NEW RICHMOND, Wis. — Bobby Pierce continues to ride his rail of dominance this summer with the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models.
Pierce held off a plethora of challenges from the top dirt late model drivers in the country for his second USA Nationals victory at Cedar Lake Speedway.
Pierce started on the front row with Jonathan Davenport and led lap one until the caution flew on lap two for points leader Brandon Sheppard, who suffered mechanical issues under the hood.
On the next restart, Davenport got out to the lead until Pierce reeled the No. 49 back in a quick manner. On lap three, using the bottom line through turns one and two, Pierce soared by Davenport to take the lead as the gasser of the No. 32 Megan’s Mission machine began to find his rhythm.
Kyle Bronson, who started in seventh at the drop of the green flag, worked his No. 40b up to third as he battled Davenport throughout the feature for second place while Pierce inflated the gap from the two drivers up to two seconds before catching lapped traffic.
On the final restart, Pierce jumped out to the lead, but Dustin Sorensen made hay by challenging Bronson for the second spot on the podium at a hometown track.
Friday night’s feature winner Ryan Gustin rallied a late charge toward the three drivers with a run around the high side of the track to make it a four-car battle for the win.
“It as nerve-racking not to have eyes on the back of my head,” Pierce said. “Kyle (Bronson) said Gustin was coming good on the top there. It was an awesome race.”
The feature was declared official on Lap 56 as massive rainfall found its way to the track surface, cementing Pierce’s 10th World of Outlaws CASE Late Models victory of 2024 and his seventh triumph in eight races.
“It doesn’t get easier the more races you win,” Pierce said. “That whole race, I started searching (for fresh dirt) on the track about 20 laps in. It’s not a good feeling when you’re looking that early in a long race, and I was hurting my tires bad. After I got out of the car, my right rear (tire) was completely smoked. I knew the rain was coming so I was using them up more than normal. It’s nerve-racking because I knew (Bronson) was there. I just did what I had to do to maintain my position, and it was damn close. We definitely had some luck on our side today. It wasn’t as exciting as the PDC win, but it was exciting in the car. It was tough out there.”
Bronson finished second to Pierce, marking his second podium finish of the weekend at Cedar Lake.
“I felt like we were good,” Bronson said. “I had a really good car. I made a couple of wrong moves there early and I could’ve been there to get (Bobby) at the end. It’s the way it goes sometimes, and we’ll keep building and I’m looking forward to getting to the next races we have coming up.”
Sorensen rounded out the top three.
“I was sitting there in third and saw a couple of lapped cars were running the top,” Sorensen said. “I gave it a shot and it was really good. I was fast through the first two corners, but Bronson was able to get to the bottom through the last two to get back by me. We might have had something for them had we gotten a couple of more laps.
“We knew this was gonna be tough and a good challenge. We’ve gotten better through the year, and it’s been pretty steady with the gains made. There’s been some bumps and struggles, but this gets me excited for the rest of the year. I want to win one of these races.”
Gustin and Davenport completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (100 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[7]; 3. 19-Dustin Sorensen[11]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]; 5. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 6. 71-Hudson O’Neal[13]; 7. 97-Cade Dillard[19]; 8. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[9]; 9. 1-Tim McCreadie[6]; 10. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 11. 28M-Sam Mars[23]; 12. 9-Nick Hoffman[5]; 13. 1T-Tyler Erb[18]; 14. 16-Tyler Bruening[17]; 15. 7-Ricky Weiss[27]; 16. 74X-Ethan Dotson[15]; 17. B1-Brent Larson[12]; 18. 22*-Max McLaughlin[20]; 19. 57-Mike Marlar[21]; 20. 25-Jason Feger[14]; 21. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[25]; 22. 10-Garrett Smith[10]; 23. 0-Scott Bloomquist[28]; 24. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[29]; 25. 97JR-Cody Overton[26]; 26. 55C-Chad Mahder[22]; 27. B5-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 28. 11-Gordy Gundaker[24]; 29. 18-Shannon Babb[16]