Bobby Pierce celebrates after winning Saturday night’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series race at Florence Speedway. Photo: LOLMDS Media
Bobby Pierce led the final ten laps of a thriller at Florence Speedway in Union, Kentucky – pulling away from Ricky Thornton, Jr. to win his second career Sunoco North/South 100 on Saturday night.
Pierce’s fifth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season was worth $75,000.
Pierce, who started 13th on the grid was the fifth different leader of the race as he withstood a battle with Thornton, who had started 23rd. Thornton led laps 88 and 89 after taking the lead from Pierce who was out in front on laps 81-87.
Hudson O’Neal, who led a race high 59 circuits, finished in third, followed by Blairsville, Georgia’s Jonathan Davenport in fourth, and Daulton Wilson in fifth.
Spencer Hughes led the opening lap before yielding the point to three-time event winner Jimmy Owens. Owens led 21 laps until O’Neal got by him on lap 23 to become the third different leader in the first quarter of the race. O’Neal would hold down the race lead until lap 81 when Pierce took over the top spot for the first time.
A poor restart with 13 laps to go nearly cost Pierce the victory, but he recovered from a side-by-side duel with Thornton and went on to win by just over 2 seconds at the finish.
“Oh man I stepped on it good there on that restart. I thought the top would be great on exit, but I spun the wheels, said Pierce. “I would have never had to dirty Ricky (Thornton, Jr.) up if I hadn’t done that. I’ve got to apologize to him. I wasn’t quite clear, but I didn’t really complete the slider we just got side-by-side there and drag raced down the frontstretch and I had to work for that one. It was tough.”
“Once he (Thornton) got by me I thought that was it,” Pierce added. “I didn’t know if the top was still left in turn one, that’s what let me get that bite. The tires were perfect my crew said and to go 100 laps as hard as I was racing it. It is just an awesome car that I get to drive. We knew heading into it about the heat race invert. I think what they did earlier with the heat races made for a great racetrack for the feature. The racetrack was perfect for the feature. It made for a heck of a show. I didn’t think the top was going to be like that. I thought it was going to be on the bottom.”
“We will move on and put that one in the memory bank,” Thornton said. “Congrats to him (Pierce). He ran a good race. You could tell he was riding in second behind Hud and once I showed my nose, he made sure to get by him (O’Neal). Once I got by Hud I tried to run him (Pierce) as hard as I could without knocking the fence down. Seems like in a lot of races here lately it gets a big curb against the wall. I think without that we might have had a really good car.”
Chris Ferguson, Earl Pearson, Jr., Devin Moran, Max Blair, and Kyle Bronson rounded out the top 10.
Up next for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will be competing at Batesville Speedway in Locust Grove, Arkansas on Friday and Saturday, August 18-19. Check LucasDirt.com for more information.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Florence Speedway – Union, KY
North/South 100 – August 12, 2023
1. 32-Bobby Pierce
2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton, Jr.
3. 1H-Hudson O’Neal
4. 49-Jonathan Davenport
5. 18D-Daulton Wilson
6. 22F-Chris Ferguson
7. 46-Earl Pearson, Jr.
8. 99-Devin Moran
9. 111B-Max Blair
10. 40B-Kyle Bronson
11. 17M-Dale McDowell
12. 58-Garrett Alberson
13. 39-Tim McCreadie
14. 11-Spencer Hughes
15. 76-Brandon Overton
16. 5N-Dustin Nobbe
17. 11R-Josh Rice
18. 20-Jimmy Owens
19. 1T-Tyler Erb
20. 23-Cory Hedgecock
21. 68-Adam Stricker
22. 10-Garrett Smith
23. 19R-Ryan Gustin
24. 3S-Brian Shirley
25. 79-Donald McIntosh
26. 2S-Stormy Scott
27. 16-Tyler Bruening
28. 7-Ross Robinson
29. 21H-Robby Hensley
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.