CASA GRANDE, Ariz. A new year brought a new location for the Pitt Motorsports IMCATV Western Nationals when the event moved to Central Arizona Raceway.

Previously Cocopah Speedway was the site for the event but the track is not currently active.

Five IMCA divisions brought 223 teams to the sharp looking three-eighths-mile oval for the first of eight Western Nationals shows.

A windy day made opening day challenging and a rain delay after the heats added to the weather issues.  Racing resumed and some packing was all it took to run eight B mains, moving a dozen into the A main to make 28-car fields.

Draw heats used passing/finishing points to add cars to the heat winners to create a top 16 to fill the first eight rows of the A mains.

The modified main was quickly run and dominated by Luke Silber, using his front row starting spot to take the win over Chaz Baca and Dylan Thornton.

Northern sport mods were led by Tyler Johnson for two laps before Jake Smith sped past Johnson on the backstretch.   Smith led eight laps until a yellow opened an opportunity for Ryan Perry.

Perry raced into turn one the bottom and drove past Smith and went on to win.   Smith was second and Taylor Kuehl finished third.

Stock cars had an excellent battle between Braden Richards and Mike Albertsen highlighting the division often labeled too tough to tame.

A cluster of stock cars chasing the lead didnt get past Richards and the Madrid, Iowa driver took the win over Albertsen and Jason Rogers.

A trio of Nebraska drivers dominated the hobby stock main as Dillon Richards and Dillon Thompson, took the top two finishing spots and Morgan Olmstead was third to complete the sweep.

Sport compact action saw Billy Foultz, Joseph Baker and Gilbert Aldape take the podium finish.

The Western Nationals continue the next three days and can be followed on SPEED SPORT affiliate IMCA.tv.