Before the race’s only caution flag flew with six laps remaining in the MARS Super Late Model DIRTcar Racing Series Feature event, Pierce had lapped up to eighth-place and was carrying a seven-second advantage over second-place Ryan Unzicker when the yellow came out, erasing the big lead and putting a hungry field right on his bumper.

“The whole race, I was pretty nervous, even though I had that big of a lead because I’m used to seeing a distance being shown to me from the guy in second. It had me up on the wheel most of the time,” Pierce said.

Pierce’s crew members did not have their signal sticks with them for the Feature, so Pierce had to go without them for all 40 laps out front. In the end, it didn’t seem to matter, though, as the Smooth Operator easily sliced through lapped traffic throughout the race and cruised to his 10th career MARS Late Model victory.

The 3-time DIRTcar Late Model National points champion redrew the pole position for the Feature after a victory in Heat Race #3 and jetted out to a commanding lead at the drop of the green, reaching the rear of the field by Lap 10.

Pierce smoothly maneuvered around slower traffic, using multiple grooves to make passes, and looked to have the race in-hand if only it weren’t for the Lap 35 caution. On the first restart attempt, third-running Jason Feger got a good run out of Turn 4 and dove deep under Pierce into Turn 1 in a shot for the lead. He ended up spinning around in front of the field after contact with Pierce and was forced to restart near the rear.

“Something about happened on that first restart when Feger charged in there and got the door,” Pierce said. “Luckily, it didn’t cut any tires down or anything. That second restart I hit a lot better and never saw anyone on my left side after that, so I was trying to hit my marks. I knew there was six [laps] to go, so I was just counting the laps down.”

And hit his marks he did. Pierce got good separation from the field on the second restart attempt and carried it all the way back home for the $5,000 payday.

UP NEXT

The MARS Late Model action continues Friday with night #2 of the Farmer City 74 weekend – another $5,000-to-win show on-tap. This time, 47 laps the distance of the Feature.

LATE MODELA FEATURE 1

Finish	Start	#	Competitor		Hometown	+/-
1	2	32		Bobby Pierce	Oakwood, IL	1
2	5	24		Ryan Unzicker	El Paso, IL	3
3	8	19R		Ryan Gustin	Marshalltown, IA	5
4	3	18		Shannon Babb	Moweaqua, IL	-1
5	4	21		Billy Moyer Jr	Batesville, AR	-1
6	14	99JR		Frank Heckenast Jr	Frankfort, IL	8
7	6	33M		Tim Manville	Highland, IL	-1
8	1	25		Jason Feger	Bloomington, IL	-7
9	9	89		Mike Spatola	Manhattan, IL	–
10	7	4G		Bob Gardner	Washington, IL	-3
11	12	74		Mitch McGrath	Waukesha, WI	1
12	10	10S		Taylor Scheffler	Waukesha, WI	-2
13	17	9		Eric Smith	Bloomington, IL	4
14	19	111		Steven Roberts	Sylvester, GA	5
15	15	J12		Jason Wagner	East Peoria, IL	–
16	20	30		Mike Glasscock	Leroy, IL	4
17	13	B12		Kevin Weaver	Gibson City, IL	-4
18	11	42		Mckay Wenger	Fairbury, IL	-7
19	16	83		Scott James	Lawrenceburg, IN	-3
20	21	21B		Rich Bell	Sheffield, IL	1
21	22	25W		Allen Weisser	Peoria, IL	1
22	18	1W		Donny Walden	Bloomington, IL	-4

0 Laps

LATE MODELB FEATURE 1

Finish	Start	#	Competitor		Hometown	+/-
1	1	9		Eric Smith	Bloomington, IL	–
2	3	1W		Donny Walden	Bloomington, IL	1
3	11	111		Steven Roberts	Sylvester, GA	8
4	2	30		Mike Glasscock	Leroy, IL	-2
Top 4 transfer
5	4	30V		Mark Voigt	Marine, IL	-1
6	6	118		Mike Fenton	Oak Leaf, TX	–
7	8	74A		Russ Adams	Princeville, IL	1
8	10	28M		Jake Miller	Mendota, IL	2
9	9	48T		Phil Taylor	Illiopolis, IL	–
10	7	21B		Rich Bell	Sheffield, IL	-3
DNS	12	84		Myles Moos	Lincoln, IL	–
DNS	13	3S		Brian Shirley	Chatham, IL	–
DNS	5	25W		Allen Weisser	Peoria, IL	–

0 Laps

LATE MODELHEAT 1

Finish	Start	#	Competitor		Hometown	+/-
1	1	25		Jason Feger	Bloomington, IL	–
2	3	4G		Bob Gardner	Washington, IL	1
3	5	89		Mike Spatola	Manhattan, IL	2
4	2	B12		Kevin Weaver	Gibson City, IL	-2
Top 4 transfer
5	4	9		Eric Smith	Bloomington, IL	-1
6	6	25W		Allen Weisser	Peoria, IL	–
7	7	48T		Phil Taylor	Illiopolis, IL	–
DNS	8	3S		Brian Shirley	Chatham, IL	–

0 Laps

LATE MODELHEAT 2

Finish	Start	#	Competitor		Hometown	+/-
1	1	21		Billy Moyer Jr	Batesville, AR	–
2	2	33M		Tim Manville	Highland, IL	–
3	3	42		Mckay Wenger	Fairbury, IL	–
4	5	J12		Jason Wagner	East Peoria, IL	1
Top 4 transfer
5	7	1W		Donny Walden	Bloomington, IL	2
6	4	21B		Rich Bell	Sheffield, IL	-2
7	6	111		Steven Roberts	Sylvester, GA	-1

0 Laps

LATE MODELHEAT 3

Finish	Start	#	Competitor		Hometown	+/-
1	3	32		Bobby Pierce	Oakwood, IL	2
2	2	19R		Ryan Gustin	Marshalltown, IA	–
3	1	10S		Taylor Scheffler	Waukesha, WI	-2
4	4	99JR		Frank Heckenast Jr	Frankfort, IL	–
Top 4 transfer
5	5	30		Mike Glasscock	Leroy, IL	–
6	6	118		Mike Fenton	Oak Leaf, TX	–
7 DNF	7	28M		Jake Miller	Mendota, IL	–

0 Laps

LATE MODELHEAT 4

Finish	Start	#	Competitor		Hometown	+/-
1	1	18		Shannon Babb	Moweaqua, IL	–
2	2	24		Ryan Unzicker	El Paso, IL	–
3	4	74		Mitch McGrath	Waukesha, WI	1
4	3	83		Scott James	Lawrenceburg, IN	-1
Top 4 transfer
5	5	30V		Mark Voigt	Marine, IL	–
6	6	74A		Russ Adams	Princeville, IL	–
DNS	7	84		Myles Moos	Lincoln, IL	–

0 Laps

LATE MODELQUALIFYING 1

Finish	Start	#	Competitor		Hometown	Time
1	20	74A		Russ Adams	Princeville, IL
2	11	18		Shannon Babb	Moweaqua, IL
3	12	21B		Rich Bell	Sheffield, IL
4	26	25		Jason Feger	Bloomington, IL
5	14	118		Mike Fenton	Oak Leaf, TX
6	13	4G		Bob Gardner	Washington, IL
7	6	19R		Ryan Gustin	Marshalltown, IA
8	28	30		Mike Glasscock	Leroy, IL
9	21	99JR		Frank Heckenast Jr	Frankfort, IL
10	22	33M		Tim Manville	Highland, IL
11	18	83		Scott James	Lawrenceburg, IN
12	19	28M		Jake Miller	Mendota, IL
13	4	74		Mitch McGrath	Waukesha, WI
14	15	21		Billy Moyer Jr	Batesville, AR
15	23	84		Myles Moos	Lincoln, IL
16	16	111		Steven Roberts	Sylvester, GA
17	2	32		Bobby Pierce	Oakwood, IL
18	24	3S		Brian Shirley	Chatham, IL
19	8	10S		Taylor Scheffler	Waukesha, WI
20	17	9		Eric Smith	Bloomington, IL
21	29	48T		Phil Taylor	Illiopolis, IL
22	25	24		Ryan Unzicker	El Paso, IL
23	27	89		Mike Spatola	Manhattan, IL
24	10	30V		Mark Voigt	Marine, IL
25	5	1W		Donny Walden	Bloomington, IL
26	9	B12		Kevin Weaver	Gibson City, IL
27	3	J12		Jason Wagner	East Peoria, IL
28	7	42		Mckay Wenger	Fairbury, IL
29	1	25W		Allen Weisser	Peoria, IL