COLCORD, Okla. — For the second time in seven days, Bobby Pierce and Brian Shirley finished 1-2 with the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision.
But this time, the fans at Arrowhead Speedway didn’t need to check live timing to see who came out on top.
With seven laps to go, the “Smooth Operator” got by “Squirrel” and never looked back for his third-straight World of Outlaws victory and his 10th of the season.
“It’s awesome to be here in Oklahoma and get the win, was really looking forward to this track, been looking forward to it for a long time now,” Pierce said. “Arrowhead Speedway, what an awesome facility. Can’t wait to come back again, can’t wait to race again tomorrow.”
Pierce started his march to the front from fifth, but struggled to gain ground early as he battled Nick Hoffman for a spot in the top five. A quarter of the way through the 40-lapper, Pierce took his first step forward by getting around the outside of Dennis Erb Jr. and into fourth, and followed it up by pulling the same move on Tim McCreadie two laps later to crack the top three.
Shirley led the way out front, but behind him, Tristan Chamberlain was having his best night of the season in second and never let the No. 3s get out of reach.
But before he could find a way by, Chamberlain’s focus shifted from staying with Shirley to keeping Pierce behind him, and he did a formidable job of holding off the points leader for several laps.
The 18-year-old stayed true to the top groove and forced Pierce to look elsewhere to get by him, but getting stuck behind the slower car of Jake Timm would mark the end of Chamberlain’s time in second.
The race turned into a replay of the Hawkeye 100 in the late stages with Pierce and Shirley battling it out up front for the trophy.
With Shirley also ripping the cushion, Pierce had to go low once again to get the lead, and a slide job in Turns 1 and 2 was all it took to clear Shirley and take command.
One more wrinkle came into play with five laps remaining when Ryan Gustin slowed with a flat tire to bring out the caution. No one was able to capitalize on the restart though, and Pierce cruised away to the 28th overall victory of yet another history-making season.
While the 2023 series champion was undoubtedly the man to beat come Feature time, Pierce believes there’s still room for improvement going into Saturday.
“We’ve got to get a little better in qualifying,” Pierce said. “Both laps I tried something different, and if I would have pieced a lap together, one corner a certain spot and another corner another spot, probably would have had a good qualifying lap. And just getting those heat race wins is sometimes tough, me and Dennis had a heck of a battle. Hopefully tomorrow, we can just be a little better in the heat race. Obviously in the redraw, I drew a five, way better than drawing fourth row. We’ll just see what we’ve got tomorrow, really looking forward to it.”
Staying in front of Pierce has been a puzzle the whole dirt late model world has tried to solve in 2025, and after his third podium in as many races, Shirley looks to be closer than anyone to cracking the code.
“He’s just a little bit better,” Shirley said. “As the race goes on, we get freer, he gets a little tighter. I don’t know that he’s light years faster than everybody, he just doesn’t slow up like we do. We’ve got to go and do some things to figure out how to get better, but at least we’re there.”
McCreadie rounded out the podium for his best finish since his win at Cedar Lake Speedway three weeks ago, extending the gap to Erb to 40 points in the race for fourth in the standings.
“The race track’s a lot of fun when you don’t mess with them all night long with a water truck and a tiller,” McCreadie said. “They slow down, you can race all over them, you see guys start in the back and start passing. We’ve had three or four of these in a row where we’ve done it, and guys aren’t winning off the pole, they’re winning from midpack. More of that is better for everybody.”
Hoffman backed up his Thursday triumph with a fourth-place run in the opening night of World of Outlaws competition, while Chamberlain ended up fifth.
The finish:
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[5]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 3. 9M-Tim McCreadie[2]; 4. 9-Nick Hoffman[8]; 5. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[3]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[4]; 7. 22*-Drake Troutman[7]; 8. 2-Cody Overton[9]; 9. 1-Tyler Erb[11]; 10. 18-Chase Junghans[13]; 11. 74X-Ethan Dotson[6]; 12. 15-Clay Stuckey[10]; 13. 19-Dustin Sorensen[21]; 14. B1-Brent Larson[14]; 15. 96-Tanner English[12]; 16. 19R-Ryan Gustin[17]; 17. 4W-Tyler Wolff[19]; 18. 2C-Charlie Cole[15]; 19. 66-Eli Ross[20]; 20. 1R-BJ Robinson[25]; 21. 7-RC Whitwell[16]; 22. 49-Jake Timm[23]; 23. 14M-Morgan Bagley[22]; 24. 97-Cade Dillard[18]; 25. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[24]; 26. 86-Kyle Beard[26]
