HARTFORD, Ohio — Bobby Pierce continued to prove why he is one of the top dirt late model drivers in the country through the weekend in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Pierce picked up his eighth World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models victory after a duel between fellow Illinois drivers Brandon Sheppard, Dennis Erb Jr. and Brian Shirley.
Beginning the night from the second row, Pierce got by Shirley on the high side of the track while he rode behind Erb and Sheppard in his No. 32 Low Voltage Solutions machine.
Sheppard prevailed against Erb on the high side with Pierce following the tire tracks of the No. B5 Longhorn Chassis to get by Erb.
Pierce began to pick up forward movement on Sheppard as the race progressed. His first attempt to pass Sheppard was blocked by a lapped car in Pierce’s line which forced him to gather the car back up for a second chance.
His second chance to take the Feature lead proved to be a success when Sheppard jumped the cushion in turns one and two, allowing Pierce to get a run on him on the bottom of turn three and completing the pass for the lead.
Pierce expanded the distance to Sheppard to over three seconds while searching for ways to maneuver around the packs of lapped cars competing around him.
Conquering the northeastern swing with ease, the “Smooth Operator” got his 26th series triumph and became the first driver since Sheppard in 2020 to win four consecutive races.
“That track was tough tonight,” Pierce said. “I kept thinking if we made the right tire choice again because Brandon was on a completely different tire. But I could tell he was driving hard and I wasn’t pushing as much as he was. So, it had me a little worried but he was getting tight and I was cutting through the corner pretty good. That’s when my chance came and got around him through the slide.
“It was a fun race to have the bottom and top so when you got into a battle, it was hard for me to pass a guy like Chub Frank around the bottom. The track really transitioned there and it was nice to have a track that moves around like that.”
Sheppard picked up the second-place result, his third in four races.
With the performance displayed, “B-Shepp” grew his lead in the series standings to 52 points over Nick Hoffman.
“It was tough out there,” Sheppard said. “We were rolling good in the first half, but once the fresh dirt went away I was super free. The changes we made to the car just did not activate when it got slick so it hurt me there. Overall, it was a pretty good night. I’m getting tired of finishing second, but you can’t complain about finishing second. Bobby’s the best in the country so we gotta step up our game.”
Ryan Gustin finished the night with his fourth third-place finish in the last five races.
“We faded pretty bad late in the run,” Gustin said. “Those guys could take off and we couldn’t, it just wasn’t our night. It’s nice to be on the podium for sure, but we’re here to win. We didn’t come to run second or third, we just gotta get our car better, that’s really all there is to it.”
Shirley finished fourth and Kyle Bronson was fifth.
The finish:
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[6]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[10]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[1]; 7. 97-Cade Dillard[8]; 8. 19-Dustin Sorensen[13]; 9. 16-Tyler Bruening[5]; 10. 1*-Chub Frank[19]; 11. 44-Dave Hess Jr[11]; 12. 9-Nick Hoffman[23]; 13. 02-Michael Norris[9]; 14. B1-Brent Larson[16]; 15. 22*-Max McLaughlin[21]; 16. 97JR-Cody Overton[12]; 17. 14W-Dustin Walker[17]; 18. 1Z-Logan Zarin[18]; 19. J4-John Garvin Jr[7]; 20. 12B-Andy Boozel[15]; 21. 217-Eric Wilson[24]; 22. 1C-Alex Ferree[20]; 23. 0-Ryan Scott[22]; 24. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[14]