FARMER CITY, Ill. – No one could stop Bobby Pierce during Friday’s American Ethanol Late Model Tour feature at Farmer City Raceway.
Jimmy Mars and Allen Weisser led the 24-car field to the American Ethanol Green flag. Mars jumped out to the early lead as the top 10 cars battled for position. Pierce wasted no time cracking the top five, as with less than 10 laps completed Pierce had driven from the ninth starting spot to the lead passing, Brian Shirley, Mike Spatola, and Scott James in one swoop on the top of the track. From there, the race was on for the rest of the top five.
Mars held his ground in the second spot as the field closed in on lapped traffic. He and Shirley raced side-by-side temporarily as Shirley put Mars back to third, and quickly gapped the front row starter. Laps later, the first caution flag of the night waved when Bob Gardner cut a tire and spun off the top of turn four.
On the restart, it appeared as though Mars and Shirley were going to tag team Pierce for the top spot, taking him three wide down the back stretch. That was short lived, as Pierce used the high side momentum to again stretch his lead.
Mars did drive back into the second spot, pushing Shirley back to third. From there the remainder of the race would go green, and Pierce collected his first win with the American Ethanol Late Model Tour. The triumph was worth $5,000.
Mars, Shirley, Billy Moyer and Spatola rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Bobby Pierce, Jimmy Mars, Brian Shirley, Billy Moyer, Mike Spatola, Jason Feger, Shannon Babb, Frank Heckenast Jr., Tim Manville, Ashton Winger, Logan Arntz, Tayler Scheffler, Rich Bell, Travis Stemler, Brandon Thirlby, Brett Miller, Bob Gardner, Donny Walden, Mike Mataragas, Dave Baker, Allen Weisser, Scott James, Dona Marcoullier, Kevin Weaver.