Pierce Enjoys Some Home Cookin'

 2018 has not been kind to Bobby Pierce, at least on the race track as he took over the Dunn Bensen Ford late model driving duties and set out on the Lucas Oil tour. After driving the family house car running an independent schedule, the 21 year old suddenly found himself with a new chassis, new crew, and visiting a bunch of race tracks that he had not competed on. The early results have not been as positive as the young up and comer is used to, and the naysayers have been quick to criticize his performance. So this weekend loomed large, as the #32 team was coming to Illinois, where Pierce would finally get the chance to race on a pair of tracks where he has had success. Friday night marked a return to the Tri City Speedway in Pontoon Beach,Illinois for the  $12,000 to win Busch beer 50 at the 3/8 mile Kevin and Tammy Gundaker owned facility.
  A solid field of 34 open late models checked in supported by 24 UMP modifieds and 42 UMP B modifieds.
  The late models and mods qualified using the group format, with the mods actually hot lapping and qualifying at the same time. Rick Conoyer paced the mods with a lap of 16.342 seconds, while Pierce topped the late models at 14.810 seconds.
  Lucas Lee was second fast in the mods, but suffered rear end issues at the end of qualifying, going pitside on the hook and missing his chance to start pole in heat two.
  Following three modified heats, the late models took the stage for four ten lap qualifying events. Pierce led the distance in heat one, with Brian Shirley coming from row two to finish second ahead of Chris Simpson and Josh Richards. Mason Ziegler came from the outside pole in heat two, leading all the way to turn four of the final lap when he spun his #25z. He actually recovered to cross the finish line in the fourth and final transfer spot, but the yellow flag had waved and the field was lined up for a green white checkers finish with Ziegler in the back. Jimmy Owens then took the win over Tim Manville, Darrell Lanigan, and Dennis Erb Jr., leaving Ziegler headed for a B main.Scott Bloomquist took off from the pole to lead in heat three, but seemed to be fighting a push in his ride, going high several times in turns three and four. On the white flag lap, Nick Hoffman slipped around Bloomer, taking the win. Michael Kloos and Jonathon Davenport completed the top four. Kyle Bronson led the distance in heat four, finishing ahead of Tim McCreadie, Don Oneal, and Billy Drake.
  A whopping six B mod heats clicked off in good time ahead of a pair of late model B- mains. The top three in each of the twelve lappers would move to the feature. 17 year old Hudson Oneal outran Earl Pearson Jr. and Frank Heckenast Jr. in the first consy, with Kolby Vandenbergh running away from the field in the final qualifier. Tanner English finished second and Austin Rettig used a jack rabbit start to secure the third spot. A pair of Lucas Oil provisionals were awarded to Ziegler for fastest time trial not qualified and Gregg Satterlee on highest series point driver not qualified. Tri City then awarded two track provisionals to Gordy Gundaker and Billy Laycock.
 A couple of B-mains for the mods and B mods set the feature fields, and we were ready for feature racing. The very best thing the Gundakers do on the nights when Lucas Oil comes to town is to run the late model feature first.
  When the 26 cars came to the track, Bloomquist was not lined up in his outside row three slot. It was then announced that he had changed both rear tires, and it had been announced in the drivers meeting that only the left rear could be changed. Still, he was allowed to line up at the tail of the field.
  Pierce and outside pole sitter Hoffman came to the line as lap one was scored in a dead heat, with Bobby taking command the next lap. The only caution of the race came on lap four, with a multi car scrum in turn three that resulted from Manville getting turned around. While he was able to continue, English was done for the night, and Hudson Oneal suffered front end damage.Back to green, Bronson used the Delaware restart to take second, with McCreadie slipping around Shirley for fourth. One lap later, TMac moved to third, and on the sixth time around, third starting Owens rebounded to fourth. Pierce began to pull away from the field, and soon the leaders were all hugging the low line. Anyone trying a higher groove was not finding any bite, unusual for the Tri City oval. By lap 15, Pierce had caught slower traffic, and he had to move up the track to get around the limping Hudson Oneal. Meanwhile Bronson was closing in, and by lap 21 he was on the back bumper of Pierce. For his part, Bobby was looking to get around Satterlee, knowing that a move up the track would likely cost him the lead. But Satterlee was not giving up the low groove. As the laps clicked off, Pierce continued to stick his nose inside the #22 to no avail. McCreadie took a look up top, but quickly fell back in line, and then it was Bronson attempting to take a higher line around Pierce and Satterlee. The result was him falling to fourth before he could get back in line. Pierce finally managed to clear Satterlee on lap 33, but the second running McCreadie followed him around. What the leader then found was side by side traffic racing for position. With McCreadie literally on his rear bumper, Pierce showed amazing patience, holding his line all the way to the checkers to the delight of the large crowd. McCreadie was obviously disappointed in his second place finish, indicating there was no line to get around the leader. Owens ran a steady race in third, followed by Bronson and Shirley. Davenport came from 14th to finish sixth followed by Lanigan, Simpson, Don Oneal, and 16th starting Drake.
  Following the rather lengthy interviews for the television and internet viewers, who clearly hold more importance to the series announcer than the paying customers in the stands, the B mods lined up for 15 laps of action. The smaller tires on the open wheel machines were actually able to widen the track a bit, although Chuck Goodman was dominant early in his #327. Veteran St Louis metro driver Jeff LaBaube stayed within striking distance in the non stop race, and when the checkers waved, the two were in a dead heat as they passed the flag stand. In fact, Goodman drove to victory land even as LaBaube was handed the checkered flag. But the transponders gave the win to Goodman. Tommy Seets grabbed the third spot.
  The final event on the card was the UMP modified feature. Conoyer and Brian Shaw sat on row one, with Tyler Nicely and Mike Harrison in row two. The opening lap saw Conoyer get hit from behind, and he went pitside with a flat tire. From where we sat, I could not tell if he slowed because of the flat and was tapped, or the contact flattened the tire, but the result was the same. With Nicely now out front, the action came to a halt for a multi car mess in turn one. With the clock having ticked past 11:00, we headed for the car. Later reports show that Nicely picked up the win over sixth starting Michael Long and Harrison.
  With two nights of racing in the books this week, I will now set my sights on the Lee County Speedway this coming Thursday, as the MLRA late models make their only 2018 appearance at the 3/8 fairgrounds facility. Hopefully Mother Nature changes what this far out looks like a possibility of rain on Thursday.