Making a rare Modified start, Bobby piloted his Pierce Platinum to an impressive third place finish against over 50 of the best USRA/USMTS drivers in the finale of the three-day USRA Modified Fall Nationals Sunday night at Vado (NM) Speedway Park. “Had a lot of fun this weekend,” Bobby said. “Big thanks to all my family, crew, and sponsors for all the help. Hope I made some new fans out here in the west!” — James Racing Photo
Bobby picked up his first Modified victory since 2009 as he captured the $5,000 Modified Mania win Saturday night at Tri-City (IL) Speedway. He started 10th in the 40-lap race. “Big thanks to my family, crew, and sponsors,” Bobby said. “Shout-out to Mike and Evan Fink for letting me drive their car for the weekend!” — St. Louis DTR Photo
Charging from the back after a lap 12 skirmish, Bobby caught the leader with four laps remaining and went on to score his second consecutive DIRTcar Mania victory Friday night at Tri-City (IL) Speedway. — Jacob Dearing Photo
Bobby took the top spot on the 15th lap as he slid around the outside of the leader in traffic and went on to take the $3,000 DIRTcar Mania win Thursday night at Tri-City (IL) Speedway. He lapped all but six competitors in the 30-lap race. — St. Louis DTR Photo
Taking the lead for good on lap 29, Bobby survived a late-race engine scare to earn a hard fought $5,000 MLRA win Sunday night at Quincy (IL) Raceway. “I was kind of waiting for lapped traffic,” Bobby said. “We weren’t catching them super-fast so I really had to get up on the wheel. When the leader started changing his line, going a little bit lower on the top, it let me have the cushion. It’s hard when you get in the dirty air, you don’t want to push and shove off the track. I went down a cylinder I think, maybe two. Something was really wrong and my oil pressure was pretty low. Proud of my team! Big thanks to my family, crew, sponsors, and fans for all that you do!” — Lloyd Collins Photo
Rallying from the ninth starting position, Bobby took the lead before halfway and went on to capture the $5,000 American Ethanol Late Model Tour victory Friday night at Farmer City (IL) Raceway. — Jim DenHamer Photo
Charging around the high side, Bobby caught the leader in late-race lapped traffic but didn’t quite have enough to overtake him as he settled for a podium finish of third in the Dirt Million opener Thursday night at Mansfield (OH) Speedway. “I think lapped traffic was my best shot,” Bobby said. “I really had a roll going there. It seemed like those guys were getting a little bit slower and I just had to finesse my lines a little bit with that big hole in turn three. I wanted to charge that corner to get a good entrance but every time you had to back off and float through there. Had a really good car…needed a few more laps.”
A last minute decision to head to Pevely paid off as Bobby collected a $3,000 MARS victory Saturday night at I-55 (MO) Raceway. Starting on the pole after winning his heat race and setting fast time in qualifying, Bobby took the lead on the 10th lap and stayed out front the rest of the way. “That last caution made me really nervous, because last time that happened it bit me in the butt,” Bobby said. “Luckily I got a good restart.”
One day Bobby will join his dad as a winner of the Prairie Dirt Classic…that day is not today. On his way to victory Saturday night after dominating the 100-lap showcase, 20 years after his dad scored his third PDC, Bobby lost the lead in turn four on the final lap after contact as a result of an attempted slide job by the second place car. After gathering up his car, Bobby crossed the finish line in third. Miraciously, he was able to fight the cushion lap-after-lap and contend for the win with no power steering. “On lap zero, I was thinking, ‘okay, how many laps am I going to make it before I pull in?’” Bobby said. “Ever since I pulled out of the pit area, I didn’t have, or had very little, power steering. After we made about eight laps, I had almost none. At times, I had two hands on top of the steering wheel just to turn it back left so I didn’t hit the wall coming out of the corner.”
Bobby surged into the lead at the start from his outside front row starting position and stayed out front for the remainder of the 25-lap distance to score the $2,500 Prairie Dirt Classic preliminary victory Friday night at Fairbury (IL) Speedway. He will now be assured of a top eight starting position in the 100-lap Prairie Dirt Classic on Saturday night. — Jim DenHamer Photo