Bobby picked up his sixth feature win of the season and a $2,000 payday Saturday night at Tri-City Speedway.
Bobby picked up his sixth feature win of the season and a $2,000 payday Saturday night at Tri-City Speedway.
Bobby started 21st at Cedar Lake and moved up all the way to ninth, earning a strong top ten finish in one of the sports crown-jewel races.
Bobby scored his second win of the weekend and fifth overall Saturday night at I-55 Raceway.
Fifteen year old Bobby Pierce outdueled Randy Korte to claim the UMP DIRTcar Late Model main event at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55. It was Pierce's first ever feature win at the 1/3 mile high banked oval. Korte would jump out from at the drop of the green flag and lead the first four laps before Pierce would power ahead for the lead on lap five. Pierce would pace the field until Korte put together a late race charge by using the high side. Korte would pull alongside Pierce for the lead on lap twenty and the two would battle side by side for the top spot for the final five laps. Korte would edge Pierce at the line and lead laps twenty-one through twenty-three but Pierce would pick up the pace on the low side and edge Korte at the line on lap twenty-four. Then on the final lap, Pierce would get a good run down the back stretch and pull ahead and go on to take the win.
Bobby picked up his best career Lucas Oil Series finish Friday night at Tri-City with a solid fifth place run against a strong field of cars.
In his first race at Terre Haute, Bobby was overall fast qualifier and came home sixth in the feature, his seventh top ten of the Summer National tour.
Bobby continued his strong run this week through the first Illinois swing of the Summer Nationals by picking up his fifth top ten, third consecutive, of the tour so far through nine races with a fourth place run at Tri-City. For the first time on the tour Bobby was the fastest overall qualifier of the 43 cars on hand.
After a tough couple days at Cedar Lake, Bobby rebounded on Sunday picking up his second top five of the Summer Nationals at Wilmot. The Smooth Operator was quickest in his qualifying group and followed that up by winning his heat race. After racing for five straight nights the team will get a break on Monday before heading to some familiar tracks starting on Tuesday.
Bobby scored his best career Summer Nationals finish Thursday night at Kankakee! Starting fifth, Bobby had a great three-wide battle with Shirley and Feger for fourth early. With fourteen laps to go, he dropped down to the very bottom of the track and worked his way to third. Once to third, Bobby was hoping for a caution to catch back up with the leaders who had got away. With four laps to go he got the caution that he needed. Passing Moyer for second he set his sights on Babb for the lead. As the laps ran down Bobby was right on the leader's bumper but ran out of laps. A great race for the Smooth Operator against some of the best drivers in the sport!
Bobby had a rough start to the weekend. With a fast running car and in second place behind Babb at Kankakee Friday, a lapped car tags another taking out the top 5 including Bobby. The rear of the car was completely destroyed. Saturday at Fairbury Bobby comes home in 6th place against a tough field of cars from the 11th starting position. Sunday was rained out after hotlaps at Lincoln.
At a place where his dad won many big races in his career, Bobby continued the winning ways on Saturday as he picked up his first career Late Model win at Fairbury. The 32 was smooth on the bottom, patiently working through lap traffic as he led every lap on his way to a much needed win. Bobby also won his heat race and qualified second of the 28 cars on hand.
Friday started out with getting out of school at 11:30 and heading to Granite City for the big Lucas Oil race. The night didn't go as planned as Bobby usually is a strong competitor there. He qualified fourth row of a very stout heat and finished ninth which put him toward the rear of the consy. In the consy, the car was much better and Bobby charged on the top side to get to seventh.
On Saturday Bobby and his team moved onto I-55 Raceway in Pevely MO. Of course as luck would have it by drawing Bobby started toward the tail. He moved up to third and accumulated enough passing points to start fourth in the feature. He had a very strong run moving up to third only to get passed by Korte on a late caution restart.
On Sunday the team moved onto Quincy, IL where once again we draw bad. Bobby started on the tail and moved up to third. He started sixth in the dash and got to third which is where he started the feature behind Erb and Sheppard. Bobby gets into second pressuring Erb when a double file restart allows Sheppard back around him. A few laps later in turns 3-4 Sheppard gets the car loose and when Bobby checks up the motor dies leaving him stranded and forcing him to restart on the tail. Without the help of many cautions Bobby wildsides the top and gets back up to fifth place. If not for misfortunes we really felt we had a car to win the race.
Friday the 13th proved to be lucky for Bobby and his team as the Smooth Operator picked up his first win of the season at Farmer City. Bobby also won his heat race and was fourth quick qualifier of the eighteen cars on hand.
Bobby and his team traveled to a familiar place on Friday and Saturday as Farmer City opened their season with the running of the Illini 100. In qualifying on Friday, Bobby clocked in eighth quickest of the fifty-three cars on hand. This put the #32 on the outside of the front row of the heat race. After leading early, he ran second the majority of the race before a late caution would allow the third place car to steal the second spot at the checkers. With the top three cars advancing, Bobby lined up fourteenth in the $20,000 to win main event. On a track where passing proved to be difficult, Bobby worked his way up to eighth at the finish, recording his best World of Outlaws Series finish of his young career. He also earned a $500 bonus as the top finishing non-series regular who hasn't won a WoO event.
Bobby picked up his first top five of the season Saturday night at Florence's $5,000 Spring 50. Starting 10th on a rough track surface, it was a battle of attrition. Bobby showed the poise of a veteran, taking care of his car so he could be there at the end of the 50-lap race. He pulled alongside the second place car a couple of times midway through the race before settling for third at the finish.
Bobby had a great showing in Florida for Speedweeks as he made nine out of the twelve shows he entered against a very strong field of cars.