Bobby Pierce won another close one
Just about one month ago, Bobby Pierce narrowly beat Hudson O’Neal to earn a $50,000 payday at Minnesota’s Deer Creek Speedway. On Saturday night in the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series-sanctioned USA Nationals a very similar scenario played out as Pierce again barely beat O’Neal to the finish line to score another major payday.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Oakwood, Illinois earned $50,000 from the track located in New Richmond, Wisconsin in a race shown live by DirtVision.com.
A total of 48 cars were signed in for competition.
The top-16 of the starting lineup were determined by points earned in the two preliminary events held on Thursday and Friday.
Bobby Pierce was the winner on Thursday night at Cedar Lake.
Chris Madden came out on top in Friday’s main event.
Starting Lineup: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Hudson O’Neal, 3. Tanner English, 4. Brandon Sheppard, 5. Bobby Pierce, 6. Brian Shirley, 7. Shannon Babb, 8. Dennis Erb Jr., 9. Chris Madden, 10. Cade Dillard, 11. Daulton Wilson, 12. Jonathan Davenport, 13. Johnny Scott, 14. Tyler Erb, 15. Shane Clanton, 16. Nick Hoffman, 17. Ryan Gustin, 18. Kyle Bronson, 19. Kyle Strickler, 20. Ashton Winger, 21. Trevor Gundaker, 22. Kye Blight, 23. Jake Timm, 24. Dustin Sorensen, 25. Gordy Gundaker, 26. Brent Larson, 27. Ricky Weiss, 28. Todd Cooney, 29. Dustin Walker
Last Chance Showdown Results:
Last Chance Showdown 1 Finish- 1. Ryan Gustin, 2. Kyle Strickler, 3. Trevor Gundaker
Last Chance Showdown 2 Finish- 1. Kyle Bronson, 2. Ashton Winger, 3. Kye Blight
Last Chance Qualifier Finish- 1. Jake Timm, 2. Dustin Sorensen
Feature Re-cap: In the early stages of the 100-lap main event it would be O’Neal who would show the way ahead of Thornton, Sheppard, Englsih and Pierce. With the exception of Pierce moving up a couple of positions on a lap 7 restart, that early running order would remain essentially the same for the first 21 laps of the race until a caution flag waved for a spin by Sorensen.
The action picked up a bit following that restart as Pierce moved to second and Sheppard moved to third pushing Thornton back to fourth as O’Neal continued to lead.
Pierce closed in O’Neal and eventually took the lead on lap 35 as the front runners fought through slower traffic. The running order on lap 40 saw Pierce leading over O’Neal, Sheppard, Thornton and English. Over the next several laps, O’Neal and Sheppard along with Thornton battled furiously for position just behind the leading No. 32 machine.
O’Neal would ultimately break free from that fight and would keep pace with Pierce as the race neared its conclusion. However, slower traffic played a role with less than 10 circuits remaining. O’Neal closed quickly on Pierce and appeared poised to strike. As the cars roared down the backstretch for the final time he did exactly that.
Throwing a slide job in turns three and four, O’Neal looked as if he might have made the winning move. However, Pierce crossed over the just nipped O’Neal in their second side-by-side finish for a win this season.
Feature Results: 1. Bobby Pierce, 2. Hudson O’Neal, 3. Tanner English, 4. Brandon Sheppard, 6. Jonathan Davenport, 7. Brent Larson, 8. Chris Madden, 9. Shane Clanton, 10. Ricky Weiss, 11. Kyle Bronson, 12. Cade Dillard, 13. Ryan Gustin, 14. Gordy Gundaker, 15. Brian Shirley, 16. Dustin Sorensen, 17. Johnny Scott, 18. Nick Hoffman, 19. Kye Blight, 20. Ricky Thornton Jr., 21. Jake Timm, 22. Ashton Winger, 23. Kyle Strickler, 24. Tyler Erb, 25. Daulton Wilson, 26. Shannon Babb, 27. Todd Cooney, 28. Dustin Walker, 29. Trevor Gundaker
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