MINERAL WELLS, W. Va. — There was an Illinois feel in the air on Friday night at West Virginia Motor Speedway.
When the five-eighths-mile layout was reconfigured into the current three-eighths-mile short track, the goal was to create the kind of elbows-up racing found at places like Fairbury Speedway, Farmer City Raceway and other bullrings across the state.
The track brought in Chad Bauman, who has handled track prep at Fairbury and other major events, to give them the best possible racing surface. And when the feature went green, some of the best from the “Land of Lincoln” were at the front chasing a trophy.
Bobby Pierce, Dennis Erb Jr. and Brandon Sheppard all started in the top four on the first night of the RACEFEST Summer Championship, but they all trailed Hudson O’Neal on the pole. The “New Deal” led the first half of the 40-lap feature until Pierce came knocking with a Turn 1 slide job. O’Neal fended off that move and got the lead back, but Pierce tried the same move again the following lap and made it stick.
Moments later, O’Neal’s chances of victory were dashed when he spun while working his way through slower traffic. That moved Erb and Sheppard up to second and third, respectively, setting up the all-Illinois battle to the finish.
The final 10 laps saw Sheppard trade several sliders with Pierce, while Erb gave Pierce everything he could handle running his signature low line. Neither of them could find a way around the No. 32 though, as Pierce pocketed his 10th win of the season with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision, the 52nd of his career and his first at West Virginia.
“The owner [Mike Hurley], I’m pretty sure he told me last night you’ve kind of got to get up on the wheel, and that’s definitely what it was tonight,” Pierce said. “Had to get up on the wheel and get it done, it was a lot of fun. Had some hellacious racing there between Hudson and Brandon and Dennis on the bottom there. I told Dennis before the race, ‘Hey, this is right down your alley, right? It’s on the bottom.’ The top really came in tonight, towards the end I think you probably could have been about anywhere.”
Erb crossed the line in a season-best second ahead of Tyler Erb, who worked his way to third at the finish. Sheppard and Ethan Dotson rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[3]; 3. 1-Tyler Erb[5]; 4. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[4]; 5. 74X-Ethan Dotson[10]; 6. 22-Chris Ferguson[21]; 7. 9M-Tim McCreadie[7]; 8. 22*-Drake Troutman[8]; 9. 9-Nick Hoffman[13]; 10. 17-Zack Dohm[19]; 11. 14-Trey Mills[9]; 12. 55E-Eli Johnson[23]; 13. 17SS-Brenden Smith[24]; 14. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[22]; 15. 19-Dustin Sorensen[20]; 16. 12-Ryan Montgomery[14]; 17. 71R-Rod Conley[26]; 18. 75-Eddie Carrier Jr[6]; 19. 19R-Ryan Gustin[17]; 20. 1Z-Logan Zarin[11]; 21. 11-Josh Rice[12]; 22. 58V-Daulton Wilson[15]; 23. 71-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 24. B1-Brent Larson[18]; 25. 93-Carson Ferguson[16]; 26. 53C-Colten Burdette[25]
