SPRING VALLEY, Minn. (July 6) — After a pair of rare engine failures last weekend, Bobby Pierce ended the the first week of July on Saturday at Deer Creek Speedway with an accomplishment he never reached during last year’s miraculous 34-win season.

The Oakwood, Ill., driver not only surged to his second straight NAPA Auto Gopher 50 triumph at the 3/8-mile oval, but he earned a second $50,000 payday in a four-day span, the latest a tour-leading sixth World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series victory.

On Wednesday, the 27-year-old superstar turned up the wick when it mattered most as he overtook race-long Brandon Sheppard by virtue of a series of sliders to lead the final 18 of 75 laps. 

“It turned out awesome there. That was a fun racetrack to drive,” Pierce told WoO pit reporter Hannah Newhouse from victory lane. “It was super technical up on there, on the cushion along the wall. Restarts after restarts were bugging me. I didn’t know if I’d be able to pass them in clean air. It took some lapped traffic to get ‘er done.

“Man, this thing was smooth as glass out there. When this thing is sliding across the racetrack, it’s very technical. A lot of fun. Car was awesome. Man, what a week we’ve had. This is incredible. After all the bad luck we had there. Then to come back and win all these races, it’s what it’s all about.”

Pierce’s victory is his 16th of the season overall. Five of those wins have come over his last 10 races, with the later three now coming to fruition in the first week of July. Pierce also earned a $15,000 victory July 1 at Proctor (Minn.) Speedway, the front-end of a week that’s eventually netted him $115,000 in race winnings alone.

For Saturday’s triumph, Pierce persevered through a number of untimely cautions that benefitted Sheppard, who led a race-high 58 laps. Four cautions slowed Pierce’s pursuit of Sheppard: On lap 30 for Tyler Stevens slowing due to a broken power steering pum, lap 31 for Lance Hofer slowing off turn four, lap 44 for Tristan Chamberlain's flat left-rear tire and lap 50 for Max McLaughlin’s flat right-front.

Pierce never let Sheppard lead by more than 1.5 seconds during the opening 30 laps, the race’s longest green-flag run. Pierce praised Sheppard’s ability to launch on restarts, adding that the current WoO points leader “drove the wheels off that thing.”

“Man, what a race with Brandon. … I was trying to pressure him, trying to pressure him, and on those restarts he was gassing it,” Pierce said. “He was to the floor around there. I was trying to keep up with him. Yeah, this racetrack is awesome. I love coming here. It was awesome this year that it got changed to a World of Outlaws event.”

Pierce’s only scare down the stretch had been in the moments before Cody Overton’s lap-66 flip through turn four. Pierce overstepped the thinning cushion, literally seconds before a trailing Overton slipped up in similar fashion, but Overton’s misstep sent him on a barrel roll before landing right side up. Even then, Pierce said, “I think I was good.”

“I jumped the cushion, but I don’t think the wheel or nothing, the tire, got the wall,” Pierce said. “The good thing about this track is the spoiler goes over the wall perfectly, so you don’t even have to fix the spoiler.”

Sheppard, meanwhile, let a would-be fourth series win slip through his grasp, but he did extend his touring lead to 18 points better than Nick Hoffman, who finished fifth on Saturday. Sheppard attributed his downfall Saturday to not being “aggressive enough in lapped traffic.”

“He just got by me. He’s been really good all year,” Sheppard said. “Hats off to him and his team. They do a great job. Yeah, I just definitely messed that one up in lapped traffic. Leading the race, you don’t know exactly where to be at. When you’re running the cushion like that, a couple inches makes a big difference. It’s one of those deals, when he passed me, I could see where he was gaining on me there.

“Then I could kind of maintain with him after that. It was one of those deals where I made a few mistakes that cost me that race. But all in all, it was another great night for my team. … We’ll lick our wounds and go onto the next one.”

Tyler Erb of New Waverly, Texas, continued his upswing as well with a 10th-to-third charge through the 24-car field. It’s Erb’s 11th podium finish over his last 19 races. Erb steadily worked his way to the front, breaking into the top-five with 15 laps to go before dispatching Nick Hoffman on lap 66 and then Ryan Gustin on the last lap.

“At the beginning, everybody was going the same speed. It’s hard to make some hay,” Erb said. “We do a lot of things on this thing to make me look smooth out there, choking the motor down and things like that. I don’t even know if I wanted there on lap 67. I was in a really good rhythm running the top and making a lot of speed. When the caution hit, it kind of latched up in spots in the middle getting in. It took me a couple laps to get my rhythm going again. I was able to slide Gustin on the last lap.

“It was fun. It was a great week at Deer Creek. I love coming here and I love the people. … Everybody who runs this place, they’re awesome. We’re still on the fun tour. We’re just way up here.”

Notes: Pierce’s victory in the event’s 45th running is his second straight Gopher 50 triumph. It’s also Pierce’s second $50,000 payday in six days after he took Wednesday’s Minnesota Mega at Ogilvie (Minn.) Raceway on the XR Super Series. … Sheppard led the opening 58 laps from the front row before Pierce landed the go-ahead slider through turns three and four on lap 59. It’s Sheppard’s 17th top-five in 23 WoO features. … Five cautions slowed the 75-lap feature: On lap 29 for Tyler Stevens’ apparent engine issue, lap 42 for Lance Hofer, lap 45 for Tristan Chamberlain, lap 51 for Max McLaughlin’s flat right-front, and lap 67 for Cody Overton’s flip off the turn four cushion. ... The 75-lap feature ended at 9:09 p.m. local time as impending weather kept the entire show in hurry-up mode. … Billy Moyer had a scary opening-lap crash in the consolation, flipping violently numerous times on the backstretch after tangling with Chad Mahder, Lance Hofer and Cody Overton and before landing on his side in turn three and then eventually onto his wheels. Moyer gingerly exited his Todd Cooney-owned Longhorn Chassis after it was righted but appeared to favor his left side as he was assisted to the ambulance to be looked at by the medical team. ... Hofer and Overton continued after the incident. … Seventeen drivers were running at the finish of the feature with 15 finishing on the lead lap.

Feature lineup

(75 laps)

Row 1: Ryan Gustin, Brandon Sheppard
Row 2: Bobby Pierce, Nick Hoffman
Row 3: Shannon Babb, Kyle Bronson
Row 4: Tyler Bruening, Dennis Erb Jr.
Row 5: Tyler Stevens, Tyler Erb
Row 6: Chad Simpson, Cade Dillard
Row 7: Jake Timm, Brent Larson
Row 8: Chase Junghans, Brian Shirley
Row 9: Dustin Sorensen, Max McLaughlin
Row 10: Lance Hofer, Blair Nothdurft
Row 11: Cody Overton, Derrick Stewart
Row 12: Tristan Chamberlain, Dustin Walker

Dash results

(6 laps; all transfer)

First dash: Ryan Gustin, Brandon Sheppard, Bobby Pierce, Nick Hoffman, Shannon Babb, Kyle Bronson, Tyler Bruening, Dennis Erb Jr.

Second dash: Tyler Stevens, Tyler Erb, Chad Simpson, Cade Dillard, Jake Timm, Brent Larson, Chase Junghans, Brian Shirley. 

Consolation race results

(12 laps; top six transfer)

Finish: Dustin Sorensen, Max McLaughlin, Lance Hofer, Blair Nothdurft, Cody Overton, Derrick Stewart, Tristan Chamberlain, Dustin Walker, Parker Foster, Chad Mahder, Frank Heckenast Jr., Billy Moyer. Scratched: Keith Hammett, Jordan Yaggy, Johnathan Huston, Justin Green

Dash lineups

First dash
Row 1: Ryan Gustin, Brandon Sheppard
Row 2: Bobby Pierce, Nick Hoffman
Row 3: Shannon Babb, Tyler Bruening
Row 4: Dennis Erb Jr., Kyle Bronson
Second dash
Row 1: Tyler Erb, Tyler Stevens
Row 2: Cade Dillard, Chad Simpson
Row 3: Chase Junghans, Brian Shirley
Row 4: Brent Larson, Jake Timm

Consolation lineup

First consolation
Row 1: Max McLaughlin, Dustin Sorensen
Row 2: Lance Hofer, Chad Mahder
Row 3: Blair Nothdurft, Cody Overton
Row 4: Billy Moyer, Frank Heckenast Jr.
Row 5: Derrick Stewart, Ketih Hammett
Row 6: Tristan Chamberlain, Jordan Yaggy
Row 7: Parker Foster, Johnathan Huston
Row 8: Dustin Walker, Justin Green

Saturday’s schedule

(All times local)
2:30 p.m. - Pits open
3 p.m. - Grandstands open
3:30 p.m. - Drivers’ autograph session (under midway tent)
6 p.m. - Drivers’ meeting
6:30 p.m. - On-track activity
- Modified hot laps
- Late Model hot laps
Opening ceremonies
- Modified heat races (8 laps)
- Late Model consolation races (10 laps)
- Late Model dashes (6 laps)
- Modified consolations (10 laps)
Intermission
- Late Model non-qualifier (20 laps)
- Late Model feature (75 laps)
- Modified feature (35 laps)