FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. (May 2) — Ryan Gustin was the dominant force in Satuday’s 50-lap Dairyland Showdown finale at Mississippi Thunder Speedway. But he still had some doubts in the waning stages of his flag-to-flag victory.
When a caution flag flew with three laps remaining, the 35-year-old standout from Marshalltown, Iowa, experienced a little anxiety. With two-time and reigning World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., suddenly up to second from the 15th starting spot and ready to challenge, the remaining circuits seemed like they would be anything but easy.
“I looked up there on the (score) board and seen 32 (Pierce) and I figured he was probably gonna try to fire on the cushion,” Gustin said. “But I didn’t want to leave a lane down there at the same time, so I just tried to hit that grip the best I could.”
Perhaps Gustin didn’t nail the lap-47 restart to perfection, but the way he executed it — as well as another restart one lap later — was more than satisfactory to preserve a $40,000 prize for his first WoO triumph of 2026. He survived the nerve-racking conclusion of a race he had controlled from the initial green flag, beating the 29-year-old Pierce to the finish line by 0.571 of a second.
Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., who ran second for laps 23-38 before ceding the spot to Pierce, settled for a third-place finish. WoO points leader Nick Hoffman of Mooresville, N.C., who won Thursday’s preliminary feature, placed fourth after starting from the pole position and holding second for the first 22 laps while eighth-starter Daulton Wilson of Fayetteville, N.C., slid into fifth on lap 42 and finished there.
Gustin, who vaulted off the outside pole to grab the lead at the start, called his rich success “pretty special.” He entered Mississippi Thunder’s event on a roll with three regional touring series victories over the previous two weekends but he was winless on the WoO trail since a $50,000 triumph last October at Boothill Speedway in Greenwood, La.
“Man, what a great weekend,” said Gustin, who recorded his 16th career WoO victory. “Third, second and first — it doesn't get much better than that other than winning them all I guess, but we'll take the Saturday (finale) any day.”
Gustin, whose past glory at Mississippi Thunder includes a $25,000 triumph on Night 2 of 2024’s Dairyland Showdown doubleheader and a $40,000 open-wheel modified win in 2016, was never seriously challenged for almost the entire distance. But Pierce drew close to Gustin just as caution flag was displayed on lap 47.
The ensuing restarts on laps 47 and 48 – both single-file by WoO rules — forced Gustin to sweat before celebrating.
“The first one, I turned left off of (the traction) and I just felt like I wasn’t going on the backstretch,” Gustin said. “I was getting ready for the slider (from Pierce), for him to try to do something, but he was never there.
“So then that second (restart), I just kind of attacked it a little bit harder just to not leave the door open down there. I don’t know how close he was or anything like that.”
Pierce wasn’t able to carry the momentum he had built up with his late-race charge. He cracked the top five on lap 31 and reached second on lap 39 with a turn-three pass of Davenport that included some contact, then closed in on Gustin. After the caution flags, though, he barely got a sniff of Gustin’s Todd Cooney Motorsports Infinity Chassis.
“I caught him from a little ways back and didn’t need the caution,” said Pierce, who started the three-race weekend with a $10,000 victory in Thursday’s 30-lap preliminary feature. “I couldn’t get going on the restarts, so every restart he kind of pulled me a little bit.
“And then with two to go, you don’t want to … all that hard work, you want to make sure it counts. You don’t want to let it go to waste by jumping the wall, hitting the cushion, so I decided let Gustin go and be happy with a second, just try to keep J.D. behind me, because, like I said, I couldn’t go on the restarts.”
Pierce, who left the track trailing Hoffman by three points in the WoO standings, was satisfied to secure a runner-up finish from mid-pack.
“That was a heck of a race check right there,” Pierce said. “Shout out to the track prep crew. That was old Mississippi Thunder Speedway. That’s how I love to see it. Me and Gustin, we had some battles here years back on a track similar to that and I think he beat me then too, but congrats to him on the win. He drove a heck of a race, did everything he had to do.”
Davenport, 42, hustled from the seventh starting spot to second by lap 23 but wasn’t able to threaten Gustin.
“I just kind of paced the field there most of the race, so I just kind of took my battles when I could,” Davenport said. “And when I got to second I was hoping the top (groove) was gonna go away at some point, but good job to Gustin there. The top just never did go away. It started to a little bit in one and two; we could kind of keep up through the middle, but three and four, there’s enough loose stuff … you’d throw it up and it packed really good against the wall and it was just a big curb up there. I just wasn’t that good to run up there.
“The one time that I made a mistake behind Chamberlain, I got a little aero-tight up there in one and two and I had to lift where I wouldn't hit the wall coming off of two, and I guess Bobby just had perfect timing and got by us there (for second). Then that one restart (on lap 47) I got to (Pierce) and slid him down there, and I probably should have just blocked the slider down in three and four but I thought I could run through there fast enough to just slide him back in one and two the other way. It just didn’t work out, and then we didn’t get a real good restart the last one.”
But a podium result was a “big turnaround for what we have been this week,” added Davenport, who didn’t qualify on Thursday after a heat-race incident and spun out of the top 10 in Friday’s feature following contact with Pierce. “Just proud of my guys. They stand behind me, never quit on me, no matter how many cars I tear up or how many right-rear quarter-panels I tear off. They know I’m trying, and they try to get me the best car they can every time.”
The feature was dotted by five caution flags starting on lap seven when Jake Timm blew a right-rear tire. Chris Simpson cut a right-rear tire on lap 10 and Logan Zarin stopped inside turn three on the 22nd lap. Trey Mills triggered a caution on lap 47 when he fell off the pace with mechanical trouble with running ninth and Tristan Chamberlain brought out another one circuit later with a backstretch spin.
Feature lineup
(50 laps)
Row 1: Nick Hoffman, Ryan Gustin
Row 2: Brent Larson, Micheal Leach
Row 3: Tyler Erb, Collen Winebarger
Row 4: Jonathan Davenport, Daulton Wilson
Row 5: Tim McCreadie, Jake Timm
Row 6: Dallon Murty, Trey Mills
Row 7: Blair Nothdurft, Cade Dillard
Row 8: Bobby Pierce, Dustin Sorensen
Row 9: Drake Troutman, Chris Simpson
Row 10: Sammy Mars, Dennis Erb Jr.
Row 11: Nick Anvelink, Tristan Chamberlain
Row 12: Ethan Dotson, Logan Zarin
Row 13: Eli Johnson
Consolation race results
(10 laps; top three transfer)
First consolation: Drake Troutman, Sammy Mars, Nick Anvelink, Ethan Dotson, Eli Johnson, Tim Isenberg, Justin Duty, Lance Mathees, Frank Heckenast Jr., Tim Ward.
Second consolation: Chris Simpson, Dennis Erb Jr., Tristan Chamberalin, Clay Stuckey, Tyler Bruening, Chad Simpson, Gordy Gundaker, Logan Zarin, Matthew Larson, Dylan Thornton.
Heat race results
(Eight laps; top four transfer)
First heat: Michael Leach, Tyler Erb, Tim McCreadie, Blair Nothdurft, Eli Johnson, Ethan Dotson, Justin Duty, Frank Heckenast Jr., Tim Ward.
Second heat: Nick Hoffman, Daulton Wilson Dallon Murty, Bobby Pierce, Drake Troutman, Sammy Mars, Nick Anvelink, Tim Isenberg, Lance Matthees.
Third heat: Brent Larson, Collen Winebarger, Jake Timm, Cade Dillard, Dennis Erb Jr., Clay Stuckey, Chad Simpson, Gordy Gundaker, Dylan Thornton.
Fourth heat: Ryan Gustin, Jonathan Davenport, Trey Mills, Dustin Sorensen, Chris Simpson, Tristan Chamberlain, Tyler Bruening, Logan Zarin, Matthew Larson.
Time trials
Driver (car no.), hometown, time (unofficial)
Group A
- Michael Leach (09), Sun River, Mont., 13.418
- Nick Hoffman (9), Mooresville, N.C., 13.441
- Tim McCreadie (9), Watertown, N.Y., 13.453
- Dallon Murty (13), Chelsea, Iowa, 13.467
- Tyler Erb (1), New Waverly, Texas, 13.535
- Bobby Pierce (32), Oakwood, Ill., 13.556
- Justin Duty (15), Molalla, Ore., 13.653
- Daulton Wilson (58v), Fayetteville, N.C., 13.655
- Eli Johnson (55), Clewiston, Fla., 13.667
- Tim Isenberg ((T), Marshfield, Wis., 13.674
- Ethan Dotson (74x), Bakersfield, Calif., 13.719
- Lance Matthees (90), Winona, Minn., 13.745
- Blair Nothdurft (76), Renner, S.D., 13.752
- Drake Troutman (22*), Hyndman, Pa., 13.863
- Tim Ward (4tw), Mesa, Ariz., 13.894
- Nick Anvelink (15), Bonduel, Wis., 13.918
- Frank Heckenast Jr. (99jr), Frankfort, Ill., 13.987
- Sammy Mars (28), Menomonie, Wis., 13.993
Group B
- Collen Winebarger (14s), Corbett, Ore., 13.763
- Trey Mills (14jr), St. Augustine, Fla., 13.779
- Brent Larson (B1), Lake Elmo, Minn., 13.806
- Ryan Gustin (19r), Marshalltown, Iowa, 13.848
- Dennis Erb Jr. (28), Carpentersville, Ill., 13.858
- Jonathan Davenport (49), Blairsville, Ga., 13.887
- Jake Timm (49), Winona, Minn., 13.905
- Chris Simpson (32), Oxford, Iowa, 13.920
- Tristan Chamberlain (20tc), Richmond, Ind., 13.926
- Chad Simpson (25), Mount Vernon, Iowa, 13.926
- Cade Dillard (97), Robeline, La., 13.943
- Dustin Sorenson (19), Rochester, Minn., 13.944
- Clay Stuckey (15), Shreveport, La., 13.969
- Logan Zarin (1z), Hookstown, Pa., 13.980
- Gordy Gundaker (11), St. Charles, Mo., 14.005
- Tyler Bruening (16), Decorah, Iowa, 14.016
- Dylan Thornton (38T), Orcutt, Calif., 14.063
- Matthew Larson (8), Lake Elmo, Minn., 14.157
Saturday’s schedule
(All times local)
2 p.m. - Pits open
3 p.m. - Kart, micro hot laps (Lightning Speedway)
4 p.m. - Grandstands open
4 p.m. - Church outreach service
4:30 p.m. - Driver autograph session
5:30 p.m. - Drivers’ meeting
6 p.m. - On-track activity begins
- Late Model hot laps
- Modified hot laps
- Late Model time trials (2 laps)
- Modified time trials (2 laps)
Opening ceremonies
- Late Model heats (8 laps)
- Modified heats (8 laps)
Intermission/WoO redraw
- Late Model consolations (10 laps)
Feature events
- Late Models (50 laps)
- Modifieds (35 laps)
