Bobby Pierce earned a big win at FALS
In the 2019 Prairie Dirt Classic at the Fairbury American Legion Speedway, Brandon Sheppard used a slide job and a bit of contact to get by Bobby Pierce in the last turn of the last lap to claim the win. On Saturday night on that same track, Pierce was able to fight off a last lap move by Sheppard then drive on the the checkered flag to score a MARS Racing Series victory in the finale of Illinois SpeedWeek.
The Bob Pierce Race Cars driver from Oakwood, Illinois earned $30,000 for his efforts in a race on the historic quarter-mile track located in Fairbury, Illinois which was shown live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 50 cars were signed in for competition.
Qualifying Results:
Group A Results- 1. Bobby Pierce(12.904), 2. Frank Heckenast Jr., 3. Tyler Erb, 4. Ashton Winger, 5. Brandon Sheppard
Group B Results- 1. Dennis Erb Jr.(13.079), 2. Josh Putnam, 3. McKay Wenger, 4. Hudson O’Neal, 5. Brian Shirley
Heat 1 Results: 1. Bobby Pierce, 2. Ashton Winger, 3. Garrett Alberson
Heat 2 Results: 1. Brandon Sheppard, 2. Frank Heackenast Jr., 3. Shannon Babb
Heat 3 Results: 1. Tyler Erb, 2. Devin Moran, 3. Gordy Gundaker
Heat 4 Results: 1. Dennis Erb Jr., 2. Hudson O’Neal, 3. Chris Simpson
Heat 5 Results: 1. Stormy Scott, 2. Brian Shirley, 3. Mike Marlar
Heat 6 Results: 1. McKay Wenger, 2. Kyle Hammer, 3. Jason Feger
B-main 1 Finish: 1. Myles Moos, 2. Tanner English
B-main 2 Finish: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Spencer Hughes
Feature Re-cap: Pierce immediately took the lead at the start of the 60-lap main event with Dennis Erb Jr., Scott, Sheppard and Wenger in tow. During the early laps, the top-5 runners settled into a single-file formation as everyone employed the top-lane around the track as the primary racing groove.
Pierce and Erb began to slip away from the pack by lap 10 while Sheppard moved by Scott to take third about a straightaway behind the leaders. Wenger also got around Scott on lap 15 to claim fourth which then opened the door for Tyler Erb to make his way into the top-5 by passing Scott.
By the 20th lap, the top-5 of Pierce, Dennis Erb, Sheppard, Wenger and Tyler Erb found themselves in close nose-to-tail formation as the began to encounter slower traffic. On lap 23, Tyler Erb passed Wenger to take fourth. Then, a yellow flag waved on lap 23 for the spinning car of Kyle Hardy.
Sheppard took second on the lap 23 restart while Dennis Erb fell back into a fierce fight with Wenger and Tyler Erb for positions 3-5. All the while, Sheppard was keeping pace with Pierce at the front of the field.
Tyler Erb took third away from Dennis Erb on lap 32 then closed on Pierce and Sheppard only to slow with a broken J-Bar on lap 40 bringing out a caution flag. On that restart, Dennis Erb briefly took second only to have Sheppard regain the spot on lap 45.
Pierce looked as if he might pull away to a comfortable margin after the Sheppard vs Erb battle. Suddenly, O’Neal and Marlar emerged as factors within the top-5 as both of those drivers passed Erb for third and fourth respectively on lap 50.
With seven laps to go, Pierce was held up by slower cars and Sheppard quickly closed in and began stalking the race leader. Coming to the white flag, Sheppard made a move to the inside and the two cars passed under the flag stand side-by-side. Pierce edged ahead through turns one and two but Sheppard closed back in on the backstretch, Going into the third turn Sheppard dove to the inside but was unable to clear the No. 32 machine. At that point, Pierce powered up and blasted under the checkered flag to score the win.
Feature Results: 1, Bobby Pierce, 2. Brandon Sheppard, 3. Hudson O’Neal, 4. Mike Marlar, 5. Dennis Erb Jr., 6. Ricky Thornton Jr., 7. McKay Wenger, 8. Frank Heckenast Jr., 9. Spencer Hughes, 10. Brian Shirley, 11. Devin Moran, 12. Tanner English, 13. Kyle Hammer, 14. Garrett Alberson, 15. Jason Feger, 16. Ashton Winger, 17. Gordy Gundaker, 18. Myles Moos, 19. Tyler Erb, 20. Chris Simpson, 21. Shannon Babb, 22. Stormy Scott
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