Bobby Pierce Sweeps PA-OH WOO Races With Sharon Speedway Win
Photo by Emily Schwanke
HARTFORD, Ohio — Bobby Pierce continued to prove why he is one of the top dirt Late Model drivers in the country through the weekend in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
The Oakwood, IL native picked up his eighth World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models victory after a duel between fellow Illinois drivers Brandon Sheppard, of New Berlin, Dennis Erb Jr, of Carpentersville, and Brian Shirley, of Chatham.
Beginning the night from the second row, Pierce got by Shirley on the high side of the track while he rode behind Erb and Sheppard in his No.32 Low Voltage Solutions machine.
Sheppard prevailed against Erb on the high side with Pierce following the tire tracks of the No.B5 Longhorn Chassis to get by Erb.
Pierce began to pick up forward movement on Sheppard as the race progressed. His first attempt to pass Sheppard was blocked by a lapped car in Pierce’s line which forced him to gather the car back up for a second chance.
His second chance to take the Feature lead proved to be a success when Sheppard jumped the cushion in Turns 1 and 2, allowing Pierce to get a run on him on the bottom of Turn 3 and completing the pass for the lead.
Pierce expanded the distance to Sheppard to over three seconds while searching for ways to maneuver around the packs of lapped cars competing around him.
Conquering the northeastern swing with ease, the “Smooth Operator” got his 26th Series triumph and became the first driver since Sheppard in 2020 to win four consecutive races.
“That track was tough tonight,” Pierce said. “I kept thinking if we made the right tire choice again because Brandon was on a completely different tire. But, I could tell he was driving hard and I wasn’t pushing as much as he was. So, it had me a little worried but he was getting tight and I was cutting through the corner pretty good. That’s when my chance came and got around him through the slide.
“It was a fun race to have the bottom and top so when you got into a battle, it was hard for me to pass a guy like Chub Frank around the bottom. The track really transitioned there and it was nice to have a track that moves around like that.”
Sheppard picked up the second-place result, his third in four races. With the performance displayed, “B-Shepp” grew his lead in the Series standings to 52 points over Mooresville, NC driver Nick Hoffman.
“It was tough out there,” Sheppard said. “We were rolling good in the first half, but once the fresh dirt went away I was super free. The changes we made to the car just did not activate when it got slick so it hurt me there. Overall, it was a pretty good night. I’m getting tired of finishing second, but you can’t complain about finishing second. Bobby’s the best in the country so we gotta step up our game.”
Marshalltown, IA driver Ryan Gustin finished the night with his fourth third-place finish in the last five races. Rolling off the Feature from a sixth-place starting spot, “The Reaper” made steady gains through the 50 laps to end the weekend a podium finish in every PA-OH event.
“We faded pretty bad late in the run,” Gustin said. “Those guys could take off and we couldn’t, it just wasn’t our night. It’s nice to be on the podium for sure, but we’re here to win. We didn’t come to run second or third, we just gotta get our car better, that’s really all there is to it.”
Shirley finished fourth, and Brandon, FL driver Kyle Bronson solidified the night’s top-five results from the Hartford, OH track.
RECAP NOTES:
Dirt King Simulator Hottest Hot Lap: Ryan Gustin
Simpson Quick Time Award: Bobby Pierce
Heat Race Winners: Bobby Pierce, Brian Shirley, Ryan Gustin
Last Chance Showdown Winner: Chub Frank
Bilstein Pole Award: Dennis Erb Jr
Fox Factory Hard Charger: Nick Hoffman
Up Next: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models return to Illinois for the second time in 2024 for the 34th Annual Prairie Dirt Classic from Fairbury Speedway on Friday and Saturday, July 26-27. The top dirt Late Model drivers in the country will compete for a $50,000 payday and add their name to the historic list of winners in the event.
For more information on the event and the remaining 2024 World of Outlaws CASE Late Models schedule, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision.
RESULTS
CASE Late Mode Feature (50 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[6]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[10]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[1]; 7. 97-Cade Dillard[8]; 8. 19-Dustin Sorensen[13]; 9. 16-Tyler Bruening[5]; 10. 1*-Chub Frank[19]; 11. 44-Dave Hess Jr[11]; 12. 9-Nick Hoffman[23]; 13. 02-Michael Norris[9]; 14. B1-Brent Larson[16]; 15. 22*-Max McLaughlin[21]; 16. 97JR-Cody Overton[12]; 17. 14W-Dustin Walker[17]; 18. 1Z-Logan Zarin[18]; 19. J4-John Garvin Jr[7]; 20. 12B-Andy Boozel[15]; 21. 217-Eric Wilson[24]; 22. 1C-Alex Ferree[20]; 23. 0-Ryan Scott[22]; 24. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[14]
Last Chance Showdown (10 Laps): 1. 1*-Chub Frank[2]; 2. 1C-Alex Ferree[4]; 3. 22*-Max McLaughlin[6]; 4. 0-Ryan Scott[1]; 5. 9-Nick Hoffman[10]; 6. 217-Eric Wilson[9]; 7. 12-Doug Drown[11]; 8. B22-Bump Hedman[3]; 9. 22-Gregg Satterlee[12]; 10. 97S-Kevin Smith[7]; 11. 9S-Breyton Santee[5]; 12. 96-Mike Smith[8]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[4]; 3. J4-John Garvin Jr[3]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 5. 19-Dustin Sorensen[6]; 6. B1-Brent Larson[7]; 7. 0-Ryan Scott[8]; 8. 1C-Alex Ferree[9]; 9. 97S-Kevin Smith[10]; 10. (DQ) 9-Nick Hoffman[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 3. 97-Cade Dillard[3]; 4. 44-Dave Hess Jr[4]; 5. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[6]; 6. 14W-Dustin Walker[5]; 7. 1*-Chub Frank[7]; 8. 9S-Breyton Santee[8]; 9. 96-Mike Smith[10]; 10. 12-Doug Drown[9]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 2. 16-Tyler Bruening[2]; 3. 02-Michael Norris[4]; 4. 97JR-Cody Overton[1]; 5. 12B-Andy Boozel[5]; 6. 1Z-Logan Zarin[7]; 7. B22-Bump Hedman[6]; 8. 22*-Max McLaughlin[10]; 9. 217-Eric Wilson[9]; 10. 22-Gregg Satterlee[8]
Sea Foam Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:15.810[12]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:15.910[14]; 3. 97JR-Cody Overton, 00:15.971[10]; 4. 9-Nick Hoffman, 00:16.065[27]; 5. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:16.139[19]; 6. 16-Tyler Bruening, 00:16.148[21]; 7. J4-John Garvin Jr, 00:16.183[22]; 8. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:16.242[17]; 9. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:16.255[26]; 10. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:16.262[7]; 11. 44-Dave Hess Jr, 00:16.275[3]; 12. 02-Michael Norris, 00:16.287[1]; 13. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:16.288[20]; 14. 14W-Dustin Walker, 00:16.313[2]; 15. 12B-Andy Boozel, 00:16.321[13]; 16. 19-Dustin Sorensen, 00:16.328[8]; 17. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain, 00:16.444[9]; 18. B22-Bump Hedman, 00:16.510[5]; 19. B1-Brent Larson, 00:16.555[16]; 20. 1*-Chub Frank, 00:16.555[23]; 21. 1Z-Logan Zarin, 00:16.597[28]; 22. 0-Ryan Scott, 00:16.642[24]; 23. 9S-Breyton Santee, 00:16.648[6]; 24. 22-Gregg Satterlee, 00:16.658[4]; 25. 1C-Alex Ferree, 00:16.810[29]; 26. 12-Doug Drown, 00:16.825[11]; 27. 217-Eric Wilson, 00:17.063[15]; 28. 97S-Kevin Smith, 00:17.093[18]; 29. 96-Mike Smith, 00:17.405[30]; 30. 22*-Max McLaughlin, 00:17.405[25]
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