Bobby Pierce Makes It Four In A Row At Sharon

Bobby Pierce competing at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, OH (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

HARTFORD, Ohio — Sharon Speedway was graced with another night of having the World of Outlaws late models camped out on their property on Saturday night.

Dennis Erb Jr. and Brandon Sheppard led the field to green to start the roar of engines for the 50-lap main event. Erb jumped out in front of Sheppard but Sheppard had some competition almost immediately with Bobby Pierce on his inside. Coming off of Turn 4, Pierce slid right by Sheppard to take over second at the line, but a caution came out before all 24 cars could make it through, putting Pierce back in third.

Pierce did not let that stop him though and fought just as hard on the restart. They were wheel-to-wheel throughout all of the corners and the straightaways until Sheppard took the high side and got by Erb for the lead coming off of Turn 2 on the third lap.

Four laps later, Pierce got by Erb for second. Although he was ahead of Erb, Erb was right next to Pierce on his inside and was not letting up. Pierce had the better land though, and was able to keep it ahead of Erb.

Lap 16 saw Ryan Gustin enter the chat by cracking the top five and then going after Brian Shirley for fourth and getting it. Shirley was not going to give up that easily though, and made it a three-wide battle for fourth with himself, Gustin and Kyle Bronson. As the three of them went side-by-side into the first corner, Gustin used the cars on either side of him to draft himself forward to claim that fourth spot upon exiting. Right after he got into fourth, he used the extra speed he gained from the two cars behind him to get by Erb for third.

Chub Frank competing at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, OH (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

Starting on Lap 21, Bronson and Shirley went at it for fifth. Bronson took the middle while Shirley took the bottom and it worked for both of them as they stayed in their respective positions for a while until Shirley got by Bronson for fifth and then got by Erb coming out of Turn 4 for fourth.

The two leaders were playing cat-and-mouse heading into Turns 1 and 2, but that did not last long because Sheppard got too high going into Turn 2 and got a little bit loose. He kept the lead but Pierce was right there knocking on his door, looking for any way to steal first away from Sheppard.

Pierce found it going into Turn 3. He went down low and cut in front of Sheppard to go back up high. Sheppard tried to cross back over in front of Pierce to no avail. The “Smooth Operator” was the new leader on Lap 29.

Pierce kept the lead until the end to get his fourth win in a row with the World of Outlaws, a new record for him. Although Gustin gave it a last gasp shot on Sheppard with four laps remaining, they came in second and third, respectively, with Shirley and Bronson following behind them.

“It was very difficult,” Pierce said about the race. “We really gambled on the tires as it was the complete opposite of what we did last night but that’s how it goes I guess. Gotta give a huge shoutout to my guys as they work their butts off all the time and what an awesome, awesome stretch we’ve been on here.”