World of Outlaws Battle at the Crossroads

For the second-straight World of Outlaws Late Models race, Bobby Pierce started his night as a first-timer at the venue.

And for the second-straight race, he ended the night in Victory Lane.

The Oakwood, IL native’s win Friday night in the Battle of the Crossroads at Swainsboro Raceway was the 33rd of his career with The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet, further extending his lead atop the Series points table.

Pierce started the 35-lap affair at the front after drawing the Bilstein Pole Award, but only got to enjoy the clean air for one lap before a massive pileup behind him halted the action. Tristan Chamberlain made contact with Jimmy Owens before clipping an infield tractor tire and flipping, while a dozen more cars spun or made contact behind him.

Once the carnage was cleared and the race resumed, Pierce went to work on building a gap to the field while Team22 Motorsports teammates Drake Troutman and Chris Madden battled for second.

Troutman won that tussle and was briefly on Pierce’s tail for the lead, but the “Smooth Operator” was able to maintain the top spot. Behind them, Ryan Gustin was busy charging forward from 10th, as he spent several laps in third before getting around Troutman for second.

Gustin was briefly closing in on the leader, but was unable to get any closer than a half-second behind the No. 32. That was until a caution was thrown for debris with four circuits remaining, giving Gustin and the rest of the field one last chance at keeping Pierce out of Victory Lane.

“When they’re on you, I mean, you don’t know where to go,” Pierce said. “Sometimes its better to be second than first. You dipped when you should have dived, you know. Sometimes it’s the way the cards fall.”

The 2023 World of Outlaws champion would not be denied though, as Pierce nailed the restart and drove four perfect laps to take the win in his Swainsboro debut.

While the track was largely bottom-dominant in the Heat Races and Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdowns, drivers had to navigate a vastly different surface in the Feature, as the high lane quickly became the preferred groove as the race progressed.

“I knew it could possibly get that way,” Pierce said. “I’ve seen some video of this track. Once they do some track prep, it can move to the top, so I’ve seen it happen. It’s strange because it is very flat up there and it’s a far way around, but once that bottom gets slick enough the top is a little quicker sometimes.”

Considering it was also Gustin’s first visit to Swainsboro and he was piloting a wounded race car for most of the Feature, “The Reaper” was more than satisfied with a runner-up result.

“I definitely felt like that caution wasn’t going to hurt us at all,” Gustin said. “Had a really good car there, I just got into that tire a couple times and bent the left-front bumper down and was just kind of sitting on the straightaway. When I kept my left-front light in an arc it was good, but then you miss the brown on exit. All in all it was a good night.”

Troutman brought the No. 22* home third to stand on the podium for the second time in the last three World of Outlaws races. That performance was enough to take the lead in the MD3 Rookie of the Year chase by six points over Ethan Dotson, who finished ninth.

“Honestly, this is the most comfortable I’ve felt in this car all year long,” Troutman said. “We’re making good gains on it. I’ve got a lot of great people behind me that are behind the scenes that don’t really get credit for it.”

A pair of rising stars in the southeast rounded out the top five, with Cory Hedgecock in fourth and Wil Herrington setting a new career-best with the Outlaws in fifth.

RACE NOTES:

Dennis Erb Jr. set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Chris Madden won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Chris Madden won Heat 1.

Jimmy Owens won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Bobby Pierce won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Nick Hoffman won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Ashton Winger and Jackson Hise won the two Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdowns.

Bobby Pierce won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Ethan Dotson drove from 23rd to ninth to pick up the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Drake Troutman was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.

Ryan Gustin won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.

Cory Hedgecock was the ARP fourth-Place Finisher.

Wil Herrington was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Chris Madden was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Dalton Cook was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Ethan Dotson was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.

Cody Overton was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Dennis Erb Jr. was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Models wrap up the Battle at the Crossroads at Swainsboro Raceway on Saturday, March 22 with a $15,000-to-win main event. To get your tickets in advance, click here.

If you can’t make it to the trac, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

Feature (35 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. 19R-Ryan Gustin[10]; 3. 22*-Drake Troutman[5]; 4. 23V-Cory Hedgecock[6]; 5. 15K-Wil Herrington[12]; 6. 44-Chris Madden[2]; 7. 9-Nick Hoffman[3]; 8. 44D-Dalton Cook[7]; 9. 74X-Ethan Dotson[23]; 10. 2-Cody Overton[14]; 11. 111-Max Blair[19]; 12. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[25]; 13. 3S-Brian Shirley[24]; 14. 14JR-Trey Mills[8]; 15. 9M-Tim McCreadie[20]; 16. 96-Tanner English[15]; 17. 12-Ashton Winger[17]; 18. 20-Jimmy Owens[4]; 19. 49-Jake Timm[13]; 20. 19-Dustin Sorensen[16]; 21. 18X-Michael Page[21]; 22. 40B-Kyle Bronson[11]; 23. 388-Jackson Hise[18]; 24. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[9]; 25. 49M-Luke Morey[22]; 26. B1-Brent Larson[26]