Pierce Pulls Off Lucas Oil Win at Magnolia

COLUMBUS, MS (June 18, 2020) – Bobby Pierce dominated the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series opening night of the 2020 General Tire Clash at the Mag – presented by Big River Steel on Thursday Night at Magnolia Motor Speedway. Piece led wire-to-wire in the 25 lap feature to kick off the weekend.

 For the Illinois native, it was his first win of the season as he became the 11th different winner in 16 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events this year. Pierce had a healthy lead throughout the race and cruised to the victory. His win came ahead of a torrid battle for second on back that saw current series point leader Jimmy Owens finish in second followed by Ross Bailes, Shane Clanton, and Tyler Erb. 

Pierce got to the lead at the start of the race while the race for second raged on behind him. Owens and Bailes went back-and-forth several times in the race for second. Owens was finally able to wrestle second-place from Bailes on the 23rd lap. 

The 23-year-old Pierce went to Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Victory Lane for the 11th time in his career. “The way the night started; I was not happy. We were bad in qualifying. All-in-all it was a great ending to the night, this is our first win of 2020. This Pierce car with Advanced Shocks has been working well. I want to thank my crew and my family.”

“It feels great to get that first win, but it’s 100 laps here on Saturday, it’s going to be a little different.  We had just got to get a little better. I feel like when I got to those lapped cars I was struggling a little bit. I saw my dad giving me signals and the sticks were getting closer together at the end. I messed up a couple of times and with this type of field of cars, you cannot do that too many times. It feels to get that monkey off our back.”

Owens finished in second, and was happy with another podium finish, “After they worked the track there were crumbs on the bottom and I didn’t get off to a good start. It did not pack in as good as the top. Me and Ross had a good race. We just raced around the top and really couldn’t move around like we wanted to.  We will come back tomorrow night and try to pick up one more spot.”

Bailes took home the third spot in the Lamm Autosports/Rocket. “Thanks to Kemp Lamm for letting me drive his car. I thought we had something for him [Pierce] in the beginning. Congrats to Bobby on the win and thank you to Jimmy for racing me clean.”

The winner’s Pierce Platinum Chassis is sponsored by Hoker Trucking, Premier Waste Services, Allgayer Inc., Mesilla Valley Transportation, Viper Risk Management, First Spear, and Advanced Racing Suspensions.

Completing the top ten were Billy Moyer, Tim McCreadie, Timothy Culp, Hudson O’Neal, and Josh Richards.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 
Race Summary 
General Tire Clash at the Mag – presented by Big River Steel
Thursday, June 18th, 2020
Magnolia Motor Speedway – Columbus, MS

Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Jimmy Owens / 13.23 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Frank Heckenast Jr. / 13.532 seconds 

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer):  1. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[3]; 3. 9-Devin Moran[2]; 4. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 5. 86B-Brian Rickman[5]; 6. R5-Hunter Rasdon[7]; 7. 84-Austin Smith[6]; 8. 1BJ-BJ Robinson[8]; 9. 3-Luke Bennett[9]; 10. (DNS) Z6-Zach Combs

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer):  1. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 2. 10J-Joseph Joiner[3]; 3. 4M-Michael Arnold[1]; 4. 1ST-Johnny Scott[4]; 5. 1C-Chad Thrash[5]; 6. 14M-Morgan Bagley[6]; 7. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[7]; 8. 92M-Chad Mallett[9]; 9. 31-Nick Thrash[8]

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 25-Shane Clanton[2]; 2. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[4]; 3. 39-Tim McCreadie[5]; 4. 86R-Rick Rickman[1]; 5. 1G-Devin Gilpin[7]; 6. 00-Jesse Stovall[8]; 7. 34-Doug Sanchagrin[6]; 8. 86-Kyle Beard[3]; 9. 6R-Robbie Stuart[9]

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 2. 90-Neil Baggett[4]; 3. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[2]; 4. 14-Josh Richards[8]; 5. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[1]; 6. 16-Tyler Bruening[5]; 7. 36-Logan Martin[6]; 8. 111-Steven Roberts[7]; 9. G4-Shelby Sheedy[9]

General Tire Heat Race #5 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 1B-Ross Bailes[1]; 2. C8-Timothy Culp[2]; 3. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 4. 81E-Tanner English[5]; 5. 33-Scott Dedwylder[7]; 6. 54-David Breazeale[6]; 7. 21B-Chris Brown[4]; 8. 14G-Joe Godsey[8]; 9. 48-Jamie Elam[9]

Big River Steel Heat Race #6 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 11J-Drew Armstrong[1]; 2. 11H-Spencer Hughes[2]; 3. 50-Shanon Buckingham[6]; 4. 18X-Michael Page[7]; 5. 2S-Stormy Scott[4]; 6. 212-Josh Putnam[5]; 7. 33C-Eric Cooley[3]; 8. 7D-David Payne[9]; 9. 25M-Justin Mcree[8]

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer):  1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 1ST-Johnny Scott[2]; 3. R5-Hunter Rasdon[5]; 4. 1C-Chad Thrash[4]; 5. 84-Austin Smith[7]; 6. 14M-Morgan Bagley[6]; 7. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[8]; 8. 86B-Brian Rickman[3]; 9. 31-Nick Thrash[12]; 10. 92M-Chad Mallett[10]; 11. 1BJ-BJ Robinson[9]; 12. (DNS) 3-Luke Bennett; 13. (DNS) Z6-Zach Combs

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 14-Josh Richards[2]; 2. 86R-Rick Rickman[1]; 3. 16-Tyler Bruening[6]; 4. 00-Jesse Stovall[5]; 5. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[4]; 6. 1G-Devin Gilpin[3]; 7. 36-Logan Martin[8]; 8. 86-Kyle Beard[9]; 9. 111-Steven Roberts[10]; 10. G4-Shelby Sheedy[12]; 11. 34-Doug Sanchagrin[7]; 12. 6R-Robbie Stuart[11]

Arizona Sport Shirts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 33-Scott Dedwylder[3]; 2. 18X-Michael Page[2]; 3. 81E-Tanner English[1]; 4. 212-Josh Putnam[6]; 5. 54-David Breazeale[5]; 6. 2S-Stormy Scott[4]; 7. 21B-Chris Brown[7]; 8. 33C-Eric Cooley[8]; 9. 14G-Joe Godsey[9]; 10. 7D-David Payne[10]; 11. 48-Jamie Elam[11]; 12. (DNS) 25M-Justin Mcree

Lucas Oil Feature Finish (25 Laps): 

Race Statistics
Entrants: 55
Lap Leaders: Bobby Pierce (Laps 1 – 25)
Wrisco Feature Winner: Bobby Pierce
Margin of Victory: 1.404 seconds
Cautions: Devin Moran (Lap 4)
Series Provisionals: n/a
Fast Time Provisional: n/a
Series Emergency Provisionals: n/a
Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Bobby Pierce, Jimmy Owens, Ross Bailes
Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Tim McCreadie (Advanced 10 Positions) 
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Jimmy Owens
Allstar Performance Most Laps Led: Bobby Pierce (25 Laps)
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Jimmy Owens
Eibach Springs Rookie of the Race: n/a
ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Durham Racing Engines
Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Pierce Race Cars
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Jeff Strope (Jimmy Owens)
Dirty Girl Racewear Fastest Lap of the Race: Ross Bailes (Lap #3 – 15.3610 seconds)
STEEL-IT Tough Break of the Race: Devin Moran
PFC Brakes Pole Award: Jimmy Owens
Time of Race: 09 minutes 29 seconds

Lucas Oil Championship Point Standings: