December 7, 2025 | By Kyle McFadden/FLORacing

Bobby Pierce is first three-time winner of Gateway Dirt Nationals

ST. LOUIS, Mo.—They say the fifth-mile temporary oval inside The Dome at America’s Center is Dirt Late Model racing’s great equalizer. That only goes so far when Bobby Pierce shows up on his A-game.

Running a virtually flawless race from the pole, the 29-year-old Oakwood, Ill., superstar reminded everyone why he’s the DirtonDirt Driver of the Year in dominating the ninth annual Kubota Gateway Dirt Nationals presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts for an event-record $70,000 payday and $80,000 weekend.

Pierce, who led all 40 laps and topped Ricky Thornton Jr. to 2.15 seconds at the checkers, became the first driver to win three Gateway Dirt Nationals finales, adding to his 2017 and ’18 triumphs.

“You just dream of things like this, ever since this event came around,” said Pierce, who owns six career Dome victories, including Thursday’s $10,000 prelim. “It’s been a spectacle from the beginning. I’ve watched it grow into what it is now. They’ve got a packed house. I don’t see it stopping from growing. I think one day this place will probably be full from the tippy top.”

Although the always-treacherous Dome wreaked havoc on the 21-car main event — only 10 drivers finished a race fragmented by six cautions — Pierce’s victory from the pole never appeared in doubt. Thornton and Jason Feger, who ran second from laps 5-20 and 29-35, put on perhaps the best battle of the night, but neither could close enough to challenge Pierce.

Pierce’s precision on restarts and swift, smooth management of lapped traffic only widened his advantage.

“I felt like lapped traffic might’ve helped a little bit, but obviously Bobby had the best car,” said Thornton of Chandler, Ariz. “Really, I felt like he had the best car all weekend, kind of like most of the year. I don’t know, I think I made a couple mental mistakes. Just tried to ride a little bit too long and then not, and then I screwed up on the (lap-27) restart. That let Feger back by.

“I felt like if I could’ve got by him, I maybe could’ve got close to Bobby. But Bobby wasn’t even running around the top at that point. (His father and signal-man) Bob (Pierce) would’ve told him to move back up. He would’ve went up there and probably picked the pace back up.”

Thornton also mentioned how difficult it was to pace himself without being able to see a lap counter.

“I was trying to pay attention here down the front straightaway to see how many laps we had left. Then they take it off the screen. I’m like, ‘Man, I don’t really know how many laps are left.’ You can save a little bit, but at the same time, you really got to go. Hopefully next year we can be a just be that little bit better.”

Pierce encountered his longest stretch of lapped traffic from laps 13-24, but even then, Thornton could make up little ground, still trailing by a full second. Mike Harrison’s spin from fourth on lap 24 triggered five cautions over the final 17 laps, straightening Pierce’s path to the finish.

“Some of the cautions fell when I kind of needed them to,” Pierce said. “I was stuck behind a couple of them. They were racing hard back there. I mean, really, they were like 15th, so it’s not like they were racing for 28th. They were racing hard for 15th. I have to keep that in mind while I race them all while track’s go through transition. You just have to stay mentally sharp. The physical aspect of it, you’re bouncing around.”

If anything, Pierce’s toughest opponent was the racetrack itself. The ruts, bumps and choppy complexion of the temporary oval, plus the handful of cautions, demanded him to race attentively.

“You had to get into the mentality, the mindset heading into it knowing that was going to happen,” Pierce said.

“A track this small, you’re gonna have some cautions, you’re going to have some drama. I told everyone back there, it was going to be a long 40 laps. As much as you love to get the lead right away, it makes the race feel like 140 laps.

“You just have to get into that mindset knowing it’s going to happen, hit your marks on your restarts, change it up a couple times. I think that gave me a little bit of an edge, too. I was coming down the hill, and then toward the end, I was coming down top. Yeah, just, turn one was tricky bouncing through the hole.

“Couple times I felt like I was hitting it perfect and I’d come off the ground. Couple times I’d go in there and thought I messed it up and car rolled around perfectly.”

Despite his reign ending as the two-time defending event champion, third-finishing Brandon Sheppard approved of The Dome’s rugged character on Saturday. Even the configuration itself raced differently than previous years.

“They did a phenomenal job with the racetrack all weekend. The banking was a lot different this year than it has been in the past,” said Sheppard of Berlin, Ill. “So that threw us all for a little bit of a different curveball. It just raced a little bit different than what we raced on before. Just kind of the lines, especially in three and four. One and two was kind of the same, but as far as the holes, I love when this place has some character.

“The rougher the better. There’s no possible way you’re going to come out here and race on a perfectly smooth racetrack and say that it’s a better race. We always love having a little bit of character here.”

Things could’ve easily gone far worse for Sheppard, who was caught up in a multi-car pileup on the opening lap triggered by second-starting Brenden Smith. Because a complete restart followed, the sixth-starting Sheppard kept his position, though a lap-four restart shuffled him back to eighth before he steadily worked forward.

“It was tricky to pass there. We got to third at one point and then the caution came out,” Sheppard said, referencing his lap-32 pass of Feger right before a debris caution. “I felt like that was my only shot if I was going to see if I can run with Bobby or not. … Overall, heck of a weekend for this B5 team. I have to thank all my friends and family for coming out and supporting us this weekend.

“We really enjoy coming into this Dome and getting our little fifth-mile smile on, you could say. Had a lot of fun. I felt like we had a car capable of running with Bobby if we could’ve gotten up there. Like I said, we did all we could do. We’re definitely not disappointed with the weekend. We had a lot of fun.”


SATURDAY RESULTS

Super Late Models  (123 entries)

Velocita Super Late Models Main Event A Feature (40 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 3. B5-Brandon Sheppard[6]; 4. 25-Jason Feger[7]; 5. 9-Nick Hoffman[9]; 6. 12-Ashton Winger[11]; 7. 19M-Brenden Smith[2]; 8. 17-Zack Dohm[14]; 9. 99-Devin Moran[20]; 10. 77-Carson Hocevar[16]; 11. (DNF) 74X-Ethan Dotson[15]; 12. (DNF) 11R-Josh Rice[8]; 13. (DNF) 13-Dylan Thornton[21]; 14. (DNF) 28-Tyler Carpenter[18]; 15. (DNF) 33-Mike Harrison[4]; 16. (DNF) 99E-Dan Ebert[10]; 17. (DNF) 11T-Trevor Gundaker[19]; 18. (DNF) 49-Jonathan Davenport[12]; 19. (DNF) 19S-Dustin Sorensen[17]; 20. (DNF) 3S-Brian Shirley[13]; 21. (DNS) 5W-Mark Whitener

Allstar Performance Win & Your In Last Chance (10 Laps): 1. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[1]; 2. 32S-Chris Simpson[5]; 3. 7-Donald McIntosh[6]; 4. 45-Kyle Hammer[9]; 5. 13-Dylan Thornton[7]; 6. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[11]; 7. 49T-Jake Timm[12]; 8. 14-Wil Herrington[10]; 9. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[4]; 10. (DNF) 99-Devin Moran[3]; 11. (DNF) 1G-Devin Gilpin[2]; 12. (DNS) 22*-Drake Troutman

MatMan Designs Qualifier 1 (10 Laps): 1. 25-Jason Feger[2]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 3. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[6]; 4. 13-Dylan Thornton[4]; 5. 46-Joey Tanner[3]; 6. 99T-Dylan Thompson[9]; 7. C4-Freddie Carpenter[8]; 8. 17SR-Brody Smith[10]; 9. 75-Patrik Daniel[12]; 10. 75A-Daniel Adam[11]; 11. 45B-Scott Bell[5]; 12. (DNF) 18C-Chris Carpenter[7]

Hellraizer Jacks Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 11R-Josh Rice[2]; 2. 17-Zack Dohm[1]; 3. 1G-Devin Gilpin[3]; 4. 22*-Drake Troutman[4]; 5. 5S-Steve Sheppard Jr[6]; 6. 66-Jody Knowles[9]; 7. 995-Manny Falcon[10]; 8. (DNF) 130-Chase Osterhoff[7]; 9. (DNF) 96-Tanner English[5]; 10. (DNF) 128-Kylan Garner[8]; 11. (DNF) 4G-Bob Gardner[11]

National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 2. 74X-Ethan Dotson[4]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[10]; 4. 45-Kyle Hammer[6]; 5. 12J-Jason Jameson[3]; 6. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 7. 5-Jon Mitchell[7]; 8. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[8]; 9. 53C-Colten Burdette[9]; 10. 29-Jason Welshan[11]; 11. 24C-Tanner Collins[5]

FK Rod Ends Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 99E-Dan Ebert[1]; 2. 77-Carson Hocevar[3]; 3. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[7]; 4. 14-Wil Herrington[4]; 5. 6-Clay Harris[2]; 6. 66K-Dylan Knowles[8]; 7. 8L-Jeffrey Ledford[6]; 8. 20-Jimmy Owens[9]; 9. 44H-Dave Hess Jr[10]; 10. 91-Rusty Schlenk[11]; 11. (DNS) 71-Hudson O'Neal

Illinois State Rifle Associatons Qualifier 5 (10 Laps): 1. 12-Ashton Winger[1]; 2. 19S-Dustin Sorensen[4]; 3. 32S-Chris Simpson[3]; 4. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[5]; 5. 99H-Kyle Hardy[6]; 6. 1*-Kyle Moore[8]; 7. 55-Benji Hicks[9]; 8. 09-Michael Leach[11]; 9. 89-Mike Spatola[7]; 10. 17A-Austin Howes[10]; 11. (DNF) 35-Dustin Linville[2]

Walker Filtration Qualifier 6 (10 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 28-Tyler Carpenter[5]; 3. 7-Donald McIntosh[3]; 4. 49T-Jake Timm[2]; 5. 19X-Cody Bauer[7]; 6. 157-Mike Marlar[9]; 7. 27K-Greg Kimmons[8]; 8. 21-Devon Morgan[6]; 9. 11-James Giossi[10]; 10. 76-Brandon Overton[11]; 11. (DNS) 40B-Kyle Bronson

PeeWees Wrecker Service Non Qualifier 1 (12 Laps): 1. 75A-Daniel Adam[1]; 2. 995-Manny Falcon[7]; 3. 32F-Derek Fetter[11]; 4. 58-Garrett Alberson[6]; 5. 1CJ-Justin Shaw[8]; 6. 23-Beckham Malone[10]; 7. 81-Jason Riggs[9]; 8. S21-Seth Daniels[14]; 9. 60H-Kip Hughes[12]; 10. 11B-Lance Brasington[15]; 11. 44-Blaze Burwell[16]; 12. 22-Bree Whittmore[3]; 13. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[13]; 14. (DNF) 14JR-Michael King Jr[4]; 15. (DNF) 34-Chad Wallace[2]; 16. (DNS) 93-Carson Ferguson; 17. (DNS) 84-Myles Moos; 18. (DNS) 1T-Tyler Erb

ZAMP Non Qualifier 2 (12 Laps): 1. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 2. 44H-Dave Hess Jr[12]; 3. 24-Ryan Unzicker[5]; 4. 44C-Hayden Cardwell[4]; 5. C2-Corey DeLancey[18]; 6. 81J-Jack Riggs[10]; 7. 257-Skylar Marlar[16]; 8. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[8]; 9. (DNF) 12M-Ryan Montgomery[6]; 10. (DNF) 11W-Darin Weisinger Jr[14]; 11. (DNF) M27-Mike Provenzano[19]; 12. (DNF) 555-Brock Pinkerous[1]; 13. (DNF) 9Z-Jayme Zidar[3]; 14. (DNF) 3R-Brent Robinson[17]; 15. (DNF) B89-Dakota Smith[7]; 16. (DNF) 2B-Jordan Barbee[13]; 17. (DNS) 3W-Brennon Willard; 18. (DNS) 19-Lucas Lowery; 19. (DNS) 8-Kyle Steffens; 20. (DNS) 10J-Joseph Joiner

Nightowl Designs Non Qualifier 3 (12 Laps): 1. 17A-Austin Howes[2]; 2. 11-James Giossi[3]; 3. 114-Evan Koehler[4]; 4. RH94-Kaede Loudy[6]; 5. 55E-Eli Johnson[5]; 6. 18X-Michael Page[12]; 7. LIL91-Carter Schlenk[8]; 8. 23JR-Parker Gilbertson[13]; 9. 16-Rusty Griffaw[7]; 10. 38-Derek Fisher[16]; 11. 78-Chad Zobrist[9]; 12. 28P-Jeff Provinzino[10]; 13. 15F-Chris Fetter[14]; 14. (DNF) 19T-James Trantina III[15]; 15. (DNF) 10-Jacob Magee[1]; 16. (DNF) 81F-Jadon Frame[17]; 17. (DNS) 111-Jon Woods; 18. (DNS) 18-Shannon Babb

Top 6 A Hot Laps: 1. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:13.065[1]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:13.066[5]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:13.328[2]; 4. 19M-Brenden Smith, 00:13.351[6]; 5. 5W-Mark Whitener, 00:13.479[4]; 6. 33-Mike Harrison, 00:13.479[3]


Modifieds (63 entries)

Summit Racing Equipment A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 24H-Mike Harrison[2]; 3. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[5]; 4. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[10]; 5. 6-Ryan Ayers[4]; 6. 15W-Alex Williamson[12]; 7. 12T-Dallon Murty[3]; 8. B1-Jeff Larson[7]; 9. 14-Rick Conoyer[13]; 10. 40D-Blake Adams[16]; 11. 68-Adam Stricker[14]; 12. 25-Tyler Nicely[11]; 13. 777-Trevor Neville[20]; 14. 10Y-Trent Young[6]; 15. 1D-Dean Hoffman[21]; 16. (DNF) 20-Rodney Sanders[8]; 17. (DNF) 5-Drake Troutman[9]; 18. (DNF) 25C-Joe Chisholm[17]; 19. (DNF) 30-Jordan Grabouski[19]; 20. (DNF) 02-Tanner Mullens[15]; 21. (DNF) 35-Michael Altobelli[18]

Allstar Performance Win & Your In Last Chance (10 Laps): 1. 30-Jordan Grabouski[2]; 2. 777-Trevor Neville[1]; 3. 09-Michael Ledford[4]; 4. 23-Dylan Sharp[3]; 5. 01-Peyton Taylor[11]; 6. 8-Jimmy Lennex Jr[5]; 7. 24C-Jim Chisholm[6]; 8. 12-Jeff Reay[8]; 9. 21K-Kyle Brown[12]; 10. 115-Brandon Smith[10]; 11. 05-Dave Wietholder[9]; 12. (DNS) 1D-Dean Hoffman

STAKT Products Qualifer 1 (10 Laps): 1. B1-Jeff Larson[3]; 2. 25-Tyler Nicely[7]; 3. 02-Tanner Mullens[1]; 4. 777-Trevor Neville[12]; 5. 8-Jimmy Lennex Jr[9]; 6. 05-Dave Wietholder[13]; 7. 77-Ray Bollinger[4]; 8. 7-Clay Money[14]; 9. 8S-Kyle Strickler[11]; 10. 22A-Austen Becerra[10]; 11. (DNF) 26G-Ryan Gierke[8]; 12. (DNF) 45X-Chase Holland[6]; 13. (DNF) 58X-Gary Christian[5]; 14. (DNF) 65-Tyler Davis[2]

PPM Racing Products Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 20-Rodney Sanders[2]; 2. 15W-Alex Williamson[1]; 3. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 4. 30-Jordan Grabouski[10]; 5. 24C-Jim Chisholm[11]; 6. 99-Blake Brown[5]; 7. 115-Brandon Smith[7]; 8. 17-Nick Snell[6]; 9. C4-Dan Ems[13]; 10. 98-Joshua Hawkins[9]; 11. 44B-KC Burdette[14]; 12. 442-Aaron Johnson[3]; 13. 96M-Mike McKinney[12]; 14. (DNS) 151-Tim Ward; 15. (DNS) 97-Houston Johnson

MatMan Designs Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 5-Drake Troutman[5]; 2. 14-Rick Conoyer[3]; 3. 25C-Joe Chisholm[4]; 4. 23-Dylan Sharp[1]; 5. 1D-Dean Hoffman[10]; 6. 01-Peyton Taylor[12]; 7. 0-Damian Kiefer[6]; 8. 8X-Kyle Steffens[8]; 9. 29J-Jordan Wever[9]; 10. 07X-Troy Morris III[13]; 11. (DNF) 4W-Tyler Wolff[7]; 12. (DNF) 18-Brad Dyer[14]; 13. (DNF) 18Z-Zane DeVilbiss[2]; 14. (DNF) 537-Jesse Rockett[11]

Deatherage Opticians Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[1]; 2. 68-Adam Stricker[2]; 3. 35-Michael Altobelli[3]; 4. 09-Michael Ledford[7]; 5. 12-Jeff Reay[6]; 6. 21K-Kyle Brown[9]; 7. 3G-Haleigh Gross[12]; 8. 45-Kyle Hammer[14]; 9. J82-Treb Jacoby[8]; 10. 43LV-Logan Veloz[13]; 11. 94-Austin Rettig[11]; 12. (DNF) 74M-Manix Furqueron[10]; 13. (DNF) 44-Dave Hess Jr[4]; 14. (DNF) 13-Charlie Mefford[5]

Dirt Draft Top 6 Hot Laps: 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:13.393[1]; 2. 12T-Dallon Murty, 00:13.484[3]; 3. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr, 00:13.551[6]; 4. 10Y-Trent Young, 00:13.588[5]; 5. 24H-Mike Harrison, 00:13.813[2]; 6. 6-Ryan Ayers, 00:13.953[4]