CLEWISTON, Fla. — If Hendry County Motorsports Park wasn’t on the national radar before this weekend, it most definitely is now.
The track’s inaugural visit by the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision reached its conclusion with two of the sport’s modern-day titans putting on a show for a Swamp Cabbage 100 trophy.
At the end of 60 laps of back-and-forth racing, Nick Hoffman held off Bobby Pierce to score his third World of Outlaws win of the year and swing the momentum back in his favor leaving Florida.
“This place was really good,” said Hoffman, who carries a 10-point lead over Pierce into the next stop on tour at Volunteer Speedway on March 13. “I had my doubts, I will say. Tonight’s track, the racing surface was great. Had a little bit of character, but I feel like that’s what evened it out a little bit. I didn’t plan on this, I can tell you that. I thought if I can get through this weekend with a couple decent points nights, but man, this is badass.”
After Pierce wrestled the lead away from polesitter Sam Seawright early on, Hoffman got his first look at the lead 14 laps in when he rolled the bottom of Turns 3 and 4 well enough to nose in front going into Turn 1. The next time around, Hoffman jumped the cushion in Turn 2 and let Pierce get back by, but he was bailed out by a caution for a slowing Eli Johnson that handed the lead back to Hoffman.
Late in the race, most of the field had migrated to Hoffman’s preferred inside groove, leaving the top wide open for Pierce to put a last-ditch effort together. Pierce used a strong run off the top of Turn 2 to cross down under Hoffman going into Turn 3, and Hoffman responded by moving up top himself to keep it side-by-side. The duo soon came up to the slower car of Tristan Chamberlain, and Hoffman kept Pierce pinned behind the No. 20tc long enough to clear him and get back to the bottom.
With a clear track to settle the race, Hoffman kept it low while Pierce went back to the cushion on the final lap. There wasn’t quite enough juice on the top for Pierce to make the Hail Mary work, and he came up a car length short to Hoffman at the flag stand.
“If [Pierce] was going to get it, he was going to have to earn it,” Hoffman said. “I just knew that bottom was starting to clean up and get pretty good, so he threw caution to the wind and was going for it.”
Ryan Gustin finished third for his best result of the season in World of Outlaws competition, while Drake Troutman and Ethan Dotson rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (60 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[4]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[6]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 4. 22*-Drake Troutman[12]; 5. 74X-Ethan Dotson[7]; 6. 19-Dustin Sorensen[10]; 7. 1-Tyler Erb[5]; 8. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[13]; 9. 99B-Boom Briggs[14]; 10. 16-Sam Seawright[1]; 11. 58V-Daulton Wilson[9]; 12. 49M-Luke Morey[21]; 13. B1-Brent Larson[3]; 14. 49-Jake Timm[18]; 15. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[15]; 16. 12-Ryan Montgomery[11]; 17. 9M-Tim McCreadie[16]; 18. 35-Christian Augspurger[20]; 19. 55E-Eli Johnson[8]; 20. 14-Trey Mills[17]; 21. 46-Doug Horton[24]; 22. T1-Todd Morrow[22]; 23. 18I-Jason Intoppa[23]; 24. 1Z-Logan Zarin[19]
