Pierce holds off O'Neal at Marion Center
Photo by Emily Schwanke
MARION CENTER, Pa.—When the eyes of the dirt racing world were on Marion Center Raceway, it didn’t disappoint.
The Connor Bobik Memorial’s postponement to Wednesday night meant it instantly became one of the highest-profile midweek shows in all of Late Model racing. The move resulted in the already big event gaining even more star power in the pit area and attention from fans across the country. For everyone who laid eyes on Marion Center for the first time, they got to see one of the best races in the track’s history courtesy of some of the sport’s brightest stars.
When the green flag flew in the main event, two of the frontrunners were reigning World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision champion Bobby Pierce along with Hudson O’Neal, who was unable to attend the original date but added the rescheduled event to his schedule aboard the K&L Rumley Enterprises No. 6. But they both initially trailed Dustin Sorensen, who drew the Bilstein Pole Award to give himself the best chance at his long-awaited first World of Outlaws victory.
Sorensen’s time out front didn’t last long, as Pierce powered around the outside exiting Turn 2 on the opening lap and cleared the Minnesotan by the time they got to Turn 3. Sorensen stayed with Pierce in the early stages, but so did O’Neal, and the “New Deal” worked his way around the No. 19 and into second with 14 laps in the books.
Once the duo caught traffic, it was game on. O’Neal threw a big slider into Turn 3 that barely cleared Pierce, who crossed underneath O’Neal off Turn 4 before returning the favor at the other end of the track. It was rinse and repeat on the next lap as both men proved why they’re both among the most successful Late Model drivers of their generation. After plenty of lead swapping, Pierce eventually got enough of a run off Turn 4 to keep O’Neal at bay for good.
A flurry of cautions late in the race kept the field bunched together and set up a thrilling conclusion at the front. O’Neal was still on Pierce’s tail with two to go and tried to slide him into Turn 3 once again, but Pierce saw it coming and blocked his lane. It was the same story on the final lap, as O’Neal had nowhere to go with his strong run down the backstretch and had to watch Pierce collect his second Connor Bobik Memorial trophy in as many years.
The win was Pierce’s ninth of 2026 in World of Outlaws action and the 51st of his career. It also moved him into the points lead by 17 over Nick Hoffman, who struggled in the Feature before finishing 13th.
“It’s tough when you’re in the lead,” Pierce said. “Especially when you’ve got Hudson behind you, he’s a heck of a wheelman. I guess the last restart there, he was hitting the top of [Turns] 1 and 2 and getting a lot of gains on me off the corner. I was blocking him every time into [Turn] 3. I think coming to the white flag, I saw him under me getting into 3, thanks to him for racing me clean. He possibly could have sent it in there, but it would have been close.”
Behind O’Neal in second, Drake Troutman finished third to establish a new career best at one of his home-state tracks. Sorensen earned his first top five of the season in fourth, while Max Blair rounded out the top five.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision season continues with the Lonewolf 40 at Wayne County Speedway on Thursday, May 28. Tickets are available in advance by clicking here.
Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.
RACE NOTES:
Mike Marlar set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.
Nick Hoffman won the Simpson Quick Time Award.
Bobby Pierce won Heat 1.
Dustin Sorensen won STAKT Products Heat 2.
Hudson O’Neal won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.
Jared Miley won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.
Daulton Wilson and Logan Zarin won the Last Chance Showdowns.
Dustin Sorensen won the Bilstein Pole Award.
Tyler Erb won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.
Daulton Wilson won the MD3 Rookie of the Race Award.
Hudson O’Neal was the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher.
Drake Troutman was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.
Dustin Sorensen was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.
Max Blair was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.
Gregg Satterlee was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.
Tristan Chamberlain was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.
Dennis Erb Jr. was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.
Tyler Erb was the Lifeline Ninth-Place Finisher.
Daulton Wilson was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.
Mason Zeigler was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.
Mike Marlar was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.
Nick Hoffman was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.
Trey Mills was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.
Jared Miley was the Arizona Sport Shirts 18th-Place Finisher.
WORLD OF OUTLAWS LATE MODEL SERIES (38 entries)
WoO Late Model Feature (60 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. 6-Hudson O'Neal[3]; 3. 22*-Drake Troutman[8]; 4. 19-Dustin Sorensen[1]; 5. 111-Max Blair[12]; 6. 22-Gregg Satterlee[9]; 7. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[11]; 8. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[16]; 9. 1-Tyler Erb[21]; 10. 58V-Daulton Wilson[17]; 11. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[6]; 12. 157-Mike Marlar[7]; 13. 9-Nick Hoffman[5]; 14. 14-Trey Mills[23]; 15. 19R-Ryan Gustin[19]; 16. 74X-Ethan Dotson[22]; 17. 9M-Tim McCreadie[14]; 18. 10M-Jared Miley[4]; 19. 55E-Eli Johnson[15]; 20. B1-Brent Larson[24]; 21. 12-Ryan Montgomery[13]; 22. 1Z-Logan Zarin[18]; 23. 72-Michael Norris[10]; 24. 1C-Alex Ferree[20]; 25. 29-Ken Schaltenbrand[25]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 58V-Daulton Wilson[3]; 2. 19R-Ryan Gustin[1]; 3. 1-Tyler Erb[2]; 4. 555-Brock Pinkerous[5]; 5. 24-Tyler Wyant[8]; 6. 5L-Jon Lee[4]; 7. 36-Paul Kot[7]; 8. 10-Gary Lyle[10]; 9. 29-Ken Schaltenbrand[6]; 10. W3-John Weaver[9]; 11. 55F-Dennis Fenton[11]
Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1Z-Logan Zarin[1]; 2. 1C-Alex Ferree[3]; 3. 74X-Ethan Dotson[2]; 4. B1-Brent Larson[4]; 5. 10*-Levi Yetter[6]; 6. 14-Trey Mills[5]; 7. 1D-Braeden Dillinger[7]; 8. 28D-Del Rougeux[8]; 9. HR1-Rodney Phillips[11]; 10. 76-Charles Powell[10]; 11. 13X-Kenny Schaffer[9]
WoO Late Model Heat Race 1 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 3. 22-Gregg Satterlee[4]; 4. 12-Ryan Montgomery[3]; 5. 19R-Ryan Gustin[6]; 6. 58V-Daulton Wilson[7]; 7. 555-Brock Pinkerous[5]; 8. 36-Paul Kot[8]; 9. W3-John Weaver[9]; 10. 55F-Dennis Fenton[10]
STAKT Products Heat Race 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Dustin Sorensen[2]; 2. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[1]; 3. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[3]; 4. 55E-Eli Johnson[4]; 5. 1-Tyler Erb[6]; 6. 5L-Jon Lee[7]; 7. 29-Ken Schaltenbrand[5]; 8. 24-Tyler Wyant[8]; 9. 10-Gary Lyle[9]
Keyser Mfg Heat Race 3 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Hudson O'Neal[2]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 3. 72-Michael Norris[3]; 4. 9M-Tim McCreadie[4]; 5. 1Z-Logan Zarin[5]; 6. 1C-Alex Ferree[6]; 7. 14-Trey Mills[7]; 8. 1D-Braeden Dillinger[9]; 9. 13X-Kenny Schaffer[8]; 10. HR1-Rodney Phillips[10]
Jarrett Rifles Heat Race 4 (8 Laps): 1. 10M-Jared Miley[1]; 2. 22*-Drake Troutman[2]; 3. 111-Max Blair[6]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[3]; 5. 74X-Ethan Dotson[5]; 6. B1-Brent Larson[4]; 7. 10*-Levi Yetter[7]; 8. 28D-Del Rougeux[8]; 9. 76-Charles Powell[9]
Group A Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman, 14.468[2]; 2. 25Z-Mason Zeigler, 14.523[4]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce, 14.524[12]; 4. 19-Dustin Sorensen, 14.582[17]; 5. 12-Ryan Montgomery, 14.677[1]; 6. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain, 14.706[3]; 7. 22-Gregg Satterlee, 14.798[15]; 8. 55E-Eli Johnson, 14.801[7]; 9. 555-Brock Pinkerous, 14.813[11]; 10. 29-Ken Schaltenbrand, 14.827[6]; 11. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 14.832[14]; 12. 1-Tyler Erb, 14.839[18]; 13. 58V-Daulton Wilson, 14.888[13]; 14. 5L-Jon Lee, 14.939[10]; 15. 36-Paul Kot, 14.968[9]; 16. 24-Tyler Wyant, 15.002[16]; 17. W3-John Weaver, 15.207[19]; 18. 10-Gary Lyle, 15.290[8]; 19. 55F-Dennis Fenton, 15.298[5]
Group B Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 157-Mike Marlar, 14.751[3]; 2. 10M-Jared Miley, 14.763[9]; 3. 6-Hudson O'Neal, 14.793[1]; 4. 22*-Drake Troutman, 14.824[16]; 5. 72-Michael Norris, 14.838[18]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 14.855[5]; 7. 9M-Tim McCreadie, 14.895[2]; 8. B1-Brent Larson, 14.898[14]; 9. 1Z-Logan Zarin, 14.911[12]; 10. 74X-Ethan Dotson, 14.936[15]; 11. 1C-Alex Ferree, 15.005[4]; 12. 111-Max Blair, 15.017[6]; 13. 14-Trey Mills, 15.197[7]; 14. 10*-Levi Yetter, 15.218[11]; 15. 13X-Kenny Schaffer, 15.326[13]; 16. 28D-Del Rougeux, 15.413[19]; 17. 1D-Braeden Dillinger, 15.558[8]; 18. 76-Charles Powell, 15.563[10]; 19. HR1-Rodney Phillips, 16.121[17]
CURRENT WORLD OF OUITLAWS LATE MODEL SERIES STANDINGS
Pos. No. Driver Hometown Points Gap Starts Wins Top 5s Top 10s
1 32 Bobby Pierce Oakwood, IL 3349 24 9 17 24
2 9 Nick Hoffman Mooresville, NC 3332 -17 24 5 21 23
3 9M Tim McCreadie Watertown, NY 3129 -220 24 2 9 16
4 22* Drake Troutman Hyndman, PA 3122 -227 24 0 9 16
5 1 Tyler Erb New Waverly, TX 3111 -238 24 0 8 16
6 19R Ryan Gustin Marshalltown, IA 3111 -238 24 1 8 14
7 58V Daulton Wilson Fayetteville, NC 3061 -288 23 0 7 13
8 74X Ethan Dotson Bakersfield, CA 3053 -296 23 0 4 14
9 19 Dustin Sorensen Rochester, MN 2970 -379 24 0 1 11
10 28 Dennis Erb Carpentersville, IL 2899 -450 24 0 2 6
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