Gustin Outduels Pierce for $50,000 in Bayou Classic at Boothill
Photo by Emily Schwanke
GREENWOOD, La.—Saturday night at Boothill Speedway, the Louisiana facility proved to the world why it’s the home of dirt Late Model racing’s newest marquee event.
A star-studded field of drivers. A grandstand overflowing with fans. Some of the most entertaining racing found anywhere in the nation. And when the Bayou Classic was all set and done, it was Ryan Gustin on top for the fifth time this season with the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision.
Between his $50,000 victory at Boothill, his $100,000 payday for winning the USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway and three prior World of Outlaws wins, those five triumphs in 2025 have netted the Cooney Motorsports team more than $180,000. But outside of those nights, the season has brought its share of struggles. In 10 Series starts after winning at Cedar Lake, Gustin failed to finish better than sixth until his return to Victory Lane at Boothill.
“I’ve had my head hung pretty low for the past couple months, really,” Gustin said. “We ain’t been running good, and just when you’re struggling, it takes a mental toll on you. When you get down, it’s hard to get back up. When you win 50 grand in that fashion, it makes you feel pretty good.”
The results sheet show a win from the pole for the Marshalltown, IA native, but the 70 laps between the green and checkered flags were anything but an easy cruise. Third-starting Brian Shirley gave Gustin everything he could handle in the first half of the race, while Dennis Erb Jr. loomed close behind, ready to pounce if either of them slipped up.
With 25 laps remaining, a new contender entered the picture in the form of Bobby Pierce. After disposing of Erb around the outside, Pierce rode the rim up to Shirley’s back bumper and caught the No. 3S with 11 to go. A huge head of steam off Turn 4 allowed Pierce to go to Shirley’s inside entering Turn 1, but Shirley was headed for the same piece of real estate, resulting in contact that sent Shirley spinning off Pierce’s nose.
From that point forward, both Gustin and Pierce left it all on the track over the final 10 laps in pursuit of the victory. The two traded sliders and crossovers nearly every corner, and it was still anyone’s race at the white flag. Pierce ripped the cushion for all it was worth trying to get to Gustin’s outside, but tagged the wall in Turn 2 instead, giving Gustin enough room to survive one more set of corners and take the checkered flag.
“Honestly, it kind of reminded me of the last King of America USMTS race we won,” said the former Modified standout. “Just go up there, come back down, try to momentum. Try to hit the brown spots where you can and then propel yourself so you don’t land in the slick.”
Pierce’s quest for his first Series win since August will have to wait until World of Outlaws World Finals after coming home second on the third-straight occasion in World of Outlaws competition at Boothill.
“Gustin hit his marks perfectly on that last lap,” Pierce said. “We were side-by-side at the white flag, we were rubbing down the frontstretch. Went into Turn 1, and I thought I had him when he slid in there. I didn’t really get a great entrance into Turn 1 and there wasn’t really much cushion until you got to Turn 2 and that’s the spot he was in. I got right there, and then he was kind of right where I needed to be.”
Erb crossed the line third for his eighth Series podium of the year, enough to put himself in a tie with Shirley for fifth in the standings going into The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
“It was just off a little bit,” Erb said. “Had a pretty good car, but we needed to work on getting up off the corner a little bit better. I know we went a little softer on tires than everybody else did, but to come home with third, we’re happy with that.”
Cody Overton backed up his Friday podium with a fourth-place showing on Saturday, while Shirley recovered from his spin to finish fifth.
RACE NOTES:
Drake Troutman set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.
Spencer Hughes won the Simpson Quick Time Award.
Spencer Hughes won Real American Beer Heat 1.
Brian Shirley won STAKT Products Heat 2.
Dennis Erb Jr. won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.
Ryan Gustin won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.
Tanner English and Brandon Sheppard won the Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdowns.
Ryan Gustin won the Bilstein Pole Award.
Kyle Beard won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.
Ethan Dotson was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.
Bobby Pierce won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.
Cody Overton was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.
Brian Shirley was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.
Tanner English was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.
Nick Hoffman was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.
Morgan Bagley was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.
Tyler Erb was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.
Jake Timm was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.
UP NEXT: The 2025 World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision season concludes at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in the World of Outlaws World Finals, Wednesday-Saturday, Nov. 4-7, alongside the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and the Super DIRTcar Series. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.
If you can’t make it to the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
RESULTS
WoO Late Model Feature (70 Laps): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[1]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[9]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[2]; 4. 2-Cody Overton[14]; 5. 3S-Brian Shirley[3]; 6. 96-Tanner English[17]; 7. 86-Kyle Beard[26]; 8. 9-Nick Hoffman[12]; 9. 14M-Morgan Bagley[11]; 10. 1-Tyler Erb[5]; 11. 74X-Ethan Dotson[10]; 12. 49-Jake Timm[16]; 13. 19-Dustin Sorensen[13]; 14. B1-Brent Larson[21]; 15. K3-Spencer Hughes[4]; 16. B5-Brandon Sheppard[18]; 17. 1R-BJ Robinson[19]; 18. 22*-Drake Troutman[22]; 19. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[23]; 20. 11A-Mike Palasini Jr[20]; 21. 157-Mike Marlar[7]; 22. 66-Eli Ross[25]; 23. 25-Shane Clanton[8]; 24. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[24]; 25. 15-Clay Stuckey[15]; 26. 9M-Tim McCreadie[6]
Landa Pressure Washers LCS 1 (10 Laps): 1. 96-Tanner English[2]; 2. 1R-BJ Robinson[1]; 3. B1-Brent Larson[3]; 4. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[4]; 5. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[6]; 6. 97-Cade Dillard[5]; 7. B17-Brandon Ball[7]; 8. 14JR-Michael King Jr[8]; 9. 6R-Robbie Stuart[13]; 10. 2M-Colby Moore[10]; 11. 6-Lynn Beach[11]; 12. B89-Dakota Smith[9]; 13. 5-Jon Mitchell[12]
Landa Pressure Washers LCS 2 (10 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 11A-Mike Palasini Jr[2]; 3. 22*-Drake Troutman[4]; 4. 86-Kyle Beard[3]; 5. 99-Shane Hebert[6]; 6. 2C-Charlie Cole[5]; 7. 66-Eli Ross[8]; 8. 15S-Shane Stephens[9]; 9. 7S-Brent Stewart[10]; 10. 1B-Payton Brown[12]; 11. 18-Shannon Parker[11]; 12. 8-Matthew Larson[7]
Real American Beer Heat Race 1 (8 Laps): 1. K3-Spencer Hughes[1]; 2. 9M-Tim McCreadie[2]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 4. 19-Dustin Sorensen[3]; 5. 1R-BJ Robinson[6]; 6. B1-Brent Larson[5]; 7. 97-Cade Dillard[7]; 8. B17-Brandon Ball[8]; 9. B89-Dakota Smith[9]; 10. 6-Lynn Beach[10]; 11. 6R-Robbie Stuart[11]
STAKT Products Heat Race 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[2]; 2. 1-Tyler Erb[1]; 3. 14M-Morgan Bagley[4]; 4. 15-Clay Stuckey[3]; 5. 96-Tanner English[6]; 6. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[5]; 7. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[7]; 8. 14JR-Michael King Jr[8]; 9. 2M-Colby Moore[9]; 10. 5-Jon Mitchell[10]
Keyser Mfg Heat Race 3 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[1]; 2. 25-Shane Clanton[2]; 3. 74X-Ethan Dotson[3]; 4. 2-Cody Overton[4]; 5. B5-Brandon Sheppard[6]; 6. 86-Kyle Beard[5]; 7. 2C-Charlie Cole[8]; 8. 8-Matthew Larson[7]; 9. 15S-Shane Stephens[9]; 10. 18-Shannon Parker[10]
Jarrett Rifles Heat Race 4 (8 Laps): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 3. 9-Nick Hoffman[3]; 4. 49-Jake Timm[4]; 5. 11A-Mike Palasini Jr[6]; 6. 22*-Drake Troutman[5]; 7. 99-Shane Hebert[7]; 8. 66-Eli Ross[8]; 9. 7S-Brent Stewart[10]; 10. 1B-Payton Brown[9]
Real American Beer LM Qual A (2 Laps): 1. K3-Spencer Hughes, 00:13.688[3]; 2. 1-Tyler Erb, 00:13.898[5]; 3. 9M-Tim McCreadie, 00:13.910[8]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:13.995[11]; 5. 19-Dustin Sorensen, 00:14.038[10]; 6. 15-Clay Stuckey, 00:14.140[1]; 7. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:14.150[13]; 8. 14M-Morgan Bagley, 00:14.162[6]; 9. B1-Brent Larson, 00:14.292[18]; 10. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain, 00:14.302[16]; 11. 1R-BJ Robinson, 00:14.432[14]; 12. 96-Tanner English, 00:14.500[19]; 13. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:14.514[20]; 14. 21-Billy Moyer Sr, 00:14.598[21]; 15. B17-Brandon Ball, 00:14.873[17]; 16. 14JR-Michael King Jr, 00:14.905[4]; 17. B89-Dakota Smith, 00:15.300[12]; 18. 2M-Colby Moore, 00:15.336[7]; 19. 6-Lynn Beach, 00:15.589[15]; 20. 5-Jon Mitchell, 00:15.589[2]; 21. (DQ) 6R-Robbie Stuart, 00:14.381[9]
Real American Beer LM Qual B (2 Laps): 1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:14.196[7]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:14.289[1]; 3. 25-Shane Clanton, 00:14.450[14]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:14.453[8]; 5. 74X-Ethan Dotson, 00:14.461[9]; 6. 9-Nick Hoffman, 00:14.497[13]; 7. 2-Cody Overton, 00:14.534[17]; 8. 49-Jake Timm, 00:14.567[6]; 9. 86-Kyle Beard, 00:14.645[2]; 10. 22*-Drake Troutman, 00:14.685[20]; 11. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:14.693[12]; 12. 11A-Mike Palasini Jr, 00:14.704[5]; 13. 8-Matthew Larson, 00:14.884[3]; 14. 99-Shane Hebert, 00:14.942[19]; 15. 2C-Charlie Cole, 00:15.053[18]; 16. 66-Eli Ross, 00:15.084[16]; 17. 15S-Shane Stephens, 00:15.133[4]; 18. 1B-Payton Brown, 00:15.264[10]; 19. 18-Shannon Parker, 00:15.556[11]; 20. 7S-Brent Stewart, 00:15.556[15]
CURRENT WORLD OF OUTLAWS LATE MODEL SERIES STANDINGS
Points Updated: October 11, 2025
Pos. No. Driver Hometown Points Gap Starts Wins Top 5s Top 10s
1 32 Bobby Pierce Oakwood, IL 5660 40 11 27 34
2 9 Nick Hoffman Mooresville, NC 5536 -124 40 5 22 34
3 19R Ryan Gustin Marshalltown, IA 5352 -308 40 5 14 26
4 9M Tim McCreadie Watertown, NY 5302 -358 39 6 14 24
5 28 Dennis Erb Carpentersville, IL 5250 -410 39 1 9 23
6 3S Brian Shirley Chatham, IL 5250 -410 40 1 19 23
7 22* Drake Troutman Hyndman, PA 5176 -484 40 1 12 21
8 2 Cody Overton Thomson, GA 5108 -552 40 0 6 19
9 96 Tanner English Benton, KY 5076 -584 39 1 7 14
10 74X Ethan Dotson Bakersfield, CA 5010 -650 39 1 8 17
11 19 Dustin Sorensen Rochester, MN 4898 -762 36 0 5 11
12 49 Jake Timm Winona, MN 4696 -964 32 0 1 6
13 20TC Tristan Chamberlain Richmond, IN 4694 -966 36 0 1 4
14 B1 Brent Larson Lake Elmo, MN 4638 -1022 33 0 0 3
15 12 Ashton Winger Hampton, GA 2744 -2916 17 1 6 9
16 111 Max Blair Centerville, PA 2604 -3056 19 0 1 7
17 16 Tyler Bruening Decorah, IA 2374 -3286 18 0 1 5
18 40B Kyle Bronson Brandon, FL 2226 -3434 15 0 0 2
19 1 Brandon Sheppard New Berlin, IL 2154 -3506 16 1 4 10
20 1 Tyler Erb New Waverly, TX 2020 -3640 17 1 4 9
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