January 11, 2026 | By WWS PR

Ricky Thornton Jr. takes $38,000 at Wild West Shootout opener

CASA GRANDE, Ariz.—The 20th-annual Rio Grande Waste Services Wild West Shootout presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts kicked off Saturday evening as more than 160 cars filled the pits at Central Arizona Raceway (Casa Grande, Ariz.) for opening night.

Ricky Thornton Jr., Cade Dillard, and Blake Adams took opening night victories.

Teaming up with Adam Family Motorsports for the event, Arizona native Ricky Thornton Jr. wasted no time taking the spotlight in his home state, collecting the $25,000 winner’s check in the opening round along with $13,000 in Rio Grande Waste Services Lap Leader Loot for a $38,000 payday.

Thornton Jr. led the opening 16 circuits of the Super Late Model feature before Hudson O’Neal took command on lap 17. O’Neal held the lead for 24 laps to earn $12,000 in lap money before RTJ reclaimed the top spot and pulled away to the checkered flag.

“I could tell he (Hudson O’Neal) was running about 75%, and I was running pretty hard,” Thornton Jr. said in Hoker Trucking Victory Lane. “Whenever I slid him, I knew he was going to cross me, and I figured if I could race him hard into three … and catch enough traction, I could ride back by him.”

RTJ earned his second Wild West Shootout triumph, adding to his 2021 victory at Arizona Speedway, with Adam Family Motorsports collecting its first WWS trophy.

Hudson O’Neal took runner-up honors in the Rumley Enterprises machine, while Cade Dillard stormed from the 16th-starting position to finish third. Ryan Gustin and Mike Marlar completed the top five.

In the Shocker Hitch X-Modifieds division presented by Border Tire, second-row starter Blake Adams took the lead on lap eight and led the final 18 circuits to a $1,000 payday over Jake Smith and Rob Mosely.

The Mesilla Valley Transportation Modifieds closed out the first night of action with Cade Dillard leading all 25 laps from the pole position. Reece Solander, Tanner Mullens, Dustin Sorensen, and Gary Christian rounded out the top five.

Action resumes tomorrow evening, January 11, at Central Arizona Raceway (Case Grande, Ariz.) for the second installment of the 2026 Wild West Shootout.

Single-day reserved tickets are still on sale now at www.WildWestShootout.net.

If you can't make it out to Arizona in January to enjoy the amazing racing and beautiful weather, you can watch every lap on FloRacing. Sign up and watch here. https://flosports.link/4evwNYI.


RESULTS

Saturday, January 10, 2026

Dirt Super Late Models

A Feature 1 (50 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 6-Hudson O'Neal[4]; 3. 97-Cade Dillard[16]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin[18]; 5. 157-Mike Marlar[8]; 6. 15S-Clay Stuckey[7]; 7. 58-Garrett Alberson[3]; 8. 22*-Drake Troutman[10]; 9. 74X-Ethan Dotson[9]; 10. 86-Kyle Beard[23]; 11. 1-Tyler Erb[6]; 12. 8-Dillon McCowan[2]; 13. 32-Bobby Pierce[13]; 14. 0-Jake O'Neil[19]; 15. 96-RC Whitwell[12]; 16. 75A-Daniel Adam[15]; 17. 13-Bricen James[20]; 18. 82-Eston Whisler[5]; 19. 128-Kylan Garner[25]; 20. 18-Chase Junghans[21]; 21. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[22]; 22. B5-Brandon Sheppard[11]; 23. 48-Billy Moyer Sr[24]; 24. 19-Dustin Sorensen[14]; 25. 49-Jonathan Davenport[17]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 0-Jake O'Neil[3]; 3. 18-Chase Junghans[5]; 4. 86-Kyle Beard[6]; 5. 4TW-Tim Ward[4]; 6. 75-Terry Phillips[8]; 7. 88-Chance Mann[7]; 8. 1X-Amelia Eisenschenk[10]; 9. 11-Mike Greseth[13]; 10. 15*-Cole Schill[11]; 11. 23-Brad Williams[12]; 12. 4P-Richard Papenhausen[9]; 13. 19RT-Paul Rios[15]; 14. 78S-Steve Stultz[2]; 15. 15D-Justin Duty[14]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[1]; 2. 13-Bricen James[5]; 3. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[8]; 4. 48-Billy Moyer Sr[6]; 5. 128-Kylan Garner[2]; 6. 49T-Jake Timm[4]; 7. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[7]; 8. 28-Sam Mars[3]; 9. 66-Eli Ross[10]; 10. 28W-Ian Whisler[9]; 11. 21F-Gunner Frank[11]; 12. 6T-Terry Carter[13]; 13. 0G-Peyton George[12]; 14. 8B-Ashlee Buck[15]; 15. 9T-Tim Isenberg[14]

Pro Power Dash (8 Laps): 1. 128-Kylan Garner[2]; 2. 75-Terry Phillips[3]; 3. 49T-Jake Timm[4]; 4. 66-Eli Ross[8]; 5. 1X-Amelia Eisenschenk[7]; 6. 88-Chance Mann[5]; 7. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[6]; 8. 4TW-Tim Ward[1]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 58-Garrett Alberson[2]; 2. 82-Eston Whisler[1]; 3. 74X-Ethan Dotson[7]; 4. 32-Bobby Pierce[6]; 5. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 6. 0-Jake O'Neil[3]; 7. 18-Chase Junghans[8]; 8. 88-Chance Mann[9]; 9. 4P-Richard Papenhausen[12]; 10. 15*-Cole Schill[11]; 11. 11-Mike Greseth[10]; 12. 15D-Justin Duty[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Dillon McCowan[1]; 2. 15S-Clay Stuckey[3]; 3. B5-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 4. 75A-Daniel Adam[2]; 5. 78S-Steve Stultz[7]; 6. 4TW-Tim Ward[8]; 7. 86-Kyle Beard[6]; 8. 75-Terry Phillips[4]; 9. 1X-Amelia Eisenschenk[9]; 10. 23-Brad Williams[10]; 11. (DNS) 19RT-Paul Rios

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 1-Tyler Erb[2]; 3. 22*-Drake Troutman[3]; 4. 19-Dustin Sorensen[5]; 5. 19R-Ryan Gustin[4]; 6. 28-Sam Mars[7]; 7. 13-Bricen James[6]; 8. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[9]; 9. 28W-Ian Whisler[8]; 10. 21F-Gunner Frank[10]; 11. 6T-Terry Carter[11]; 12. 8B-Ashlee Buck[12]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Hudson O'Neal[1]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 3. 96-RC Whitwell[3]; 4. 97-Cade Dillard[5]; 5. 128-Kylan Garner[4]; 6. 49T-Jake Timm[10]; 7. 48-Billy Moyer Sr[7]; 8. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[9]; 9. 66-Eli Ross[8]; 10. 0G-Peyton George[11]; 11. 9T-Tim Isenberg[6]

Qualifying 1: 1. 82-Eston Whisler, 00:15.327[3]; 2. 8-Dillon McCowan, 00:15.391[5]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson, 00:15.485[6]; 4. 75A-Daniel Adam, 00:15.511[14]; 5. 0-Jake O'Neil, 00:15.544[11]; 6. 15S-Clay Stuckey, 00:15.564[7]; 7. 49-Jonathan Davenport, 00:15.621[20]; 8. 75-Terry Phillips, 00:15.656[10]; 9. 15D-Justin Duty, 00:15.707[1]; 10. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:15.770[17]; 11. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:15.836[18]; 12. 86-Kyle Beard, 00:15.907[15]; 13. 74X-Ethan Dotson, 00:15.939[8]; 14. 78S-Steve Stultz, 00:15.981[4]; 15. 18-Chase Junghans, 00:16.069[19]; 16. 4TW-Tim Ward, 00:16.261[12]; 17. 88-Chance Mann, 00:16.792[21]; 18. 1X-Amelia Eisenschenk, 00:16.866[22]; 19. 11-Mike Greseth, 00:17.015[16]; 20. 23-Brad Williams, 00:17.106[13]; 21. 15*-Cole Schill, 00:17.311[9]; 22. 19RT-Paul Rios, 00:19.154[23]; 23. 4P-Richard Papenhausen, 00:19.154[2]

Qualifying 2: 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:16.138[9]; 2. 6-Hudson O'Neal, 00:16.165[14]; 3. 1-Tyler Erb, 00:16.225[12]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:16.263[16]; 5. 22*-Drake Troutman, 00:16.268[20]; 6. 96-RC Whitwell, 00:16.282[15]; 7. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:16.283[11]; 8. 128-Kylan Garner, 00:16.311[5]; 9. 19-Dustin Sorensen, 00:16.533[23]; 10. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:16.574[21]; 11. 13-Bricen James, 00:16.584[18]; 12. 9T-Tim Isenberg, 00:16.595[22]; 13. 28-Sam Mars, 00:16.597[17]; 14. 48-Billy Moyer Sr, 00:16.682[13]; 15. 28W-Ian Whisler, 00:16.861[6]; 16. 66-Eli Ross, 00:16.876[19]; 17. 15-Laela Eisenschenk, 00:16.931[2]; 18. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson, 00:16.938[10]; 19. 21F-Gunner Frank, 00:16.959[1]; 20. 49T-Jake Timm, 00:17.049[4]; 21. 6T-Terry Carter, 00:17.666[8]; 22. 0G-Peyton George, 00:18.223[7]; 23. 8B-Ashlee Buck, 00:19.030[3]


A Modifieds

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 97-Cade Dillard[1]; 2. 5-Reece Solander[2]; 3. 85-Tanner Mullens[16]; 4. 19-Dustin Sorensen[10]; 5. 58X-Gary Christian[17]; 6. 20S-Rodney Sanders[7]; 7. 40D-Blake Adams[6]; 8. 7G-Gabe Hodges[3]; 9. 0G-Tripp Gaylord[8]; 10. 19SB-Lance Mari[11]; 11. 97A-Cole Anderson[14]; 12. J17-Jake Gallardo[4]; 13. 2SS-Mark Smith[18]; 14. 4W-Tyler Wolff[15]; 15. 44N-Jason Noll[23]; 16. 50-Robert Adams[19]; 17. 10M-Talan Willis[21]; 18. 85D-Mark Dotson[20]; 19. 20-Cole Queensland[22]; 20. 91-Joe Duvall[9]; 21. 75-Terry Phillips[13]; 22. 112-Brennan Gave[24]; 23. 29-Chris Spalding[12]; 24. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[5]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 58X-Gary Christian[2]; 2. 50-Robert Adams[3]; 3. 10M-Talan Willis[7]; 4. 44N-Jason Noll[4]; 5. 71-Dustin Strand[1]; 6. 77X-Austin Kuehl[6]; 7. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[9]; 8. 19R-Lucas Rodin[12]; 9. D25-David Tanner[5]; 10. 88XXX-Randy Klein[14]; 11. 81-Devon Jobin[11]; 12. 24X-Xavier Ortega[13]; 13. 111-Logan Drake[15]; 14. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[20]; 15. 16OZ-CR Eisenzimer[23]; 16. 413-Tate Johnson[8]; 17. 17-Brent Holman[16]; 18. M19-JC Mattingly[18]; 19. 51-Dallas Caldwell[19]; 20. L8-Ethan Stevens[25]; 21. 73-Jeff Helget[21]; 22. G17-Fito Gallardo[10]; 23. P17-Peyton Gallardo[17]; 24. 520T-Lukas Tellez[22]; 25. 196-Matt Micheli[24]; 26. 38T-Dylan Thornton[26]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 2SS-Mark Smith[1]; 2. 85D-Mark Dotson[7]; 3. 20-Cole Queensland[12]; 4. 112-Brennan Gave[22]; 5. 151-Lucas Gibbs[10]; 6. 12J-Jay Rosales[17]; 7. 11N-Gene Nicholas[16]; 8. 131-Royal Jones[13]; 9. 7-AJ Sharpensteen[11]; 10. 02LZ-Ellsworth Conover[20]; 11. 26S-Steven Glenn[14]; 12. 22S-Cole Szlauko[21]; 13. 64-Casey Fowler[23]; 14. 24-Rick Ortega[25]; 15. 73S-Mike Szlauko[18]; 16. 57-Gage McCaughan[24]; 17. 80XX-Jason Langford[4]; 18. 721-Troy Gemmill[8]; 19. 98-Alex Stanford[2]; 20. 12S-Hunter Sandy[6]; 21. 25-Kale Murphrey[9]; 22. 14T-Randy Thornell[19]; 23. 6F-Matt Fester[3]; 24. J7-Jake Boles[5]; 25. 2K-Taylor Kuehl[15]; 26. 12-Paul Miles[26]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 91-Joe Duvall[2]; 2. 29-Chris Spalding[4]; 3. 97A-Cole Anderson[6]; 4. 721-Troy Gemmill[3]; 5. 71-Dustin Strand[10]; 6. 77X-Austin Kuehl[9]; 7. 111-Logan Drake[1]; 8. 17-Brent Holman[5]; 9. 12J-Jay Rosales[7]; 10. M19-JC Mattingly[12]; 11. 64-Casey Fowler[8]; 12. 196-Matt Micheli[11]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Dustin Sorensen[2]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[5]; 3. 0G-Tripp Gaylord[7]; 4. J17-Jake Gallardo[11]; 5. 151-Lucas Gibbs[1]; 6. 12S-Hunter Sandy[9]; 7. 81-Devon Jobin[8]; 8. 25-Kale Murphrey[12]; 9. 2K-Taylor Kuehl[10]; 10. 520T-Lukas Tellez[6]; 11. L8-Ethan Stevens[4]; 12. 24-Rick Ortega[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 19SB-Lance Mari[2]; 2. 75-Terry Phillips[4]; 3. 2SS-Mark Smith[5]; 4. 58X-Gary Christian[7]; 5. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[6]; 6. 131-Royal Jones[1]; 7. 7-AJ Sharpensteen[8]; 8. 20-Cole Queensland[10]; 9. 02LZ-Ellsworth Conover[3]; 10. US-Jonathan Olmscheid[9]; 11. (DNS) 38T-Dylan Thornton

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 85-Tanner Mullens[1]; 2. 20S-Rodney Sanders[5]; 3. 7G-Gabe Hodges[9]; 4. 85D-Mark Dotson[4]; 5. 44N-Jason Noll[8]; 6. 24X-Xavier Ortega[2]; 7. 413-Tate Johnson[11]; 8. 26S-Steven Glenn[7]; 9. 73-Jeff Helget[3]; 10. 73S-Mike Szlauko[10]; 11. 57-Gage McCaughan[6]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Cade Dillard[10]; 2. 98-Alex Stanford[2]; 3. D25-David Tanner[3]; 4. 6F-Matt Fester[6]; 5. J7-Jake Boles[7]; 6. 10M-Talan Willis[9]; 7. 19R-Lucas Rodin[8]; 8. 11N-Gene Nicholas[5]; 9. 22S-Cole Szlauko[1]; 10. 16OZ-CR Eisenzimer[4]; 11. 112-Brennan Gave[11]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Reece Solander[5]; 2. 50-Robert Adams[1]; 3. 4W-Tyler Wolff[6]; 4. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[10]; 5. 80XX-Jason Langford[8]; 6. G17-Fito Gallardo[7]; 7. 88XXX-Randy Klein[2]; 8. P17-Peyton Gallardo[3]; 9. 14T-Randy Thornell[4]; 10. 51-Dallas Caldwell[11]; 11. (DNS) 12-Paul Miles


Limited Mods

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[3]; 2. 21-Jake Smith[18]; 3. M17-Rob Moseley[1]; 4. 3J-Josh Cain[5]; 5. 32C-Curtis Stieh[12]; 6. 22-Keenan Glasser[15]; 7. 28BY-Bryson Yeager[24]; 8. 19-Lucas Rodin[17]; 9. 94-Tyler Potter[8]; 10. 34-Brandon Rehill[23]; 11. 29-Alan Farley[10]; 12. 81-Scott Francoeur[14]; 13. 0-Dakota Girard[21]; 14. 413-Tate Johnson[19]; 15. 77-Chance Kodet[2]; 16. 11DW-Danny Wagner[20]; 17. 28-Scott Tofte[11]; 18. 50-Braydon Whitfield[22]; 19. 14J-Jacob Hodges[4]; 20. 12-Mike Rosales[9]; 21. 79-Jaden Christ[13]; 22. 75-Tyler Johnson[7]; 23. 57-Duke Erickson[16]; 24. 1S-Scott Bintz[6]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 19-Lucas Rodin[1]; 2. 413-Tate Johnson[4]; 3. 0-Dakota Girard[3]; 4. 34-Brandon Rehill[5]; 5. 44-Eric Winemiller[2]; 6. 8X-Arturo Ordonez[9]; 7. 9-Ken Schrader[16]; 8. 0G-Matt Gilbertson[17]; 9. 02-Deuce Teague[7]; 10. 27P-Parker Anderson[13]; 11. 27-Andy Davis[6]; 12. 980-Kaden Woodie[11]; 13. 54-Lance Relf[10]; 14. 11D-Dave Smith[8]; 15. 21B-Braxton James[12]; 16. 93-Greg Gorham[14]; 17. 23B-Israel Ortega[15]

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 21-Jake Smith[2]; 2. 11DW-Danny Wagner[3]; 3. 50-Braydon Whitfield[1]; 4. 28BY-Bryson Yeager[12]; 5. 05-Aasa Flores[5]; 6. 509-Brennan Davis[9]; 7. 71B-Dave Siercks[4]; 8. 13-Josh Beyer[8]; 9. 50X-Paul Parks[10]; 10. 81S-Bubba Stafford Jr[7]; 11. 5C-Chandler Dodge[15]; 12. 316-Brandyn Johnson[13]; 13. 23H-Hector Barraza[6]; 14. 14-Erick Barraza[11]; 15. 30-Blake Davis[14]; 16. (DNS) B52-Michael Hartman

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3J-Josh Cain[4]; 2. 1S-Scott Bintz[6]; 3. 50-Braydon Whitfield[2]; 4. 44-Eric Winemiller[5]; 5. 05-Aasa Flores[3]; 6. 509-Brennan Davis[1]; 7. 11D-Dave Smith[7]; 8. 980-Kaden Woodie[8]; 9. 27P-Parker Anderson[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 94-Tyler Potter[3]; 2. 75-Tyler Johnson[6]; 3. 0-Dakota Girard[1]; 4. 21-Jake Smith[5]; 5. 34-Brandon Rehill[4]; 6. 71B-Dave Siercks[8]; 7. 13-Josh Beyer[7]; 8. 54-Lance Relf[9]; 9. 21B-Braxton James[10]; 10. B52-Michael Hartman[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Mike Rosales[2]; 2. 14J-Jacob Hodges[7]; 3. 22-Keenan Glasser[3]; 4. 11DW-Danny Wagner[4]; 5. 29-Alan Farley[10]; 6. 81S-Bubba Stafford Jr[5]; 7. 27-Andy Davis[9]; 8. 14-Erick Barraza[8]; 9. 30-Blake Davis[6]; 10. (DNS) 0G-Matt Gilbertson

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. M17-Rob Moseley[8]; 2. 28-Scott Tofte[2]; 3. 77-Chance Kodet[10]; 4. 413-Tate Johnson[4]; 5. 23H-Hector Barraza[1]; 6. 02-Deuce Teague[6]; 7. 50X-Paul Parks[3]; 8. 28BY-Bryson Yeager[5]; 9. 316-Brandyn Johnson[9]; 10. 9-Ken Schrader[7]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[5]; 2. 32C-Curtis Stieh[1]; 3. 57-Duke Erickson[3]; 4. 79-Jaden Christ[6]; 5. 81-Scott Francoeur[8]; 6. 19-Lucas Rodin[10]; 7. 8X-Arturo Ordonez[7]; 8. 93-Greg Gorham[2]; 9. 23B-Israel Ortega[4]; 10. 5C-Chandler Dodge[9]