From Bill Wright / knoxvilleraceway.com
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (September 16, 2022) – Bobby Pierce claimed his first ever win at the Knoxville Raceway Friday on Night #2 of the 18th Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals. The Oakwood, Illinois native had to persevere and hold off Ricky Thornton Jr. for his well-deserved win. Pierce had a near perfect night, earning 498 points. His only slip was registering the second quick time in his group. His heat and feature win were enough to land him on the pole of Saturday night’s $50,000 to win main event.
Brandon Overton edged Chris Simpson to lead early in the 25-lap main event. Earl Pearson Jr. was third, ahead of Tyler Bruening and Pierce. Pierce shot by Bruening for fourth on lap two, and picked off Pearson for third on the fifth circuit. By lap seven, Chris Simpson was Pierce’s next victim, as he moved into the runner-up spot behind Overton.
Pierce found the cushion to his liking on the half-mile, and shot by Overton to complete lap nine. Four laps later, Simpson followed him into second. At that point, Tyler Erb brought the only caution of the event out when he stopped in turn two. The restart was a wild one, with Overton reclaiming the point, followed by Pierce, Bruening, Simpson and Thornton.
Pierce regained his composure and used the low side to move by Overton for the lead with ten to go. Thornton claimed fourth on the same lap, and then passed Bruening in close racing high in turn four on lap 16. Thornton used the cushion to ride by Overton with six to go and set his sights on Pierce.
Thornton gained on the leader, but never seriously challenged him down the stretch. Pierce’s win came ahead of Thornton, Simpson, Overton and Bruening. Ricky Weiss, Hudson O’Neal, Jonathan Davenport, Tim McCreadie and Jimmy Owens rounded out the top ten. Bruening and Tad Pospisil set quick time over their respective groups, while O’Neal, Pierce, Davenport and Daniel Hilsabeck claimed the four heats. Chris Madden and Weiss were the B main winners.
“It was an awesome night,” said Pierce in Victory Lane. “It was a big turnaround from last night from not even making the show. We were a little negative heading into it, because we know it takes some luck just to make the show. We had an awesome car. Hat’s off to everyone that works on this thing. To end up here in Victory Lane means everything. I made it kind of exciting on the restart when the carburetor stumbled and I couldn’t get going. I hope I didn’t bottle the field behind me. We got back to the lead and it was awesome. The track was good. If you hit the brown right, it was like a traction strip on Mario and you would rocket off!”
“We weren’t very good early, and then we started railing the top,” said Thornton. “I kind of figured out a line through one and two where we were straight like a sprint car up against the wall. We got pretty good. I was worried I was going to hit it too hard and put the right front in the wall. We got pretty lucky we didn’t.”
“We started on the pole there and Overton got by us,” said Simpson. “I moved up and probably should have just stayed on the bottom. We worked our way back up to third, and messed up a bit on the restart. We struggled a little bit last night, but it’s good to be up here tonight. We rolled the bottom really well.”
Join us for Saturday’s finale of the 18th Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals on Thursday! For more information, visit or check Knoxville Raceway’s website at www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com or on Facebook and Twitter.
A main, 25 Laps, NT:
1. Bobby Pierce (5); 2. Ricky Thornton Jr. (6); 3. Chris Simpson (1); 4. Brandon Overton (2); 5. Tyler Bruening (7); 6. Ricky Weiss (18); 7. Hudson O'Neal (9); 8. Jonathan Davenport (10); 9. Tim McCreadie (8); 10. Jimmy Owens (11); 11. Brian Shirley (15); 12. Earl Pearson Jr. (3); 13. Spencer Hughes (13); 14. Brandon Sheppard (20); 15. Garrett Alberson (19); 16. Kyle Strickler (14); 17. Tad Pospisil (22); 18. Chase Junghans (0); 19. Chris Madden (17); 20. Spencer Diercks (4); 21. Frank Heckenast Jr. (16); 22. Daniel Hilsabeck (12); 23. Tyler Erb (23); 24. Aaron Marrant (24)
18th Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals Saturday Lineups (Subject to Change)
A main
1. 32, Bobby Pierce, 498
2. 49, Jonathan Davenport, 489
3. 16, Tyler Bruening, 489
4. 20RT, Ricky Thornton Jr., 488
5. 46, Earl Pearson Jr., 486
6. 32s, Chris Simpson, 482
7. 25c, Shane Clanton, 482
8. 76, Brandon Overton, 481
9. 39, Tim McCreadie, 480
10. 20, Jimmy Owens, 480
11. 1, Brandon Sheppard, 478
12. 8, Kyle Strickler, 477
13. 71, Hudson O’Neal, 476
14. 7w, Ricky Weiss, 461
15. 11, Spencer Hughes, 460
16. 19R, Ryan Gustin, 458
17. 04, Tad Pospisil, 456
18. 1x, Aaron Marrant, 454
19. 18J, Chase Junghans, 452
20. 3s, Brian Shirley, 451
21. 58, Garrett Alberson, 450
22. 157, Mike Marlar, 449
23. 62, Justin Zeitner, 448
24. 29D, Spencer Diercks, 445
Drivers Eligible for B main(s)
25. 7, Ross Robinson, 441
26. 22H, Daniel Hilsabeck, 440
27. 44, Chris Madden, 439
28. 2s, Stormy Scott, 436
29. 99JR, Frank Heckenast Jr., 432
30. 56, Chris Spieker, 419
31. 1T, Tyler Erb, 414
32. 18s, Jesse Sobbing, 413
33. 18D, Daulton Wilson, 398
34. 15, Justin Duty, 397
35. 22, Charlie McKenna, 396
36. 21, Billy Moyer, 392
37. 51, Matt Furman, 391
38. 33, Nick Marolf, 391
39. 40B, Kyle Bronson, 390
40. 1st, Johnny Scott, 390
41. 42, Johnathan Huston, 385
42. 53, Andrew Kosiski, 384
43. 14w, Dustin Walker, 378
44. 93, Chad Simpson, 378
45. 14M, Reid Millard, 375
46. 48, Tim Lance, 373
47. 10, Junior Coover, 369
48. 6H, Al Humphrey, 367
See the full story and results:
Check it out at lucasdirt.com:
Photo: lucasdirt.com / Knoxville Raceway
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