SARVER, Pa. — Bobby Pierce was back in victory lane Wednesday as the Castrol FloRacing Night in America presented by Kubota thundered into Lernerville Speedway for the first time.
Pierce also made his debut at the Pennsylvania oval. A pair of firsts culminated in the Illinois racer charging to the $20,000 victory, which catapulted him back to the top of the series standings.
Pierce overtook Tyler Erb on lap 27 of the 50-lap affair and went on to collect his second series victory of the season by a convincing 5.035-second margin.
“It was a lot of fun, I really think the top (line) possibly was there too, if I had to move around in lapped traffic,” Pierce said. “Car was awesome down there on the bottom, we made the right tire call. It’s tough going to a new track, cause this place is very unique, I will say that. I’ve got a lot of laps here on the (video game).
“Shoutout to the Bloomquist family and prayers go out to them. I did Scott’s signature move there (crotch chop) in victory lane as a tribute to him. We all continue to think about his family during this tough time.”
While Devin Moran, who set a track record to start the night in Sunoco Race Fuels qualifying, and Garrett Alberson brought the field to the green flag for the night’s 50-lap finale, it was Erb’s opening lap moves that catapulted him from the fourth-starting spot to the lead.
The Texas native paced the first 26 circuits but wasn’t able to repel a fast-moving Bobby Pierce, who raced from his seventh-starting spot to the lead on lap 27. Once out front he never relinquished the lead.
Pierce’s series’ leading seventh win of his career came ahead of Erb, Daulton Wilson, Garrett Alberson and Moran.
Pierce finds himself back atop the series standings with a 9-point advantage over Ricky Thornton Jr.
Boom Briggs was the fast qualifier for the 49-car field with a lap of 15.277 secons on the four-tenths-mile track.
The finish:
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[7]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]; 3. 18D-Daulton Wilson[3]; 4. 58-Garrett Alberson[2]; 5. 99-Devin Moran[1]; 6. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[9]; 7. 7T-Drake Troutman[10]; 8. B5-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 9. 111-Max Blair[15]; 10. 19M-Spencer Hughes[12]; 11. 22-Gregg Satterlee[21]; 12. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[18]; 13. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[8]; 14. 1-Tim McCreadie[13]; 15. 71-Hudson O’Neal[20]; 16. 93-Carson Ferguson[23]; 17. 1C-Alex Ferree[11]; 18. 99B-Boom Briggs[6]; 19. 25-Jason Feger[19]; 20. 17SS-Brenden Smith[16]; 21. 40-Michael Duritsky Jr[22]; 22. (DNF) 72-Michael Norris[17]; 23. (DNF) 66-Justin Kann[14]; 24. (DNF) 9M-Myles Moos[24]