MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — FloRacing Night in America hosted the 50th event in the history of the series on Tuesday night with a visit to Marshalltown Speedway, where the all-time winningest driver in the history of the series added another tick to his tally.
Bobby Pierce surged to the lead on lap 15 and went on to lead to the checkered flag for the $20,000 victory. The triumph was his first of the year with the tour and the 11th of his career.
“I didn’t want a caution to happen while I was in second, I wanted to get the lead. (I) definitely gave it a little time to not burn my edges off,” Pierce said. “The tires that (Nick) Hoffman had on, I figured just give it some time and they’d start to fade, cause he went a little softer. Man, the car was good, it was a dream to drive this car.”
Slipping by early leader Hoffman as he was hampered by lapped traffic on the 15th lap, fourth-starting Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., led the rest of Tuesday’s 50-lap FloRacing Night in America Series feature.
Pierce led largely unchallenged and pulled away after a lap-34 restart, winning by 2.763 seconds over Brandon Sheppard.
Hoffman led the first 14 circuits before power steering issues began to plague him. He drew a lap 17 caution and briefly rejoining the field ultimately retired to a 19th-place finish.
Fellow front-row starter Dan Ebert battled in the top five early in the feature before a flat tire slowed him on lap 16. He also rejoined the field before calling it a night in 21st.
Brandon Sheppard finished second after a spirited battle with 17th-starting Hudson O’Neal, who had won all three of the previous series events at the Iowa oval. Devin Moran and 10th-starting Ricky Thornton Jr. rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 3. 6-Hudson O’Neal[17]; 4. 99-Devin Moran[6]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[10]; 6. 9M-Tim McCreadie[3]; 7. 19R-Ryan Gustin[18]; 8. 3S-Brian Shirley[7]; 9. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[12]; 10. 32S-Chris Simpson[13]; 11. 16-Tyler Bruening[19]; 12. 13X-Dallon Murty[20]; 13. 25-Jason Feger[14]; 14. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[22]; 15. 38-Dylan Thornton[16]; 16. 74X-Ethan Dotson[15]; 17. 11R-Josh Rice[8]; 18. 1T-Tyler Erb[9]; 19. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 20. 40B-Kyle Bronson[11]; 21. 60-Dan Ebert[2]; 22. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[23]; 23. 49T-Jake Timm[21]; 24. B8-Brent Larson[24]
