Maquoketa Speedway
Snaring WoO record, beat goes on for Pierce
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Bobby Pierce emerges at Maquoketa. (brendonbauman.com)
Bobby Pierce’s record-breaking 19th victory of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series campaign came so routinely Saturday at Maquoketa Speedway that the significance briefly escaped him.
“Whenever they said it, I forgot about it,” the 29-year-old Pierce said on DIRTVision. “I was like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s awesome.’ Man, I never thought that would happen. It took me forever to get an Outlaw win — until 2021. By that time I had already won the World (100) and North-South (100) years before that. … Once we started running the series, they just started coming. It’s awesome.” | RaceWire
The Oakwood, Ill., superstar made history in customarily dominant fashion, leading all 60 laps of Saturday’s Hawkeye 100 and beating Hudson O’Neal by 4.710 seconds for a $25,000 payday. The 61-time series winner — still 13 shy of Darrell Lanigan’s career-leading 74 — broke the World of Outlaws single-season victory record with 12 races still remaining on the schedule.
Pierce had shared the previous mark of 18 victories with Brandon Sheppard, who reached that total in 2017 and ’19, and Josh Richards, who did so in 2016.
The milestone capped a rewarding turnaround from Friday’s preliminary program at the 3/8-mile oval. Pierce’s car failed to fire for the third heat race, forcing him to the pits and eventually into the second consolation race. After transferring through the consolation, he rallied from the 22nd starting spot to finish sixth.
A night later, nothing got in his way. Starting outside the front row, Pierce immediately took command and never relinquished the lead. The final 44 laps ran uninterrupted following Ricky Thornton Jr.’s slowdown on lap 17, allowing Pierce to steadily stretch his advantage.
Pierce led by more than two seconds for each of the final 38 laps, more than three seconds for the final 15 and more than four seconds over the closing 10 circuits. His largest advantage came at the checkered flag.
O’Neal’s best opportunity came much earlier, when Pierce reached the tail of the field on lap 11. Working the bottom while Pierce navigated the top, O’Neal closed to within a single length. But after a Ryan Gustin caution on lap 14, O’Neal never again mounted a serious challenge.
“It felt awesome,” Pierce said. “Just like yesterday, whether it was qualifying hammer-down or in the feature, this thing went around the track phenomenal. Someone told me earlier, ‘This thing looks fun to drive.’ And I agree, it is fun. You always want a car to give you a chance to try numerous lines. I could go bottom. I could go top. I could kind of roll the middle. I could turn down the hill and go.”
Saturday marked Pierce’s second victory in four races with his newest Longhorn Chassis, a car that has attracted attention because of its black framerails — a noticeable change from the purple-powdercoated chassis Pierce has primarily campaigned — and Kevin Rumley’s seemingly increased presence around the Pierce team over the last week.
Black framerails, however, aren’t entirely new to Pierce. His stars-and-stripes car that carried him to victory in Dream XXXII at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, also featured a black frame. Pierce rattled off 11 victories in 13 starts with that car from the June 4’s Dream prelim through the July 11 World of Outlaws program at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio.
Dirtrackr’s Justin Fiedler reported last week that the car could be a new Longhorn design and possibly another Rumley test car. Pierce, however, didn’t characterize it that way when asked directly about the car.
Pierce told DirtonDirt on Friday that he needed another car after his primary machine was swept up in the 15-car pileup during Aug. 8’s North-South 100 at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky.
“I don't know what it is,” Pierce said via text. “I needed a car after I wrecked the one at Florence.”
Whatever its origins, the new piece is producing.
“I just have to thank Longhorn Chassis, everyone for their support and dedication and hard work on this thing,” Pierce said in victory lane at Maquoketa. “Ever since I switched to Longhorn, I wouldn’t say it was like a lightswitch because we were good in the Pierce cars, but this Longhorn, man … ever since I got these things, we’re digging. It’s definitely video game mode. Thanks to (Longhorn co-owner Steve) Arpin, (Longhorn engineer Kevin) Rumley, (Longhorn Dynamics lead shock builder Joe) Matthews, (Longhorn staffer Matt) Langston, everyone at the whole chassis shop.”
Saturday’s victory marks Pierce’s 26th overall of the season, and he now owns his largest World of Outlaws points lead of the year at 113 markers over Nick Hoffman, who salvaged ninth Saturday after an early rollover.
There have been enough recent blips, though, to leave Pierce wondering whether his team had begun to lose some of its edge. He qualified 15th of 15 cars in Group A time trials for the first North-South 100 semifeature Aug. 6 at Florence before finishing ninth in the split-field race. The crash two nights later put one of his cars out of commission. And Friday at Maquoketa, a mechanical issue before his heat forced him to qualify through a consolation race.
Even Pierce’s USA Nationals triumph Aug. 1 ended a 17-day stretch without a victory, his longest since going 33 days between wins earlier this season.
With Maquoketa’s big victory, Pierce can confidently say he and his team — which continue to navigate Bob Pierce’s recovery from a July 15 stroke — haven’t lost their edge. With his largest points advantage of the season and the World of Outlaws single-season wins record already his, Pierce is on track to effectively wrap up his third series championship.
If he adds another 35 points to his lead over the next nine events before the Nov. 5 World Finals opener at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, a 148-point advantage would be insurmountable for Hoffman entering the three-day finale.
“Any time we think we’re losing a little bit, we’ve come back stronger,” Pierce said. “It’s awesome. We’re definitely going to soak it in. I can’t wait to get home and celebrate with my wife.”
.webp?v=2.0.6)
