Bobby Pierce and Ryan Gustin Win Twin Double-Headers at Cedar Lake

Ryan Gustin, Brandon Sheppard and Jonathan Davenport in Victory Lane at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, WI (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

NEW RICHMOND, Wis. — Due to Monday and Thursday night’s races being canceled due to inclement weather, the World of Outlaws late models hosted a doubleheader on Friday night at Cedar Lake Speedway to kick off the USA Nationals.

Feature No. 1

The first of two twin 25-lap main events started off with Tim McCreadie and Bobby Pierce on the front row. Upon takeoff, McCreadie shot out to the lead with Pierce right on his heels, but as they exited Turn 2, Max McLaughlin slid by Pierce on the inside to claim second.

A lap later, both McCreadie and McLaughlin made the mistake of drifting up high and going slightly over the cushion, handing their spot to the person that was right on them. In the case of McCreadie, Pierce was able to snag the lead, and for McLaughlin it was Brian Shirley who snuck in to get third.

Lap 12 saw the caution flag be brought out due to Cade Dillard slowing on the top of Turns 1 and 2. The restart had Pierce go flying back out to the lead, but this time McCreadie, McLaughlin and Shirley had a new face they had to deal with in the form of Nick Hoffman who was coming up on the bottom pretty strong.

As they entered Turn 3, Hoffman went low and slid in between McCreadie and McLaughlin, letting them know that he was right there and ready to play. Hoffman ended up getting by McLaughlin going into Turn 1 because “Mad Max” drifted up too high and lost the fresh air needed to keep himself ahead of the “Thrill from Mooresville.”

Four laps later, McLaughlin was battling with Shirley. As they shot out of Turn 2, McLaughlin drifted up high and Shirley kept on trucking thinking that he was clear. Well, it turned out that he wasn’t clear because McLaughlin came down right in front of Shirley, causing “Mad Max” to get hit in the side, sending him completely sideways as well as Shirley who ended up facing the opposite direction as well.

Hoffman got a good start when the green flag waved again, but Kyle Bronson had entered the chat and was not going to make it easy for the “Thrill from Mooresville.” Hoffman and Bronson battled it out for a couple laps, but Bronson pulled a slidejob on him going into Turn 1 a couple laps later, putting Hoffman in fourth.

Pierce was able to maintain the lead for the remainder of the race to make history by winning for the sixth time in a row. 

“The hot weather today was hard in the car,” said Pierce about the racing conditions. “Awesome racecar, and I’m so excited that we were able to win today.”

Battle of the Ricky’s: Weiss and Thornton Jr. competing at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, WI (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

Feature No. 2

The second race of the night saw Brandon Sheppard and Jonathan Davenport lead the 25-car field to the green flag. Following the course of the previous race, Davenport jumped out to an early lead, but instead of Sheppard following in his tire tracks, it was Hoffman. 

Hoffman, eager to win after coming so close in the last race, was gunning against Sheppard down the backstretch and into the corner. They raced side-by-side coming out of Turn 4 and stayed that way as they hit the next set of turns. But as they exited Turn 2, Sheppard went down low and was able to slidejob Hoffman for second.

Three laps later, Hoffman had gotten by Sheppard for second and was cruisin’ while looking for an opportunity to possibly pass Davenport when he once again saw fellow competitor Shirley on his inside. 

Just as they crossed the line to get their positions scored, Pierce and Dillard got tangled up coming out of Turn 4. Dillard went to the inside of Pierce and tried to get around but only ended up getting caught in Pierce’s left rear fender-well. As they slowed down because they realized that they were caught together, McLaughlin zoomed up and hit them both from the back, causing all three of them to get more damage than they already had. McLaughlin hit the wall to try and stop himself, but it just was not enough to prevent the inevitable.

Just as they got started up again, Tyler Erb and Jordan Yaggy ended up facing the opposite direction in Turn 4, bringing out the caution flag once again. But it was not just those two who decided to go in because Hoffman had himself a flat right rear, ending his night and any hopes of winning the race.

With Hoffman out of the way, Shirley had a pretty good shot to get by Sheppard for second and that is exactly what he did coming off of Turn 2. But it was not long before Sheppard returned the favor and crossed back over in front of him. The two of them battled it out for a few more laps, but behind them Dustin Sorenson and Ryan Gustin were slowly easing their way up to the leaders.

Lap 16 saw “JD” catch up to heavy lap traffic. Davenport maneuvered his way through the cars for the duration of the next lap, but once he caught up to another clump of cars, “B-Shepp” was right there next to him. They raced wheel-to-wheel down the back chute for the lead and as they hit Turn 3 they tried to split a lap car to no avail and Sheppard was the new leader at the line.

Jonathan Davenport competing at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, WI (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

Gustin, who had been hanging back a couple of spots just watching the action in front of him, had just seen the action that had transpired between Davenport and Sheppard. Gustin decided that now was his time to strike as there were five laps remaining. So, that’s exactly what the “Reaper” did.

He went to the bottom coming out of Turn 2 and got on the underside of both Davenport and Sheppard. He stayed to the bottom to get ahead of “JD” and claimed second, but did not have enough to get fully ahead of Sheppard. As they raced down the frontstretch they were side-by-side but it was Sheppard by a hair at the line.

Gustin did not give up though, and continued his bottom-feeding technique. And it worked out for him because he slid by Sheppard coming out of the corner and using the lap car of McCreadie as a blocker.

That plan worked for just a little bit though, because Sheppard and Gustin switched lanes going into Turn 3, resulting in Sheppard stealing the lead back from Gustin coming down the front straight.

With one lap remaining, Gustin gave it his all and tried a last gasp attempt on Sheppard. Gustin went back down to the bottom where he had worked so well before and slid up in front of “B-Shepp” exiting Turn 2. Now on the high side, Sheppard crossed down below to see what that side of the track had to offer and raced side-by-side down the back chute. They stayed that way going into the corner and it appeared that Gustin had thrown the win away because he got a little bit loose up top but he managed to keep the car under control to win.

“Just give it hell and hope you don’t eat the fence,” said Gustin about his racing strategy. “It was definitely elbows up and hopefully we can do that for a hundred laps [tomorrow.] I don’t know if the fans liked that [race], but it was a hell of a race from my vantage point.”