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Pierce tames Paducah for fourth Hell Tour win

By Jordan Delucia (Paducah, KY) -- While the top side of the banking held him up through much of the race, Bobby Pierce may have leaned most on his past experiences at Paducah International Raceway to score his fourth DIRTcar Summer Nationals victory of the season Friday night.

PHOTO CREDIT: Josh James Artwork

Until Friday, the Hell Tour hadn’t graced the high banks of the big 3/8-mile oval since June 28, 2013. That race was won by the one and only six-time champion and Dirt Late Model Hall-of-Famer Billy Moyer. Also in the field that night – a 16-year-old Bobby Pierce.

Though he finished fifth, the teenage racing sensation showed he was right on the cusp of breaking through to victory. Two nights later, he finally did break through, winning his first career Summer Nationals Feature in front of a home state Illinois crowd.

Nine years and forty-four tour victories later, Pierce still recalls the laps he made around the ultra-fast Paducah, and they might have just played a role in his journey to a dominant victory for $10,000 Friday night.

“I’ve always really liked this racetrack when I was younger; I just haven’t been able to come here in years,” Pierce said. “This was one I wanted to win pretty badly, probably more than any other on the tour, just because this place is so unique. Really, there’s nowhere like it.”

Pierce, the four-time Summer Nationals champion from Oakwood, IL, also has memories of racing at Paducah even before his Super Late Model career started.

“It definitely helped out that I was here in the past,” he said. “The first time I came here was in my Crate Late Model, and I was 12 or 13, I think. That’s pretty young for how big this place is.

“I remember going down the straightaways and having all day to think about my corner entrance because it felt like it took five days to get there with how long the straightaways are.”

He used those long straightaways to the fullest Friday night, stretching out his lead with ease once the race got going after a few early caution periods. Former tour regular Tanner English chased him throughout the 30-lap event, but never could keep pace with Pierce, ultimately settling for second.

After the first two yellows in the opening laps, only one final caution appeared just past the halfway mark. This erased Pierce’s three-plus-second lead and put English right on his bumper for the restart, which Pierce handled with ease, though there’s always the chance he doesn’t launch well.

“You always worry about that, especially going into Turn 1 here,” Pierce said. “With the line I was running, it’s a little bit strange. You go in there and it feels like you’re going 100 miles an hour and that wall is like a quick 90, and it was kinda slick up to it.”

UP NEXT

The DIRTcar Summer Nationals returns to action on July 2 for a $10,000-to-win Saturday night special at Clarksville Speedway. If you can’t be at the track, watch every lap live on DIRTVision.

RESULTS

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. 81E-Tanner English[1]; 3. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[4]; 4. 15-Christian Hanger[7]; 5. 96T-Terry English[8]; 6. 3S-Brian Shirley[11]; 7. 25-Jason Feger[5]; 8. 212-Josh Putnam[14]; 9. 81JR-Jason Riggs[6]; 10. 18-Matt Cooper[12]; 11. 14G-Joe Godsey[17]; 12. 4D-Doug Tye[13]; 13. 30-Mark Voigt[9]; 14. 10-Ronnie Cooper[24]; 15. 31AUS-Paul Stubber[20]; 16. 38-Thomas Hunziker[18]; 17. 26M-Brent McKinnon[21]; 18. 81J-Jack Riggs[16]; 19. 23NZ-Mick Quin[10]; 20. 14R-Jeff Roth[15]; 21. F1-Payton Freeman[22]; 22. 99-Dylan Thompson[3]; 23. 22-Aaron Edwards[23]; 24. 15F-Richard Frost[19]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[3]; 3. 15-Christian Hanger[6]; 4. 23NZ-Mick Quin[4]; 5. 4D-Doug Tye[5]; 6. 81J-Jack Riggs[7]; 7. (DNS) 15F-Richard Frost; 8. (DQ) F1-Payton Freeman[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Dylan Thompson[1]; 2. 25-Jason Feger[3]; 3. 96T-Terry English[2]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[5]; 5. 212-Josh Putnam[4]; 6. 14G-Joe Godsey[6]; 7. 31AUS-Paul Stubber[8]; 8. 22-Aaron Edwards[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 81E-Tanner English[1]; 2. 81JR-Jason Riggs[2]; 3. 30-Mark Voigt[3]; 4. 18-Matt Cooper[6]; 5. 14R-Jeff Roth[4]; 6. 38-Thomas Hunziker[7]; 7. 26M-Brent McKinnon[5]; 8. 10-Ronnie Cooper[8]

Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. F1-Payton Freeman, 00:15.599[1]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:15.798[4]; 3. 21-Billy Moyer Jr, 00:16.290[7]; 4. 23NZ-Mick Quin, 00:16.633[3]; 5. 4D-Doug Tye, 00:16.675[5]; 6. 15-Christian Hanger, 00:16.682[6]; 7. 81J-Jack Riggs, 00:17.059[8]; 8. 15F-Richard Frost, 00:17.059[2]

Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 99-Dylan Thompson, 00:15.853[5]; 2. 96T-Terry English, 00:16.251[1]; 3. 25-Jason Feger, 00:16.322[8]; 4. 212-Josh Putnam, 00:16.416[3]; 5. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:16.493[4]; 6. 14G-Joe Godsey, 00:16.738[6]; 7. 22-Aaron Edwards, 00:16.786[2]; 8. 31AUS-Paul Stubber, 00:16.842[7]

Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 81E-Tanner English, 00:16.864[5]; 2. 81JR-Jason Riggs, 00:16.938[3]; 3. 30-Mark Voigt, 00:17.446[4]; 4. 14R-Jeff Roth, 00:17.502[2]; 5. 26M-Brent McKinnon, 00:17.803[7]; 6. 18-Matt Cooper, 00:17.851[6]; 7. 38-Thomas Hunziker, 00:18.155[1]; 8. 10-Ronnie Cooper, 00:18.215[8]

Hot Laps 1: 1. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:15.857[4]; 2. 21-Billy Moyer Jr, 00:16.243[7]; 3. 15-Christian Hanger, 00:16.537[6]; 4. F1-Payton Freeman, 00:16.660[1]; 5. 81J-Jack Riggs, 00:16.786[8]; 6. 15F-Richard Frost, 00:16.943[2]; 7. 23NZ-Mick Quin, 00:17.514[3]; 8. 4D-Doug Tye, 00:17.749[5]

Hot Laps 2: 1. 25-Jason Feger, 00:16.284[8]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:16.298[4]; 3. 99-Dylan Thompson, 00:16.384[5]; 4. 31AUS-Paul Stubber, 00:16.610[7]; 5. 96T-Terry English, 00:16.654[1]; 6. 212-Josh Putnam, 00:16.759[3]; 7. 14G-Joe Godsey, 00:16.946[6]; 8. 22-Aaron Edwards, 00:17.263[2]

Hot Laps 3: 1. 81E-Tanner English, 00:16.572[5]; 2. 81JR-Jason Riggs, 00:16.584[3]; 3. 18-Matt Cooper, 00:17.296[6]; 4. 38-Thomas Hunziker, 00:17.324[1]; 5. 30-Mark Voigt, 00:17.366[4]; 6. 14R-Jeff Roth, 00:17.953[2]; 7. 10-Ronnie Cooper, 00:18.183[8]; 8. 26M-Brent McKinnon, 00:18.183[7]

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YOUNG WINS AT PADUCAH FOR FIRST CAREER SUMMIT MODIFIED TOUR VICTORY

By Jordan Delucia (Paducah, KY) -- As one of the top DIRTcar UMP Modified drivers in his region, Trent Young had never been to DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals Victory Lane. Until now.

In his first time out with the tour this season, Young dominated the tour’s return to Paducah International Raceway Friday night for his first career Summit Modified trophy.

“For me, it is a pretty big win,” Young said. “We don’t run a lot of big shows anymore, just local stuff, mostly. I don’t get to race against a lot of the touring guys.

“I think we still can run with them. We’ve got a pretty good car.”

The Hopkinsville, KY, racer ran away from UMP Modified veterans Lucas Lee and Brian Shaw en route to victory in the 20-lap affair, leading every lap, even battling internal issues of his own throughout the program.

“We fought engine overheating issues most of the night,” Young said. “We were pretty hot in the Heat Race, so I figured it was gonna be the same for the Feature, and it was.”

UP NEXT

The DIRTcar Summit Modifieds return to action on July 2 for a Saturday night special at Clarksville Speedway. If you can’t be at the track, watch every lap live on DIRTVision.

DIRTCAR MODFIEDS

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 10Y-Trent Young[2]; 2. 12L-Lucas Lee[3]; 3. 1S-Brian Shaw[4]; 4. 176-Scotty Owens[7]; 5. 2-Peyton Walker[5]; 6. 99-Teegan Embrey[8]; 7. 7D-Pete Sabatino[10]; 8. 00-troy gay[11]; 9. 7-Willie Gammill[9]; 10. 16-Todd Riley[6]; 11. (DNS) 8-Kyle Steffens

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Kyle Steffens[2]; 2. 12L-Lucas Lee[1]; 3. 2-Peyton Walker[4]; 4. 176-Scotty Owens[3]; 5. 7-Willie Gammill[5]; 6. 00-troy gay[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10Y-Trent Young[1]; 2. 1S-Brian Shaw[4]; 3. 16-Todd Riley[3]; 4. 99-Teegan Embrey[2]; 5. 7D-Pete Sabatino[5]

Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. 12L-Lucas Lee, 00:17.727[3]; 2. 8-Kyle Steffens, 00:18.093[2]; 3. 176-Scotty Owens, 00:18.255[5]; 4. 2-Peyton Walker, 00:18.275[4]; 5. 7-Willie Gammill, 00:18.374[6]; 6. 00-troy gay, 00:18.437[1]

Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. 10Y-Trent Young, 00:18.315[4]; 2. 99-Teegan Embrey, 00:18.646[3]; 3. 16-Todd Riley, 00:18.768[5]; 4. 1S-Brian Shaw, 00:19.075[2]; 5. 7D-Pete Sabatino, 00:19.155[1]

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STREET STOCK

Feature (12 Laps): 1. 18M-Matt Markham[1]; 2. 7-Tony Cruse[4]; 3. 57-Keaton Downing[3]; 4. 117-Jon Eaton[5]; 5. 21M-Brian Markham[2]; 6. 22-Logan Shepherd[6]; 7. 16-Aaron Willis[8]; 8. (DNS) 06X-Eli English

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 18M-Matt Markham[1]; 2. 21M-Brian Markham[3]; 3. 57-Keaton Downing[4]; 4. 7-Tony Cruse[2]; 5. 117-Jon Eaton[7]; 6. 22-Logan Shepherd[6]; 7. 06X-Eli English[5]; 8. 16-Aaron Willis[8]

Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 18M-Matt Markham, 00:19.149[7]; 2. 7-Tony Cruse, 00:19.157[4]; 3. 21M-Brian Markham, 00:19.231[1]; 4. 57-Keaton Downing, 00:19.357[3]; 5. 06X-Eli English, 00:19.758[5]; 6. 22-Logan Shepherd, 00:19.836[2]; 7. (DNS) 117-Jon Eaton, 00:19.836; 8. (DNS) 16-Aaron Willis, 00:19.836

BOMBERS

Feature (10 Laps): 1. K3-Kyle Clark[1]; 2. 00-Trey Duncan[2]; 3. K11-michael kaler[3]; 4. 87-David Crittendon[4]; 5. 75-Richard King[5]; 6. 40-Brian Crittendon[6]; 7. 88S-Cody Harris mr[7]

Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. K3-Kyle Clark, 00:21.121[3]; 2. 00-Trey Duncan, 00:21.174[4]; 3. K11-michael kaler, 00:21.579[2]; 4. 87-David Crittendon, 00:21.944[1]; 5. 75-Richard King, 00:22.597[6]; 6. 40-Brian Crittendon, 00:22.909[7]; 7. 88S-Cody Harris mr, 00:22.909[5]

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