 12) Hall 13) Waldo 14) Findling 15) Stadel 16) Patrell
Modifieds
Heat 1: 1) Art Lacy 2) Chris Olexiewicz 3) Johnny Scott 4) Nick O'Neal 5) Aaron Turnbull 6) Terry Haven 7) RC Whitwell 8) Stormy Scott 9) Shawn Nolen 10) Grant Junghans
Heat 2: 1) Bo Partain 2) Chase Junghans 3) Eddie Martin 4) Tim Kennedy 5) Bob Sykes 6) Marlyn Seidler 7) Kellen Chadwick 8) Darryn Waldo 9) Tim Ward 10) Tony Hill
Heat 3: 1) Anthony Madrid 2) Jason Friesen 3) David Murray, Jr. 4) Monte Bischoff 5) Terry Hawkings 6) Lance Mari 7)Jeremy Newberry 8) Aaron Mari 9) Vince Spiker 10) Dennis Haven 11) Jeremy Frenier
B-Main: 1) Whitwell 2) Chadwick 3) L. Mari 4) Seidler 5) Nolan 6) Hawkins 7) Junghans 8) Newberry 9) Ward 10) A. Mari 11) Hill 12) D. Haven 13) T. Haven 14) Sykes 15) Waldo 16) Spiker 17) Turnbull 18) S. Scott 19) Frenier
Main: 1) J. Scott 2) Whitwell 3) Friesen 4) Olexiewicz 5) G. Junghans 6) Nolan 7) Newberry 8) O'Neal 9) Bischoff 10) Sykes 11) L. Mari 12) Ward 13) Waldo 14) Hawkins 15) Hill 16) T. Haven 17) D. Haven 18) A. Mari 19) Kennedy 20) Seidler 21) C. Junghans 22) Madrid 23) Lacy 24) Murray Jr.
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