Bobby Pierce Claims Second USA Nationals Title

Bobby Pierce, Dustin Sorenson and Kyle Bronson in Victory Lane at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, WI (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

NEW RICHMOND, Wis. — The 37th annual running of the USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway was sure to be an exciting event as drivers sought to get their name on the race’s win list, while the likes of Bobby Pierce wanted to win it again.

Pierce and Jonathan Davenport led the 29-car field to the green flag to kick off the 100-lap main event. Davenport led them into Turn 1 with Brandon Sheppard squeezing between Pierce and Brian Shirley, taking over second for less than half a track. As they raced into Turn 3, Sheppard slowed on the bottom and continued slowing, bringing out the first caution of the night.

On the restart, Davenport got back out to the lead, but Pierce was right there behind him just waiting to make a move on “Superman”, and that is exactly what he did going into Turn 3 on the next lap. 

He went to the bottom as they hit the corner, and they came out side-by-side. Staying that way down the frontstretch, Pierce kept to the bottom going into the next set of turns and slid up in front of Davenport upon exiting, stealing away first place.

Lap traffic became a factor on Lap 10, and this proved to be a great feat for Kyle Bronson who was working his way up through the ranks. Nick Hoffman was in front of him, riding in third, and Bronson wanted the last podium finish spot.

To claim it, he went down low going into Turn 3, and used the lap cars in front of Hoffman to his advantage to clear the “Thrill From Mooresville” before they hit the lappers.

Three laps later, Bronson had worked lap traffic so well that he had finally caught up to Davenport and was looking for a way to get into the runner-up position. As they came off of Turn 4, Bronson went to the bottom and used the quicker lane down there to get around Davenport for second-place.

A few spots back, Hoffman and Tim McCreadie battled it out for eighth. McCreadie took the high line going into Turn 3 and Hoffman went to the bottom. This resulted in McCreadie’s nose being ahead of Hoffman’s at the line, but the bottom worked out for the “Thrill from Mooresville” because he overtook “T-Mac” coming out of Turn 2 as the bottom lane was quicker than the top. It was short-lived though, because Hoffman went back up high too soon and McCreadie was able to get back in front of him for the coveted eighth-place.

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

On Lap 42, Davenport was going head-to-head with Bronson once again. As they went towards the infamous Turn 3, Davenport went to the bottom in an attempt to sneak his nose out there ahead of Bronson, and it worked. Davenport stole second away from Bronson.

The next time around though, Bronson let “Superman” know that he was not there to play and to let him do whatever he wanted. Using the backstretch as a slingshot, Bronson used it to propel himself forward to get ahead of Davenport on the top to reclaim the runner-up spot coming out of Turn 4.

Davenport, now in third, had to deal with rookie, Dustin Sorenson, who was running in fourth and just looking to get into the top three. Following the night’s proceedings of using the bottom in Turns 3 and 4 to get around people, that is exactly what Sorenson did on Lap 46. 

Lap 57 saw Sorenson move up even further in the field and get on the direct outside of Bronson. The only problem with this was that Ryan Gustin was on the bottom behind Bronson and was also looking to get into second-place. 

As they raced down the back chute all in a clump, Sorenson took the extreme high side and sailed by both Bronson and Gustin, taking over the runner-up spot and making the crowd go absolutely insane. Sorenson now had his sights set on Pierce in the lead, but due to Mother Nature deciding to rain on the World of Outlaws parade, the race was called and Pierce was declared the winner with Bronson getting second because the lap was not officially scored. Sorenson managed to come home in third though.

“Once it got slick there and I had to run across that black, I think it was harder on me being out front because I’d come around and get that first layer off and it gets better as the field goes around, but the field rained on it and I’d hit it again so it was nerve-wracking,” said Pierce about the race. “Awesome race. I know it sucks not being able to complete the 100 laps for these fans, but what are you gonna do?”