MARION CENTER, Pa. (May 17) — Saturday night at Marion Center Raceway was proof why Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., is ranked as the No. 1 Dirt Late Model driver in the country.

The 2023 World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series completely swept the program, setting fast time, winning his heat and leading all 60 laps of the 15th annual Connor Bobik Memorial to earn a $30,000 check.

“I really wanted to win tonight,” Pierce said after his fourth WoO triumph of 2025. “We’ve struggled here, and knowing it was $30,000-to-win this year, it was more prize money, so everyone wanted it pretty badly.”

Starting alongside polesitter Ryan Gustin of Marshalltown, Iowa, Pierce barreled into turn one on the opening lap and went straight to the cushion. Gustin got tight on the bottom in the first set of corners, giving Pierce the opening he needed to rocket away down the backstretch.

The remainder of the distance was dominated by Pierce, who was never seriously challenged as he cruised to victory by a healthy 3.888 seconds over Nick Hoffman of Mooresville, N.C.

Gustin settled for a third-place finish after losing second to Hoffman on lap 58. Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., advanced from the 12th starting spot to finish fourth while Ethan Dotson of Bakersfield, Calif., climbed from eighth to place fifth.

Once in front, the 28-year-old Pierce went to work on building an insurmountable gap over the competition. His margin grew to as large as five seconds during the second half of the feature as the final 34 circuits ran caution-free.

Mother Nature threw teams a curveball in the form of a passing shower hours before the scheduled start of hot laps, pushing the start of on-track action back to around 8 p.m. and creating a much wetter racing surface than teams are used to at Marion Center. While that may have thrown off some teams, Pierce said it played right into his wheelhouse.

“It made the racetrack definitely more wet and tacky, helped me out in qualifying,” Pierce said. “That’s kind of the stuff that I like. I hit my marks right there. It started rutting up in turn ond I got that really good, and the top was there in three and four. Typically in the past, this place was always really slick, really smooth, no traction really anywhere. It gave the track some character.”

Following his 13th overall triumph of 2025 and second big-money WoO victory in less than a month (he earned $50,000 for capturing April 26’s Alabama Gang 100 at Talladega Short Track), Pierce was proud to add another track to his list of conquests this season.

“We went to Smokey Mountain and Swainsboro, some places that we didn’t think we’d be good at, and won there,” Pierce said. “So it's just really cool, coming to these tracks that we were struggling at and winning.”

Pierce was also already looking ahead to Sunday’s WoO stop at Bedford (Pa.) Speedway. He won in his debut at the track one year ago, and even though the track is nearly double the size of Marion Center at 5/8-mile, he’s confident in his chances to be just as fast.

“I think we’re pretty good on big tracks like that,” Pierce said. “Kind of reminds me a little bit of Volusia (Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.), but it’s definitely a little more narrow, and then last year it slicked off a lot for the feature. In qualifying, you’ve got to be on the gas. It’s a really, really big track, but I think we’ve got a really good package for that, I think we were quick time there last year and won the feature. If we can repeat that, that would be awesome.”

Hoffman was a distant runner-up to Pierce, but it was his third podium finish in his last four WoO starts.

“I felt like my car was pretty good. Bobby just got out front and was pretty good there in the beginning and middle part of the race, obviously drove away from us,” Hoffman said. “Me and Ryan got to battling … there was a couple times when I got a run down the back and I decided to wait until pretty late in the race to finally slide him. I was scared to slide him earlier. With him running the bottom, I would have just wiped him out and probably wiped both of us out. It was fun battling back and forth there.”

While Gustin came out on the losing end of the race with Hoffman, his third-place effort was still his best WoO result since his Swainsboro (Ga.) Raceway triumph nearly two months ago.

“I went down in there, I didn’t get a very good start,” said Gustin, who ran second for all but one of the race’s first 57 laps and narrowly avoided disaster on lap 13 when he slid off the track in turn two to avoid the sliding Jake Timm. “I was going to try to slide Bobby but I hit that hole and about wrecked us both.

“I appreciate Nick running me clean. He was a lot faster than we were. We were honestly just hanging on. We definitely weren’t near as good as we needed to be to win that race.”

Four caution flags slowed the feature, the most significant on lap 26 for a multi-car tangle in turn two that included Max Blair, Tim McCreadie and Dustin Sorensen. Other cautions were thrown for Timm (lap 13) and Justin Kann (lap 25).

Feature lineup

(60 laps)

Row 1: Ryan Gustin, Bobby Pierce
Row 2: Nick Hoffman, Cody Overton
Row 3: Michael Norris, Boom Briggs
Row 4: Ashton Winger, Ethan Dotson
Row 5: Alex Ferree, Justin Kann
Row 6: Brent Larson, Brian Shirley
Row 7: Max Blair, Tim McCreadie
Row 8: Tristan Chamberlain, Mason Zeigler
Row 9: Dustin Sorensen, Gregg Satterlee
Row 10: Dennis Erb Jr., Drake Troutman
Row 11: Jon Lee, Ryan Montgomery
Row 12: Tanner English, Jake Timm
Row 13: Ken Schaltenbrand, Austin Smith

Consolation results

(10 laps; top three transfer)

First consolation finish: Dustin Sorensen, Dennis Erb Jr., Jon Lee, Matt Martin, Andrew Wylie, Tyler Wyant, Michael Duritsky Jr., Gary Lyle, Ken Schaltenbrand (DNS) Rich Wicker, Ryan Payne, Skylar Park, John Weaver, Chub Frank.

Second consolation finish: Gregg Satterlee, Drake Troutman, Ryan Montgomery, Jake Timm, Levi Yetter, Jared Miley, Austin Smith, Joe Martin, Logan Zarin, Del Rougeux, Tanner English (DNS) Tyler Dietz, Kenny Schaffer.

Heat results

(Eight laps; top four transfer)

First heat finish: Bobby Pierce, Ethan Dotson, Alex Ferree, Max Blair, Dustin Sorensen, Dennis Erb Jr., Jon Lee, Michael Duritsky Jr., Matt Martin, Gary Lyle (DNS) John Weaver.

Second heat finish: Nick Hoffman, Boom Briggs, Brent Larson, Tristan Chamberlain, Andrew Wylie, Ken Schaltenbrand, Rich Wicker, Tyler Wyant, Ryan Payne, Skylar Park (DNS) Chub Frank.

Third heat finish: Ryan Gustin, Ashton Winger, Justin Kann, Tim McCreadie, Gregg Satterlee, Jared Miley, Drake Troutman, Austin Smith, Logan Zarin, Del Rougeux, Kenny Schaffer.

Fourth heat finish: Cody Overton, Michael Norris, Brian Shirley, Mason Zeigler, Tanner English, Ryan Montgomery, Jake Timm, Levi Yetter, Joe Martin (DNS) Tyler Dietz.

Qualifying

First group    
1. Bobby Pierce (32), Oakwood, Ill., 14.308
2. Nick Hoffman (9), Mooresville, N.C., 14.756
3. Ethan Dotson (74x), Bakersfield, Calif., 14.811
4. Boom Briggs (99B), Bear Lake, Pa., 14.845
5. Alex Ferree (1c), Saxonburg, Pa., 14.881
6. Tristan Chamberlain (20TC), Richmond, Ind., 14.887
7. Max Blair (111), Centerville, Pa., 14.895
8. Rich Wicker (2T), Mahaffey, Pa., 14.900
9. Dustin Sorenson (19), Rochester, Minn., 14.907
10. Brent Larson (B1), Lake Elmo, Minn., 14.914
11. Jon Lee (5L), Mahaffey, Pa., 14.973
12. Ken Schaltenbrand (29S), Sarver, Pa., 15.120
13. Michael Duritsky Jr. (90J), Masontown, Pa., 15.171
14. Andrew Wylie (84), Saltsburg, Pa., 15.264
15. Matt Martin (6), Indiana, Pa., 15.318
16. Tyler Wyant (24), Oil City, Pa., 15.499
17. Dennis Erb Jr. (28), Carpentersville, Ill., 15.614
18. Ryan Payne (12R), Pennsboro, W.Va., 15.651
19. Gary Lyle (10L), Leechburg, Pa., 15.896
20. Skylar Park (2P), Home, Pa., 16.296
21. John Weaver (w3), Commodore, Pa., no time
22. Chub Frank (1*), Bear Lake, Pa.,    no time
Second group    
1. Ryan Gustin (19R), Marshalltown, Iowa, 14.647
2. Cody Overton (2), Evans, Ga., 14.664
3. Ashton Winger (12W), Hampton, Ga., 14.732
4. Michael Norris (72), Sarver, Pa., 14.780
5. Tim McCreadie (9), Watertown, N.Y., 14.795
6. Brian Shirley (3s), Chatham, Ill., 14.846
7. Justin Kann (66), Huntingdon, Pa., 14.849
8. Mason Zeigler (25z), Chalk Hill, Pa., 14.889
9. Gregg Satterlee (22), Indiana, Pa., 14.893
10. Tanner English (96), Benton, Ky., 14.935
11. Jared Miley (10M), Pittsburgh, Pa., 15.071
12. Joe Martin (5LM), Punxsutawney, Pa., 15.099
13. Drake Troutman (22*), Hyndman, Pa., 15.126
14. Jake Timm (49), Winona, Minn., 15.152
15. Austin Smith (11), Cedartown, Ga., 15.156
16. Ryan Montgomery (12), Fairmont, W.Va., 15.317
17. Kenny Schaffer (13x), DuBois, Pa., 15.352
18. Levi Yetter (9), Cabot, Pa., 15.361
19. Logan Zarin (1z), Moon Township, Pa., 15.369
20. Tyler Dietz (77), Pittsburgh, Pa., 15.769
21. Del Rougeux (28D), Frenchville, Pa., no time

Saturday’s schedule

(All times local)
Noon - Pits open
3 p.m. - Grandstands open
6:30 p.m. - On-track activity
- Late Model hot laps
- Late Model time trials (2 laps)
Opening ceremonies
- Semi Late heats (8 laps)
- Late Model heats (8 laps)
- Strictly stock heats (8 laps)
Intermission/WoO redraw
- Late Model consolations (10 laps)
Feature events
- Late Models (60 laps)
- Semi Late Models (25 laps)
- Strictly Stocks (20 laps)