The Smooth Operator leads 48 laps en route to his first win in 2024 with the World of Outlaws CASE Late Models
If there is one thing you can expect when visiting Farmer City Raceway in the 2020s, Bobby Pierce will be the driver that all dirt Late Model drivers are chasing.
The reigning World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models champion opened up the notebook for the 60-lap Feature race through tires – giving his #32 Longhorn Chassis the ability to use each lane of the quarter-mile race track and helping him earn his 19th career Feature win with the Series.
The Feature commenced with Gray Court, SC driver Chris Madden leading the field to the green flag until three cautions in the first five laps plagued the field in the early portion.
From there, the caution never saw the skies for the rest of the Feature – allowing drivers to make ground around the treacherous Illinois bullring.
That final restart saw Pierce make ground on the leaders immediately – passing by Friday night winner Nick Hoffman and having to maneuver the high and low lanes to get by Madden in the tight race for the lead.
Pierce got by Madden by using the low line on Lap 12 and never relinquished the lead for the rest of the event.
The short track had lapped cars play an important factor in deciding the night’s Feature winner. Pierce used this to his advantage by using a mix of the high and low lines of the race track to gain the race lead from Madden off of Turn 4 – a cleaner look to how he attempted to pass Hoffman on Friday night.
From there, Pierce navigated the lap traffic like he was playing a video game on easy mode – lapping up to ninth place when he took the checkered flag to win his second Illini 100 Feature race. The win also marks Pierce’s sixth straight podium finish in every World of Outlaws CASE Late Models Feature at Farmer City.
For Pierce, the difference was a last-minute change of tires before he rolled the car up to the grid because he noticed the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets Feature made the race track slick.
“I made a last-second call on the tires,” Pierce said. “My dad was like ‘Are you sure?’ and I said yes because the Midgets slicked up the track. It just worked out for us, I loved to see the race go caution-free the rest of the way once we got going. That really helped us out there.
“Growing up here, watching races as a young kid and I remember watching Late Models around here and thinking ‘Man, these guys are crazy for running the cushion like that.’ So, it’s pretty cool to get another win here.”
Hoffman took home a second-place finish – looking to continue building momentum while acknowledging the difficulty of racing lapped cars while chasing Pierce in the process.
“At the start, we were frustrated because we couldn’t even get a lap in,” Hoffman said. “Then, we basically went the distance from there. Looking at the lap traffic, you had to look at their tendencies and where they were gonna move around. You can’t be too aggressive, but you have to find some ground because you know they are coming from behind. I had a decent lead over third so I was just doing what I needed to do to not be in a bad spot or hit the Yuke tires too hard or something stupid.”
New Waverly, TX driver Tyler Erb climbed his way through the field to finish inside the podium – losing patience with the lapped traffic while he worked on his chances to pass Hoffman for second place by the end of the Feature.
“Our cars are fast,” Erb said. “I’m trying to be better, and if we could’ve gotten through lap traffic a little better, but it’s part of not winning our Heat. It’s our fault, our cars were fast, we’re qualifying and Heat racing good. We just need to win those Heat races so we can be in a better position in the Feature. All in all, our car was really f-ing good, and thanks to everybody that helps us.”
Florida native Kyle Bronson brought the heat to Farmer City by picking up his second top-five of the 2024 season with a fourth-place result.
Current Series points leader Brandon Sheppard was rounding out Saturday night’s top-five finishers. Beginning the night with a tough qualifying effort and Heat race, the New Berlin, IL driver had to climb 18 positions from his 23rd starting spot to finish fifth – awarding him the Fox Factory Hard Charger Award.
“I don’t even know what to say,” Sheppard said. “For a lack of better words, I effin sucked to begin the night. We changed a bunch of stuff tonight, got the car back to how I raced it last year and it was really good. It’s small stuff that I’ve got to do better at, and I have no idea what it is yet.
“At this point, it’s about making the qualifying and early night program better. We have to get that dialed in if we’re going to win the championship. There’s no other way around it. These Longhorn guys and Sheppard Riggs Racing crew are trying and it’s all hands on deck to get back to where we need to be. We gotta keep our heads up, keep the team pumped because nights like these are a testament to the team. I’m putting in 100% effort.”
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models are heading Southbound towards Tennessee for a night at Thunderhill Raceway on Thursday, April 18.This leads up to a trip to Alabama for two nights at the Talladega Short Track, April 19-20. For more information and tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch every World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model race live on DIRTVision.
CASE Late Model Feature (60 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[3]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[10]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 5. B5-Brandon Sheppard[23]; 6. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 7. 1-Tim McCreadie[7]; 8. 97-Cade Dillard[9]; 9. 25-Jason Feger[6]; 10. 97C-Cody Overton[13]; 11. 16-Tyler Bruening[22]; 12. 81-Jason Riggs[8]; 13. 111-Max Blair[17]; 14. 3S-Brian Shirley[25]; 15. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[11]; 16. 19-Dustin Sorensen[12]; 17. 84-Myles Moos[15]; 18. 22*-Max McLaughlin[19]; 19. B1-Brent Larson[21]; 20. 6JR-Parker Martin[16]; 21. 19R-Ryan Gustin[24]; 22. 20-Jimmy Owens[14]; 23. 33-Frank Heckenast Jr[20]; 24. 174-Ethan Dotson[26]; 25. 4GG-Tripp Gerrald[18]; 26. 18-Shannon Babb[2]
