Lincoln Park Speedway
Parking it at Lincoln Park helps Pierce regain mojo
By Bryan Ault
Special to DirtonDirt
Bobby Pierce behind the wheel at Lincoln Park. (joshjamesartwork.com)
PUTNAMVILLE, Ind. (Sept. 24) — Bobby Pierce’s FloRacing Night in America victory at Lincoln Park Speedway on Wednesday was more meaningful than observers may realize. Scoring his 29th win and landing in victory lane twice in five days after Saturday’s Cotton Pickin’ 100 victory at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Miss. provided a much-needed boost to the superstar’s confidence. | RaceWire
Regaining the version of his dominant self — the otherworldly-successful version of the Oakwood, Ill. driver who ripped off 12 wins in 14 starts from mid-June to mid-July — has been the goal.
Even before so many wrecks and breakdowns derailed some valuable chances, Pierce felt he was settling for podiums when he should have captured checkered flags, pointing to third-place runs at the Silver Dollar Nationals at Shelby County Speedway in Harlan, Iowa, and Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway’s Prairie Dirt Classic.
“It's been up and down,” Pierce said after changing into street clothes at Lincoln Park. “Silver Dollar, we got third. PDC, we got third. It's racing, it’s a roller-coaster sport. Anything that happen out there. You know, those big races, we were right there, just didn't get that win, right?”
That wasn’t the case Wednesday. Pierce snatched the lead after polesitter Devin Moran when the Dresden, Ohio driver suffered a flat tire on lap 11, pacing the field for the remainder of the Riddell National Bank 50. He navigated the track’s heavy cushion to stave off runner-up Ricky Thornton Jr. for the $20,000 payday.
Since capturing the USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis., Pierce has won, but he’s missed out on some key opportunities.
He was caught up in the major wreck in the opening laps of August's North-South 100, robbing him a chance of a fourth-straight crown jewel victory at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky. Three weeks later at Shelby County, Daulton Wilson of Fayetteville, N.C., spun in front of him on the final lap, denying him a potential World of Outlaws Late Model Series victory.
“I mean, it's part of racing, right? It sucks, but I will say it’s not like we were in a low just because we weren't performing well,” Pierce said. “We just had s--- luck. So, like, when it's kind of like that, I don't know what's better or worse, but I think it's better to be somewhat fast and just have the bad luck because at least, you know, once the bad luck goes away, you're fast anyways and you're still there in contention for races.”
Perhaps Pierce’s biggest disappointment came in the World 100 at Eldora Speedway, where he was chasing a third straight 100-lap victory at the Rossburg, Ohio, oval. Engine woes twice knocked the favorite out of action during the sport’s biggest weekend.
“A lot of the stuff was just fluke things out of our control and then, you know, these motors, like … heck, how many races I've won at Eldora and Knoxville and Volusia and stuff,” Pierce said. “I think that weekend (at Eldora) we possibly should have had them (refreshened) a little more, you know, with how demanding the track was that weekend. Probably could have tried to prevent it a little bit, but, you know, when you're in those slumps, you’ve just got to keep going.”
And that’s precisely what Pierce did, starting with a Sept. 19 victory in Saturday’s unsanctioned Cotton Pickin’ 100 at Magnolia. Getting back into a groove where the pressure of the World of Outlaws points title wasn’t on his mind was exactly what Pierce needed on a weekend he could’ve easily taken off altogether.
“I went down to Magnolia last weekend to kind of get things rolling again and it felt good to honestly,” Pierce said. “That race felt really nice because it was kind of a chill weekend and there wasn't a lot going on. It wasn't really stressful like a lot of other races we go to. So that was nice. And it gave us good momentum heading into tonight.”
Wednesday’s victory at Lincoln Park puts him 108 points behind Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill. for the $75,000 FloRacing series title. The tour’s final stops are at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn. on Oct. 22 and the Peach State Classic at Senoia (Ga.) Raceway Nov. 13-14.
“We definitely needed it for Flo points,” Pierce said. “Honestly, I needed LaSalle to not cancel because I'm good there, and we needed the points. Like, Volunteer, I'm not bad there. I don't feel like I can go there and win unless everything really goes my way. I don't have that many laps there and it's such a different racetrack. I'm good at Senoia, but I really wanted to like, be in a really good spot heading into Senoia and with La Salle canceling, I was wanting to win there and win this one. At least we won a tonight, and it gives us a little glimmer of hope.”
While most of his competitors at Lincoln Park will head southeast to Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway for the Jackson 100 weekend, Pierce heads back to WoO competition at I-55 Federated Raceway Park in Pevely, Mo. Pierce has a solid 112-point lead over Nick Hoffman in the national tour title chase. And Pierce feels confident he has the goods to finish off the season with the consistency he showed much earlier.
“The team has done a really good job of just getting going and we got this car and that car in there,” Pierce said, pointing to the backup car atop his trailer. “That car in the trailer is the one we broke on Thursday night at Eldora. That was a brand-new car for that race, so it doesn't even have a race on it yet. That feels nice to have. We’ve got a good car here, we got a brand new car, and we’ve got that car which is good too. I got good cars and we're in a good spot right now for the rest of the year.”
