Bobby Pierce Wins at Independence; Sets New Track Record

Bobby Pierce competing at Independence Motor Speedway in Independence, IA (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa — The World of Outlaws late models took a day off before heading deeper into the midwest to Independence Motor Speedway to compete in the Monday Madness at Independence for $10,000 payday.

Before the 40-lap main event could get underway though, preliminary events had to happen to determine the front row, and if the track record could be broken. And on Monday night, it just so happened that the track record was not only broken once, but twice.

The former track record holder, Chad Simpson, was one of the first two cars out during qualifying. On his second lap around the track, Simpson broke his former record of 13.865 seconds that was made on August 5, 2013, with a 13.648 second lap. Simpson held the title of track record holder for a little while longer, but it ended up being stolen from him by Bobby Pierce. Pierce managed to clock an impressive 13.575 second lap to become the new record holder.

After qualifying, the rest of the preliminaries took place and the front row was determined. Pierce and Simpson were going to be the drivers to lead the 24-car field to the starting line in Turn 4. But due to some unforeseen circumstances, Pierce and Nick Hoffman were the leaders.

Brandon Sheppard competing at Independence Motor Speedway in Independence, IA (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

Upon firing the engines, Pierce jumped out to the lead, but Hoffman was right there behind him. As they exited Turn 2 and shot down the back stretch, Hoffman’s nose was ahead of Pierce’s and he was able to slip in front of him to be scored in first place at the line.

Sixteen laps later though, Pierce was able to close the gap between himself and the “Thrill from Mooresville” and gain on him relatively quickly because Hoffman had caught up to lap traffic. Pierce saw an opportunity to slide job Hoffman as Hoffman got behind Dennis Erb Jr., and it worked. Pierce was scored number one at the line.

As Pierce, Hoffman and Erb Jr. went into Turn 1, Hoffman went low and was able to shoot out in front of Pierce to reclaim the top spot, but going into Turn 3 Hoffman made contact with Erb Jr. and was shot off the side of the track, losing some serious ground and giving first place back to Pierce.

Although Hoffman went completely off the track, he did not lose a single spot past second. He did however feel the pressure of Brandon Sheppard a spot behind him.

After a caution was thrown due to contact being made between Brent Larson and Ryan Gustin, Sheppard decided to put his battle plan into action. Coming off of Turn 2, Sheppard went up high and slid down in front of Hoffman to claim second place. He maintained that position to be scored as such to start Lap 36.

Pierce managed to hold onto first with his band-new Longhorn Chassis car, with Sheppard, Hoffman, Cade Dillard and Brian Shirley rounding out the top five.

“From the start I was a little worried because I knew that Nick [Hoffman] and Brandon [Sheppard] were soft, and then Chad fell out of the race,” said Pierce about the race. “The latter half of the race, the car was great. I got to give a huge thanks to my guys and my mom and my dad.”