ADA, Minn. — Bobby Pierce is rolling back to Oakwood, IL after a perfect northern swing.
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision contested six races over the past 11 days across Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. Winning one of them would be a dream for many teams, and winning a handful of them would be a realistic goal for one like Pierce’s. Instead, they won all six.
The first five of Pierce’s victories have come in all sorts of different fashions, from elbows-up battles to dominant showings and one cut short by a thunderstorm. Tuesday’s race at Norman County Raceway fell on the masterclass end of the spectrum.
The winner of both previous World of Outlaws races at Norman County, Nick Hoffman, started on the Bilstein Pole with Pierce on his outside. The high side was just fine for Pierce though, as he cleared the No. 9 off Turn 2 on the opening lap and powered away down the backstretch.
The rest of the race brought a familiar sight from the past two weeks – the No. 32 logging laps at the front of the field. There were times when slower traffic allowed his challengers to close in, but Pierce kicked it into overdrive in the late stages and eventually won by more than five seconds at the end of 50 laps.
It’s the second time in Pierce’s World of Outlaws career that he’s won six races in a row, a mark also achieved by Darrell Lanigan and Josh Richards. No one has ever won seven-straight, meaning Pierce will be chasing history next week at Stateline Speedway.
Norman County also put a bow on an unbelievable month of June for the Pierce camp. The “Smooth Operator” won 10 of the 11 races he entered, highlighted by his maiden Dirt Late Model Dream triumph at Eldora Speedway, and earned $271,500 in winnings. Pierce’s advantage over Hoffman has ballooned to 76 points after it rarely grew larger than single digits in the first half of the season.
“This is just crazy,” Pierce said. “We’ve been on runs before and everything, but it’s been a heck of a run since we got this new car out at Eldora. It’s been a beast, man. I can’t do it without the help from everyone who helps me out. Whether that’s the fans for their support, my sponsors, my crew, my wife taking care of things back home while I’m out here racing. It just takes a lot.”
Hoffman finished second to go six-for-six in top fives on his trip north, while Ryan Gustin stood on the podium for the seventh time this season in third. Tim McCreadie and Jonathan Davenport rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]; 4. 9M-Tim McCreadie[12]; 5. 49-Jonathan Davenport[6]; 6. B1-Brent Larson[3]; 7. 22*-Jake Timm[7]; 8. 97-Cody Overton[13]; 9. 19-Dustin Sorensen[4]; 10. 14-Trey Mills[19]; 11. 58V-Daulton Wilson[5]; 12. 1-Tyler Erb[17]; 13. 11-Gordy Gundaker[15]; 14. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[14]; 15. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[11]; 16. 1Z-Logan Zarin[18]; 17. 74X-Ethan Dotson[16]; 18. 8-Matthew Larson[10]; 19. 55E-Eli Johnson[24]; 20. 1E-Amelia Eisenschenk[9]; 21. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[22]; 22. 18X-Shawn Meyer[25]; 23. 6-Nick Corbett[21]; 24. 7-Ross Robinson[20]; 25. 44*-Cole Schill[23]
