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GOOD HOME LIFE: Illinois’ Bobby Pierce earns Farmer City Showdown win
The Oakwood, IL driver drops the points to 50 after Chris Madden’s seventh place finish
FARMER CITY, IL – June 1, 2023 – Bobby Pierce made sure to let his Illinois fans know he was back home Thursday night at Farmer City Raceway in the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models.
The Oakwood, IL driver passed Nick Hoffman on lap 27 and held on for his second win of the 2023 Series.
Hoffman passed series points leader Chris Madden in the first lap of the Farmer City Showdown and was unchallenged for the first half of the race.
However, a lap 19 caution for Shane Clanton put Pierce in position to strike.
The “Smooth Operator,” who was third at the time, began to make progress on the restart, thundering around Madden for second as the race reached its halfway mark.
That’s when he began to sneak up behind Hoffman, closing in on the Mooresville, NC driver as they reached the tail end of the field.
After two laps of pulling nose even with Hoffman’s left rear quarter panel, Pierce saw his chance on lap 27.
Hoffman chose the outside lane in Turn 3 as he tried to pass the lap car of Dustin Walker.
That allowed Pierce to pick the bottom, thundering past No. 9 in the middle of Turn 3 and sliding his wing in front of Hoffman’s nose as they exited Turn 4.
“We got that car back and we got it at the right time because I made up a lot of ground on Nick,” Pierce said. “Nick bottled up and even pushed himself a little bit, and I had this bottom, and I just spun him in there, and I felt him put me in the back a little bit when I slid in front of he
“It would probably be the only time I would pass him. He had a couple of bobbles, but he was pretty quick. At the front alone, it would have been hard to beat him.”
From there, not even a caution with three laps to go could stop Pierce as he held on for his sixth career World of Outlaws victory, one worth $10,000.
“The car was great tonight,” Pierce said. “I think we had a really good setup for track speed.”
Hoffman crossed the line second – his second podium in the last five World of Outlaws races.
“I just fell behind the lap cars once,” Hoffman said. “I wasn’t sure which one to choose and obviously I chose the wrong one. It was pretty good at the bottom to be able to get under me and slide off [Turn] 3. I knew it was close. I could hear him back there.
“The main thing is that I made a small mistake and opened the door a little and it capitalized.”
Kyle Bronson finished third, moving up seven places from 10th.
While happy with the performance, the Brandon, FL driver also referenced the need to be better earlier in the night.
“I felt like I had a really good car,” Bronson said. “It was a bit difficult to get in a car and pass them the way the track was. It’s difficult to start 10 and run so well. The guys are too good to spot them so many places.
“I felt like we were too comfortable all night, but we ran really well, and that’s the goal, to run really well. We just have to improve on our qualifying pack.”
Defending series champion Dennis Erb Jr. finished fourth, and Ryan Gustin rounded out the top five.
For Pierce, the win adds to his consistency over the past month, as he hasn’t finished outside the top 10 in the previous six World of Outlaws races.
It also helped him cut Madden’s point lead to 50, sweetening his home state win.
“We said if we stayed consistent, it would all go to fortune,” Pierce said. “We got the victory over him. We got the big jump in points, and we’ll just have to keep doing it.”
UNTIL NEXT TIME: The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series continues its Midwest tripleheader on Friday, June 2 at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, IL. A trip to Kentucky is then available as the Series visits Paducah International Raceway in Paducah, KY for the USA World 50.
If you can’t make it to the track, watch all the action live on DIRTVision, either online with the DIRTVision app.
CASE construction equipment feature (40 laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[2]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[10]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 5. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]; 6. 3S-Brian Shirley[13]; 7. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 8. 96V-Tanner English[4]; 9. B5-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 10. 24-Ryan Unzicker[12]; 11. 97-Cade Dillard[7]; 12. B1-Brent Larson[11]; 13. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[19]; 14. 36-Logan Martin[17]; 15. 11-Gordy Gundaker[23]; 16. 1st-Johnny Scott[18]; 17. 30-Todd Cooney[20]; 18. 33H-Roben Huffman[22]; 19. 14W-Dustin Walker[24]; 20. 25-Shane Clanton[9]; 21. 25F-Jason Feger[15]; 22. B12-Kevin Weaver[14]; 23. 81J-Jack Riggs[21]; 24. 18B-Shannon Babb[16] FOX FACTORY HARD CHARGER: Gordy Gundaker [+8]
Last Chance Showdown (10 laps): 1. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[2]; 2. 30-Todd Cooney[4]; 3. 81J-Jack Riggs[1]; 4. 33H-Roben Huffman[5]; 5. 38-Thomas Hunziker[3]; 6. 14W-Dustin Walker[8]; 7. 77-Blaise Baker[6]; 8. 6P-Jose Parga[7]; 9. (DNS) 11-Gordy Gundaker
Heat no. 1 of Engine Oil 1 (8 laps): 1. 44-Chris Madden[2]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 3. 97-Cade Dillard[3]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 5. 3S-Brian Shirley[6]; 6. 18B-Shannon Babb[4]; 7. 81J-Jack Riggs[8]; 8. 30-Todd Cooney[7]; 9. 6P-Jose Parga[9]
Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[1]; 2. 96V-Tanner English[2]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 4. B1-Brent Larson[4]; 5. B12-Kevin Weaver[7]; 6. 36-Logan Martin[5]; 7. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[6]; 8. 33H-Roben Huffman[9]; 9. 14W-Dustin Walker[8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[2]; 3. 25-Shane Clanton[3]; 4. 24-Ryan Unzicker[5]; 5. 25F-Jason Feger[6]; 6. 1st-Johnny Scott[7]; 7. 38-Thomas Hunziker[8]; 8. 77-Blaise Baker[9]; 9. 11-Gordy Gundaker[4]
Low-E Insulation Qualification (2 laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:11.954[21]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:11.987[12]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:12.014[6]; 4. 44-Chris Madden, 00:12.068[1]; 5. 96V-Tanner English, 00:12.107[22]; 6. 9-Nick Hoffman, 00:12.111[19]; 7. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:12.126[11]; 8. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:12.154[23]; 9. 25-Shane Clanton, 00:12.228[2]; 10. 18B-Shannon Babb, 00:12.233[15]; 11. B1-Brent Larson, 00:12.246[20]; 12.11-Gordy Gundaker, 00:12.248[27]; 13. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:12.254[4]; 14. 36-Logan Martin, 00:12.257[8]; 15. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 00:12.312[13]; 16. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:12.361[5]; 17. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 00:12.392[7]; 18. 25F-Jason Feger, 00:12.455[17]; 19. 30-Todd Cooney, 00:12.471[24]; 20. B12-Kevin Weaver, 00:12.497[9]; 21. 1ST-Johnny Scott, 00:12.501[14]; 22. 81J-Jack Riggs, 00:12.577[16]; 23. 14W-Dustin Walker, 00:12.902[25]; 24. 38-Thomas Hunziker, 00:12.905[26]; 25. 6P-Jose Parga, 00:13.259[18]; 26. 33H-Roben Huffman, 00:13.459[10]; 27. 77-Blaise Baker, 00:13.480[3]
