Bobby Pierce Wins $50,000 at Fairbury Speedway

Bobby Pierce competing at Fairbury Speedway in Fairbury, Illinois. (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

FAIRBURY, Ill. — The World of Outlaws Late Model Series spent their Saturday night at Fairbury Speedway for the Prairie Dirt Classic: a 100-lap, $50,000-to-win race.

Jason Feger and Brandon Sheppard led the stacked 29-car field to the starting line. Feger jumped out to an early lead, but Sheppard slide-jobbed him in Turns 1 and 2 to take over the lead coming down the backstretch.

On Lap 5, Ryan Gustin went to the top and sailed by Feger for second as they entered Turn 3. Feger tried to get him back coming down the frontstretch but could not make a successful pass.

Fourteen laps later, Sheppard had caught up to the tail-end of traffic while Gustin and Nick Hoffman were coming fast. Hoffman had passed Feger one lap before and was eager to overtake Gustin for second so he could set his sights on the lead. 

Hoffman got by Gustin and was in hot pursuit of Sheppard. He stayed by his side for two laps and finally overtook him for the lead down the front straightaway. Just as Sheppard was going to fight back after exiting Turns 1 and 2, third-place runner Gustin hit an infield tractor tire and annihilated his front end, ending his night and any dreams of winning the PDC.

On the restart, Tim McCreadie snuck his way into the top three after getting ahead of Sheppard and remained there for a few laps, blocking the advances of the former champion. Feger also got ahead of Sheppard to claim third.

Lap 47 saw Brian Shirley go head-to-head with McCreadie for second. Coming down the front chute, Shirley took the high side and made the pass at the flag stand to claim second at the line, but McCreadie returned the favor as soon as they got into the corner. 

Feger, who had been running fifth for a while, did a double-take when he looked to his left ten laps later. Bobby Pierce, who had started 24th, was in sixth and looking to crack the top five. Feger hugged the bottom in hopes that Pierce would not be able to get around him with all of the lapped traffic in front of them, and that worked…for about a lap. Coming down the backstretch, Pierce took the high side when he saw some clean air and zoomed right by Feger to claim fifth entering Turn 3.

A couple laps later, Pierce was fighting with Mike Marlar and made contact with him. This caused Pierce to spin out and bring out a caution, forcing him to go to the tail-end of the field.

Devin Moran leading a charge at Fairbury Speedway in Fairbury, Illinois. (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

For thirty more laps, Shirley, McCreadie, Marlar and Ricky Thornton Jr. battled for the runner-up spot. Eventually, Thornton prevailed and pursued leader Hoffman like there was no tomorrow. Just as he was about to make a move on Hoffman, the cluster of cars behind him slowed up for a second in disbelief that Pierce had made his way back up into the top 10. 

Due to the slowing momentum of the field, Pierce was able to get around a couple of cars to not only pass one fellow driver but crack the top five for the second time…from the last spot.

A lapped car got in the way of Thornton’s advances, giving Hoffman the opportunity to put some distance between himself and the well-known driver. Thornton went high in an attempt to pass him up to no avail. Thornton slammed the wall down the front stretch and limped his way into the pits, ending his night and drawing a caution.

The restart saw Marlar get ahead of Pierce for about four laps before the “Smooth Operator” got right up beside him. Marlar tried every maneuver in the book to hold Pierce off, but Pierce went up high going into Turn 3 and shot past him on the top, taking over second with four laps remaining.

With one lap to go, Hoffman went low going into Turn 1 and Pierce went high. As they raced down the backstretch, Pierce got by Hoffman by his nose and shot ahead of him heading into Turn 3, claiming the lead with half a lap left to go. For the first time in his career, Pierce was a PDC champion.

“[This] is the first time I’ve gotten emotional for a race,” said Pierce about winning the PDC. “It means everything. I don’t know how it happened. I guess someone up above was helping us out I guess.”