A MATTER OF INCHES: Kyle Bronson edges Brian Shirley for Tri-City Speedway win
Bobby Pierce finishes third, cutting Chris Madden’s points lead to 30
GRANITE CITY, IL – June 2, 2023 – A battle between best friends ended with Kyle Bronson standing Friday night at Tri-City Speedway.
After trading the lead three times in the final four laps, the Brandon, FL driver beat Brian Shirley at the checkered flag by 0.057 seconds to claim his first World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models win of 2023 .
Bronson, the pole sitter, was not challenged for the lead through the first 30 laps of the race. Then the first of the three challengers tried to fight.
Germfree Rookie of the Year candidate Nick Hoffman was the first to step up on lap 33, using the inside lane to close on Bronson in turns 3 and 4.
The Florida competitor took the lane, avoiding Hoffman’s challenge as he drove into Turns 1 and 2 and pulled away.
But that’s when his next opponent arrived. His best friend, Brian Shirley.
As Bronson hit traffic, Shirley closed in, seeing an opportunity present itself.
With Bronson on the outside and Shirley on the bottom, the Chatham, IL driver made his move with four laps to go.
Shirley thundered under Bronson in Turn 2 as Bronson got caught behind the lap car of Todd Cooney.
As they entered Turn 3, Shirley slid across the racetrack, leaving the bottom open. That’s when Bronson darted to the inside, pulling his rocket chassis nearly level with Shirley, as the #3S led the lap.
Bronson regained the lead in Turn 1 on lap 38, moving Shirley up the circuit and allowing Hoffman and Bobby Pierce to close in behind them.
Shirley and Bronson switched lanes again as they entered Turns 3 and 4, allowing Shirley to drop to the bottom while Bronson retook the lead at the top with two laps to go.
The two went to war again in turns 1 and 2 on lap 39, with Shirley gaining the lead as they roared down the backstretch.
Shirley again led the field through the first turn the next lap as Bronson went to the cushion, and Pierce tried to pass Shirley at the bottom. But it was Bronson’s decision that paid off. He pulled even with Shirley as they entered Turn 3, while Pierce stayed to watch the battle ahead.
From there, Bronson went through the middle of the corner, pinching Shirley on the bottom so she couldn’t get the momentum she needed – the winning move. Bronson powered through the corner to beat Shirley by 0.057 seconds to win the $12,000 prize — his third career World of Outlaws triumph and first not at Volusia Speedway Park.
Bronson said he was excited to battle Shirley for the win, knowing the two would leave it all on the court without tearing each other apart.
“It’s really nice to run with one of my best friends like that, just knowing he’s not going to tear you apart,” Bronson said. “We got caught a couple of times. He slid in front of me. I grabbed him so he couldn’t slide back. It was a hell of a race.”
Although Bronson came out on top, his victory was not without a scare. He said he felt a vibration in the car as the revs went down.
“I felt like I was really good for the first 35 laps, and then I got a really bad vibration and I almost couldn’t drive the car,” Bronson said. “I started backing the car up because I was afraid I was going to pop a drive shaft or break a transmission or something.
“Then the next thing I know, [Shirley] he passes me and I had to pick up the pace. At that point, I said, “To hell.” I don’t do point races anymore. I’m trying to win here. I threw caution to the wind in the last five laps and it worked out well for us.”
Shirley, who earned his second top five of the season, said Bronson kept him running the line he needed at the end.
“I felt like if I didn’t get Kyle at the start, I was going to have a hard time getting past him,” Shirley said. “You run well around here and well on the cushion so I knew it was going to be hard to get around him. I didn’t realize the track was going to come back to me where we could get under him a little bit.
“These last few laps, he was smart enough to block me where I couldn’t hit my line to where I needed to hit to get past him completely.”
Pierce crossed the line third, his second podium of the weekend.
The Oakwood, IL driver had a chance to win after receiving damage in a lap 4 caution with Kyle Larson and former series champion Billy Moyer. He fell back to ninth before returning to the podium.
“It was crazy how far we came back and were right with them,” Pierce said. “Larson had the wall right in front of me and I piled right into him. Nine times out of 10, that takes you out of the race with how hard we hit.”
For the second night in a row, Pierce earned points over Chris Madden, who finished 13th.
The “Smooth Operator” is now 30 points behind the Gray Court, SC pilot.
After challenging for the lead over the final 10 laps, Hoffman dropped back to fourth.
The Mooresville, N.C. driver said Bronson’s ability to protect the lead prevented him from making the pass for the win.
“About halfway through, my stuff was really hot and I was just setting a decent pace,” Hoffman said. “But with about 10 to go, I said it. I said I’m going to go.
“I tracked these guys down and from a long way off. I got to run with them, pulled away [Shirley], and brought Bronson down and showed him a nose. He was able to protect himself [Turn] 3, and that was kind of the difference I felt in the race.”
Shane Clanton, the 2015 Series champion, rounded out the top five.
UNTIL NEXT TIME: The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models wraps up their Midwest tripleheader weekend with a trip to Paducah International Raceway in Paducah, KY on Saturday, June 3rd 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.
33 entries
DIRT SUPER LATE MODELS
CASE Late Mode Feature (40 laps): 1. 40B-Kyle Bronson[1]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[2]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[7]; 4. 9-Nick Hoffman[4]; 5. 25-Shane Clanton[6]; 6. 11-Gordy Gundaker[15]; 7. 97-Cade Dillard[3]; 8. 19R-Ryan Gustin[17]; 9. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[10]; 10. B5-Brandon Sheppard[18]; 11. 18B-Shannon Babb[8]; 12. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[9]; 13. 44-Chris Madden[11]; 14. 1st-Johnny Scott[20]; 15. 33-Mike Harrison[12]; 16. 31-Kye Blight[21]; 17. 30-Todd Cooney[24]; 18. 36-Logan Martin[16]; 19. 14W-Dustin Walker[26]; 20. B1-Brent Larson[22]; 21. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[19]; 22. 82-Billy Laycock[25]; 23. 25F-Jason Feger[14]; 24. 96V-Tanner English[23]; 25. 6-Kyle Larson[5]; 26. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[13]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 laps): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[1]; 2. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[5]; 3. 31-Kye Blight[3]; 4. 82-Billy Laycock[4]; 5. 10-Daryn Klein[2]; 6. 32F-Derek Fetter[9]; 7. 96V-Tanner English[6]; 8. 38-Thomas Hunziker[7]; 9. (DNS) 81J-Jack Riggs
Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 1st-Johnny Scott[2]; 3. B1-Brent Larson[4]; 4. 30-Todd Cooney[3]; 5. 14W-Dustin Walker[5]; 6. 14R-Reid Millard[8]; 7. 3-Brennon Willard[6]; 8. (DNS) 11H-Jeff Herzog
Case #1 Engine Oil Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. 97-Cade Dillard[1]; 2. 25-Shane Clanton[4]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[2]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[3]; 5. 19R-Ryan Gustin[5]; 6. 31-Kye Blight[6]; 7. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[7]; 8. 38-Thomas Hunziker[8]; 9. 32F-Derek Fetter[9]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 3. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 4. 11-Gordy Gundaker[4]; 5. 10-Daryn Klein[5]; 6. 82-Billy Laycock[8]; 7. 96V-Tanner English[7]; 8. 81J-Jack Riggs[6]
Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 2. 18B-Shannon Babb[3]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[2]; 4. 25F-Jason Feger[5]; 5. B5-Brandon Sheppard[4]; 6. 30-Todd Cooney[7]; 7. 14W-Dustin Walker[8]; 8. 11H-Jeff Herzog[6]
Heat 4 (8 laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 2. 6-Kyle Larson[2]; 3. 33-Mike Harrison[4]; 4. 36-Logan Martin[3]; 5. 1st-Johnny Scott[5]; 6. B1-Brent Larson[6]; 7. 3-Brennon Willard[7]; 8. 14R-Reid Millard[8]
Qualifying Group A (2 laps): 1. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:14.783[1]; 2. 44-Chris Madden, 00:14.908[12]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:14.913[8]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:14.918[4]; 5. 21-Billy Moyer Sr, 00:14.974[2]; 6. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:14.978[10]; 7. 25-Shane Clanton, 00:15.063[3]; 8. 11-Gordy Gundaker, 00:15.213[7]; 9. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:15.243[11]; 10. 10-Daryn Klein, 00:15.317[15]; 11. 31-Kye Blight, 00:15.353[13]; 12. 81J-Jack Riggs, 00:15.360[5]; 13. 14G-Trevor Gundaker, 00:15.449[9]; 14. 96V-Tanner English, 00:15.497[6]; 15. 38-Thomas Hunziker, 00:15.546[17]; 16. 82-Billy Laycock, 00:15.594[16]; 17. 32F-Derek Fetter, 00:15.769[14]
Qualifying Group B (2 laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:14.879[16]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman, 00:14.911[6]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 00:14.961[13]; 4. 6-Kyle Larson, 00:14.968[14]; 5. 18B-Shannon Babb, 00:14.980[9]; 6. 36-Logan Martin, 00:15.046[4]; 7. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:15.084[12]; 8. 33-Mike Harrison, 00:15.106[7]; 9. 25F-Jason Feger, 00:15.199[1]; 10. 1ST-Johnny Scott, 00:15.199[11]; 11. 11H-Jeff Herzog, 00:15.340[5]; 12. B1-Brent Larson, 00:15.500[15]; 13. 30-Todd Cooney, 00:15.588[8]; 14. 3-Brennon Willard, 00:15.772[10]; 15. 14W-Dustin Walker, 00:15.803[3]; 16. 14R-Reid Millard, 00:16.346[2]
