Round two of the Wild West Shootout in San Tan Valley, AZ, lived up to its name on Sunday night, as one battle for the lead ended in a spin and another was a case of “how low can you go?”

Don Shaw answered that question by taking an extreme bottom groove to slide past last year’s dominator, Bobby Pierce, for the second-round victory.

Pierce started from the pole and shot out to an early advantage, but Saturday night’s winner, Ricky Weiss, had 250,000 reasons to catch him. Weiss bolted through the field from seventh and assumed the lead on lap 11. Pierce refused to give ground and two laps later — after the pair exchanged sliders — the leaders tangled.

“It was just a hard racing deal,” Pierce said. “I was still alongside, but I just think he didn’t know I was still there. He was going for the cushion and I was already aimed for it. By the time I realized he was coming up, it was too late to back off. I hate that it happened.”

Weiss spun off track at the turn one exit and failed to finish. Along with his DNF, he lost the potential for a $250,000 bonus that was earmarked for any driver who could sweep all six Wild West Shootout races.

Weiss and Shaw both still have the opportunity to pocket a $100,000 bonus if they can win the next four races.

That slowdown and another with 10 laps remaining allowed Shaw to charge from 13th on the grid to the point with only three circuits remaining around the .333-mile track. Pierce stayed dedicated to the low groove and thought he was protecting the bottom, but Shaw found a way to go lower still.

Shaw’s win was the second for one of the champions from the Great White North. Saturday night’s winner, Weiss, is the reigning Northern Late Model Racing Association; Shaw won last year’s WISSOTA title.

Pierce settled for second.

Meanwhile, Mike Marlar was disappointed that his momentum was broken. In the closing laps, he ran second to Pierce and had a shot at the win before the final caution that allowed Shaw to rocket past both of the leaders.

“I didn’t need those cautions,” Marlar explained. “I had a shot to roll [Pierce] there before that happened.”

That was Marlar’s second third-place finish in a row and it gave him the points lead for the mini-series. Shaw sits second in the points.

 Top 10 Finishers
1. Don Shaw
2. Bobby Pierce
3. Mike Marlar
4. Ryan Gustin
5. Brandon Sheppard
6. Terry Phillips
7. David Breazeale
8. Mike Spatola
9. Kyle Beard
10. Rodney Sanders