FAIRBURY, Ill. — From the sixth-starting spot Bobby Pierce charged to the lead by lap 13 of Wednesday night’s FloRacing Night in America presented by Kubota event at Fairbury Speedway.
The Oakwood, Ill., driver withstood multiple challenges for the lead from Ricky Thornton Jr. before pulling away late to take the $20,000 triumph in the sixth running of the One For the Road presented by I-Beam Sliding Doors.
“It was a hot one in the car tonight. Ricky (Thornton Jr.) was putting the pressure on me for sure and it was a lot of fun,” Pierce said. “I knew any second he was gonna throw a slider in there, and I was just waiting on it. It seemed like I’d get a couple laps that were good, he’d get a couple laps that were good.
“I watched him and J.D. (Jonathan Davenport) go at it hard in the heat race and I was like ‘man, I don’t want that to happen cause I just want to get away and sail off in the lead,’ luckily at the very end we did.”
Dennis Erb Jr. and Ryan Unzicker led the field to the green for the 50-lap feature. Erb Jr. led the first lap with Unzicker charging past on the second lap. Unzicker led the next 11 circuits before the sixth-starting Pierce took control on the 13th lap
While Pierce never surrendered the lead again, he endured multiple advanced from Thornton Jr. While the lead duo battled, ninth-starting Davenport advanced to third with 18th-starting Hudson O’Neal motoring to fourth and Unzicker rounding out the top five.
Pierce leads the latest standings over Jonathan Davenport.
Through six events this season Pierce has won three times.
The finish:
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[6]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[9]; 4. 6H-Hudson O’Neal[18]; 5. 24-Ryan Unzicker[2]; 6. 96-Tanner English[4]; 7. 74X-Ethan Dotson[10]; 8. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[1]; 9. 25-Jason Feger[14]; 10. 18-Shannon Babb[5]; 11. 1-Brandon Sheppard[15]; 12. 19R-Ryan Gustin[23]; 13. 9H-Nick Hoffman[19]; 14. 3S-Brian Shirley[12]; 15. 17SS-Brenden Smith[13]; 16. 75-Dillon McCowan[17]; 17. 89-Mike Spatola[8]; 18. 76-Brandon Overton[7]; 19. 51F-Matt Furman[11]; 20. 58-Garrett Alberson[22]; 21. 16-Tyler Bruening[20]; 22. 18D-Daulton Wilson[24]; 23. 1T-Tyler Erb[25]; 24. 25C-Shane Clanton[21]; 25. 22*-Drake Troutman[26]; 26. 10-Daryn Klein[16]
