Bobby Pierce picked up a $10,000 win in Wisconsin
Bobby Pierce is always a tough customer when any touring series comes to the Midwest and Thursday night in the first round of the Dairyland Showdown at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway proved to be no different as the ‘Smooth Operator’ drove to victory over a solid World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series field.
The driver from Oakwood, Illinois earned $10,000 for his efforts at the 3/8 mile Fountain City, Wisconsin facility.
A total of 38 cars were signed in for competition.
Group A Qualifying Results: 1. Dennis Erb Jr.(13.441, new track record), 2. Stormy Scott, 3. Cade Dillard, 4. James Giossi, 5. Mike Marlar
Group B Qualifying Results: 1. Tanner english913.571), 2. Bobby Pierce, 3. Jonathan Davenport, 4. Gordy Gundaker, 5. Ryan Gustin
Heat 1 Results: 1. Mike Marlar, 2. Dennis Erb Jr., 3. Cade Dillard, 4. Josh Richards
Heat 2 Results: 1. Stormy Scott, 2. Jimmy Mars, 3. Max Blair, 4. James Giossi
Heat 3 Results: 1. Ryan Gustin, 2. Frank Heckenast Jr., 3. Chase Junghans, 4. Tanner English
*Jonathan Davenport was flagged as the winner of Heat 3 but was disqualified for a Droop Rule violation.
Heat 4 Results: 1. Bobby Pierce, 2. Tyler Bruening, 3. Chris Simpson, 4. Gordy Gundaker
Last Chance Showdown 1 Results: 1. Brent Larson, 2. Chad Mahder, 3. Boom Briggs
Last Chance Showdown 2 Results: 1. Garrett Alberson, 2. Jonathan Davenport, 3. Shannon Babb
Redraw Results: 1. Pierce, 2. Gustin, 3. Marlar, 4. Scott, 5. Bruening, 6. Mars, 7. Heckenast, 8. Erb
Feature Re-cap: When the 40-lap feature took the green flag it was Pierce who grabbed the early lead ahead of Gustin, Marlar, Scott and Bruening. Marlar began to work on Gustin in hopes of taking the runner-up spot but Scott got by Marlar for third on lap 4.
By lap 7, Pierce had pulled out to a lead of more than two seconds as fourth running Marlar fell back into the clutches of Bruening. A lap 11 caution flag waved for the spinning car of Mahder.
Scott took second from Gustin on the restart as Pierce again pulled away from the pack. Further back, Bruening and Marlar fought for fourth and fifth then on lap 14 both passed Gustin to assume third and fourth. Bruening and Scott fought over the second position with Marlar keeping close tabs.
Heckenast and Gustin battled for fifth on lap 17 with Heckenast eventually emerging from that fight with the position. Pierce had built what seemed to be a relatively comfortable lead but Scott and Bruening closed as traffic came into play until a caution for debris slowed the action on lap 21.
Just after the lap 21 restart, Bruening engaged in a fierce fight for positions 3 through 5 with Marlar and Heckenast with Marlar eventually taking third on lap 26. Further back it was Heckenast who fell into a contest with Dillard at the back of the top-5 as both cars passed Bruening on lap 31.
But over the closing laps it was Pierce who pulled out to a margin of more than two seconds over the trailing Scott and went on to claim victory.
It was the third career World of Outlaws win for Pierce.
Feature Finish: 1. Bobby Pierce, 2. Stormy Scott, 3. Mike Marlar, 4. Cade Dillard, 5. Tyler Bruening, 6. Frank Heckenast Jr., 7. Dennis Erb Jr., 8. Chris Simpson, 9. Chase Junghans, 10. Ryan Gustin, 11. Garrett Alberson, 12. Josh Richards, 13. Tanner English, 14. Brent Larson, 15. Max Blair, 16. Chad Mahder, 17. Boom Briggs, 18. Jesse Glenz, 19. Gordy Gundaker, 20. Kyle Hammer, 21. Jonathan Davenport, 22. James Giossi, 23. Shannon Babb, 24. Jimmy Mars
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