Bobby Pierce won by the thinnest of margins
Bobby Pierce’s NAPA Auto Parts Gopher 50 weekend had not been going to his liking up until but that changed on the last lap of Saturday night’s feature when he passed by Hudson O’Neal with a turn three slide job then just barely edged O’Neal back to the finish line for the win. The margin of victory in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series race at Deer Creek Speedway was .002 seconds.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Oakwood, Illinois earned $50,000 for his efforts on the track located in Spring Valley, Minnesota in a race shown live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 37 cars were signed in for competition
Feature Lineup: The top-16 in the feature lineup were determined by points earned from the Thursday and Friday night feature races.
1. Chris Madden, 2. Jonathan Davenport, 3. Devin Moran, 4. Hudson O’Neal, 5. Tim McCreadie, 6. Brandon Sheppard, 7. Brandon Overton, 8. Tyler Erb, 9. Spencer Hughes, 10. Bobby Pierce, 11. Max Blair, 12. Chad Simpson, 13. Mike Marlar, 14. Dustin Sorensen, 15. Garrett Alberson, 16. Earl Pearson Jr.
B-main 1 Finish: 1. Shane Clanton, 2. Daulton Wilson, 3. Stormy Scott
B-main 2 Finish: 1. Tyler Bruening, 2. Dillon McCowan, 3. Ricky Thornton Jr.
Feature Re-cap: The 75-lap main event got underway with Madden leading Davenport, Moran, O’Neal and McCreadie. O’Neal passed by Moran for third on lap 3 then McCreadie and Sheppard also got by Moran moving to fourth and fifth respectively.
The top-5 ran in tight formation as they began to encounter slower traffic but a lap 18 yellow flag for the spinning car of Stormy Scott slowed the pace.
O’Neal rose to second with Davenport and McCreadie trailing after the restart. Madden continued to show the way but O’Neal stayed close until a lap 28 caution for Hughes regrouped the pack.
Sheppard grabbed fourth on the restart pushing McCreadie back to fifth. On lap 31, Sheppard’s rise continued as he took third from Davenport.
The fight between Sheppard, Davenport and McCreadie continued just behind Madden and O’Neal but a lap 35 caution for Clanton provided a break.
O’Neal passed Madden for the lead then each again passed the other with O’Neal coming out on top on lap 37 just before a caution for Robinson broke up the action. Pierce had come to the top-5 during the previous restart to assert himself into the fray.
McCreadie and Pierce got by Madden on the restart on the lap 37 restart then another yellow flag for Blair was displayed one lap later. On the restart, Sheppard, Davenport and Moran pushed Madden outside the top-5.
O’Neal was leading Pierce and Sheppard when Erb’s car began trailing smoke to bring out a caution on lap 41. At that point, the top-5 consisted of O’Neal, Pierce, Sheppard, McCreadie and Davenport.
The action was intense just outside the top-5 involving Thornton, Moran and Alberson until a lap 48 caution again interfered with the action.
Sheppard moved into second on the lap 48 restart knocking Pierce to third as O’Neal continued to lead. Moran’s right rear went flat with 20 laps to go to bring out a caution.
O’Neal began to pull away from Pierce but bounced off the wall allowing Pierce to close rapidly. Series points leader Thornton slowed with a flat tire to bring about another yellow flag on lap 65 on a track that feature a great deal of wall riding among virtually all competitors.
Madden re-entered the top-5 on the restart following O’Neal, Pierce and Sheppard.
As the laps wound down, Pierce closed in and began to harass O’Neal for the lead. After the white flag waved, Pierce made his move going into turn three by throwing a slidder with both cars slapping the turn four wall. O’Neal moved back to the inside and those two cars came across the finish line in a dead heat.
After series officials used timing and scoring along with video evidence and determined that Pierce was the winner.
Feature Results: 1. Bobby Pierce, 2. Hudson O’Neal, 3. Brandon Sheppard, 4. Chris Madden, 5. Jonathan Davenport, 6. Tim McCreadie, 7. Garrett Alberson, 8. Earl Pearson Jr., 9. Dustin Sorensen, 10. Chad Simpson, 11. Devin Moran, 12. Brandon Overton, 13. Chris Simpson, 14. Ricky Thornton Jr., 15. Justin Duty, 16. Daulton Wilson, 17. Tyler Bruening, 18. Daniel Hilsabeck, 19. Shane Clanton, 20. Boom Briggs, 21. Dillon McCowan, 22. Tyler Erb, 23. Mike Marlar, 24. Max Blair, 25. Ross Robinson,, 26. Spencer Hughes, 27. Trevor Gundaker, 28. Stormy Scott
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