Bobby Pierce Wins Billy Winn Classic at Bedford Speedway
Photo by Emily Schwanke
BEDFORD, Pa. — Bobby Pierce was not caught resting on Thursday night at Bedford Speedway.
Using track position to his advantage, the Oakwood, IL driver held off multiple championship contenders at bay for his 24th career World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models win in the Billy Winn Classic.
From the start, Pierce went to work from the outside of the front row by challenging polesitter Brian Shirley for the lead. A battle that the No.32 Low Voltage Solutions overcame on the second lap of the 45-lap Feature.
Multiple cautions were thrown for tires going flat on a plethora of dirt Late Models, Pierce had to defend his position from New Berlin, IL driver Brandon Sheppard and Marshalltown, IA driver Ryan Gustin to retain the race lead.
Pierce had to manage his tired wisely while flying through the clean air in front of him and utilizing the high line around the 0.625-mile track to build the interval between himself and the other two drivers as the laps closed fast.
Crossing the twin checkered flags, Pierce became the winningest driver of the 2024 season with his sixth triumph, but the fireworks continued after the finish as Pierce damaged his left-rear in an attempt to avoid a spun out car in the middle of Turn 1. Despite the contact, it did not take away the joy of winning at the Pennsylvania racetrack.
“We’ve been on a roll lately,” Pierce said. “This was a new track so we didn’t know what to expect, but we rolled pretty good there. It reminded me of Port Royal Speedway. It’s fun going to these big tracks because you have a lot of speed. The straightaways are so long, so on the restarts, you had to build up the speed. It was a different challenge in Turn 1 compared to Turn 3. The car was awesome all day.”
Sheppard finished second at the conclusion of the Feature, extending his lead in the Series title chase by 34 points over Mooresville, NC driver Nick Hoffman. The result at Bedford is Sheppard’s eighth podium in the last 11 Feature races.
“I don’t think any of us knew where to be,” Sheppard said. “I was sticking it out and had to use the outside to get by (Gustin). I feel we had as good of a car as Bobby did. The car was awesome all day.
“We’ve got a lot better consistency now. You gotta find the right balance and fine tune it from there. It’s been great with the Longhorn guys. Apparently, I drive different compared to everyone, I have this weird style compared to others, but everyone has been a huge help from Longhorn, Bilstein, and all of the sponsors. We’ll just keep continuing to work.”
Gustin cemented the podium with his third-place finish. With his performance, “The Reaper” earned his fifth consecutive Series top-five finish as he gets ready for one his favorite tracks in Sharon Speedway on Friday and Saturday.
“It’s always fun getting to race with Brandon when he’s one of the cleanest guys in the pit area,” Gustin said. “This was a whole new program for us going into this year and it takes a lot of time and effort. There’s been a lot of sleepless nights to get here, but I feel like we’re on the right track for sure.”
Indiana, PA native Gregg Satterlee picked up his first top-five finish with the Series in 2024 with his fourth-place result, and Decorah, IA driver Tyler Bruening rounded out the top-five finishers in the Billy Winn Classic.
RECAP NOTES:
Dirt King Simulator Hottest Hot Lap: Brandon Sheppard
Simpson Quick Time Award: Bobby Pierce
Heat Race Winners: Bobby Pierce, Cade Dillard, Brandon Sheppard, Brian Shirley
Last Chance Showdown Winners: Max McLaughlin, Jakob Piper
Bilstein Pole Award: Brian Shirley
Fox Factory Hard Charger: Dennis Erb Jr
Up Next: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models travel north to Ohio’s Sharon Speedway for two days of racing on Friday and Saturday, July 12-13. For more information on the event and tickets, CLICK HERE.
In addition to the on-track action, Sharon Speedway will feature several off-track activities for fans on Saturday, including a cornhole tournament at noon (ET), water games in the campground on 2 p.m. and an autograph session at 4:30 p.m.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision.
RESULTS
CASE Late Mode Feature (45 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]; 4. 22-Gregg Satterlee[9]; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening[15]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[19]; 7. 19-Dustin Sorensen[13]; 8. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 9. 97JR-Cody Overton[7]; 10. 9-Nick Hoffman[5]; 11. 40B-Kyle Bronson[11]; 12. B1-Brent Larson[23]; 13. 97-Cade Dillard[4]; 14. 8-Matt Sponaugle[16]; 15. 39-Timothy Smith Jr[25]; 16. 14W-Dustin Walker[24]; 17. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[20]; 18. 119-Bryan Bernheisel[14]; 19. 0-Rick Eckert[12]; 20. 22*-Max McLaughlin[17]; 21. 92-Jeff Rine[21]; 22. 2T-Kyle Lee[10]; 23. 1C-Alex Ferree[6]; 24. 21-Jakob Piper[18]; 25. 24-Dylan Yoder[22]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 22*-Max McLaughlin[1]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[2]; 3. 92-Jeff Rine[3]; 4. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[9]; 5. 16H-Clinton Hersh[5]; 6. 3-Tyler Ritchey[4]; 7. EZ1-Ron Fink[7]; 8. 68-Nathan LaSalle[8]; 9. 2J-Justin Weaver[6]
Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 21-Jakob Piper[1]; 2. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[2]; 3. 24-Dylan Yoder[5]; 4. 5-Chuck Clise[6]; 5. 14W-Dustin Walker[9]; 6. 39-Timothy Smith Jr[3]; 7. 75-RJ Dallape[7]; 8. B1-Brent Larson[4]; 9. 66-Justin Kann[8]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. 19R-Ryan Gustin[5]; 3. 22-Gregg Satterlee[3]; 4. 19-Dustin Sorensen[6]; 5. 22*-Max McLaughlin[7]; 6. 92-Jeff Rine[4]; 7. 16H-Clinton Hersh[8]; 8. EZ1-Ron Fink[9]; 9. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Cade Dillard[1]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[2]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[3]; 4. 16-Tyler Bruening[5]; 5. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[7]; 6. 3-Tyler Ritchey[8]; 7. 2J-Justin Weaver[4]; 8. 68-Nathan LaSalle[6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 97JR-Cody Overton[3]; 3. 2T-Kyle Lee[5]; 4. 119-Bryan Bernheisel[2]; 5. 21-Jakob Piper[4]; 6. 39-Timothy Smith Jr[7]; 7. 24-Dylan Yoder[6]; 8. 75-RJ Dallape[8]; 9. 14W-Dustin Walker[9]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 2. 1C-Alex Ferree[1]; 3. 0-Rick Eckert[5]; 4. 8-Matt Sponaugle[3]; 5. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[6]; 6. B1-Brent Larson[7]; 7. 5-Chuck Clise[8]; 8. 66-Justin Kann[2]
Group A Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:19.094[1]; 2. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:19.413[9]; 3. 25Z-Mason Zeigler, 00:19.419[3]; 4. 9-Nick Hoffman, 00:19.446[4]; 5. 22-Gregg Satterlee, 00:19.541[10]; 6. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:19.661[15]; 7. 92-Jeff Rine, 00:19.681[5]; 8. 2J-Justin Weaver, 00:19.692[12]; 9. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:19.799[8]; 10. 16-Tyler Bruening, 00:19.849[14]; 11. 19-Dustin Sorensen, 00:19.860[13]; 12. 68-Nathan LaSalle, 00:20.002[6]; 13. 22*-Max McLaughlin, 00:20.010[2]; 14. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:20.153[17]; 15. 16H-Clinton Hersh, 00:20.208[16]; 16. 3-Tyler Ritchey, 00:20.363[7]; 17. EZ1-Ron Fink, 00:20.870[11]
Group B Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:19.530[2]; 2. 1C-Alex Ferree, 00:19.683[7]; 3. 119-Bryan Bernheisel, 00:19.707[3]; 4. 66-Justin Kann, 00:19.734[10]; 5. 97JR-Cody Overton, 00:19.740[15]; 6. 8-Matt Sponaugle, 00:19.805[4]; 7. 21-Jakob Piper, 00:19.912[1]; 8. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:19.965[9]; 9. 2T-Kyle Lee, 00:19.992[6]; 10. 0-Rick Eckert, 00:19.996[5]; 11. 24-Dylan Yoder, 00:19.996[17]; 12. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain, 00:20.009[11]; 13. 39-Timothy Smith Jr, 00:20.199[8]; 14. B1-Brent Larson, 00:20.467[16]; 15. 75-RJ Dallape, 00:20.566[13]; 16. 5-Chuck Clise, 00:20.685[12]; 17. 14W-Dustin Walker[14]
CURRENT STANDINGS
Points Updated: July 11, 2024
Pos. No. Driver Hometown Points Gap Starts Wins Top 5s Top 10s
1 B5 Brandon Sheppard New Berlin, IL 3496 24 3 18 22
2 9 Nick Hoffman Mooresville, NC 3462 -34 24 5 12 20
3 32 Bobby Pierce Oakwood, IL 3346 -150 24 7 17 20
4 97 Cade Dillard Robeline, LA 3312 -184 24 0 7 16
5 40B Kyle Bronson Brandon, FL 3282 -214 23 0 7 17
6 16 Tyler Bruening Decorah, IA 3262 -234 24 0 3 13
7 19R Ryan Gustin Marshalltown, IA 3260 -236 24 2 10 14
8 28 Dennis Erb Carpentersville, IL 3232 -264 24 0 2 12
9 3S Brian Shirley Chatham, IL 3188 -308 24 1 6 12
10 19 Dustin Sorensen Rochester, MN 3124 -372 24 0 2 8
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