Pierce Prevails for 5th Place Finish at River Cities Speedway
GRAND FORKS, ND (May 6) – The two-time and defending River Cities Speedway track champion, Austin Pierce, rolled into his old stomping grounds last Friday night for the second night of NOSA competition at the 3/10th mile oval. The racing surface was a complete 180 from what the drivers experienced on opening night, but Pierce adjustedto the track quickly.
With a last lap pass on sophomore pilot, Jack Croaker, Austin picked up the heat race win which put him in the eighth starting position for the 25-lap main event.
Pierce dropped back two positions as the feature went green, but it only took the Grand Forks, ND driver a couple laps to find his grove and regain lost track position. Austin was all over the map during the main event as he was as low as 10 th at one point and as high as fourth later in the race.
Austin cracked the top five at the halfway point with a pass on Zach Wilde, then briefly saw fourth as he got by the #8H of Jade Hastings. After slipping back to sixth, a couple circuits later, Pierce rallied back into the fifth position as the checkers flew from the Sunrise Valley Flagstand.
“It was a pretty successful night,” said Austin following the races. “We started the night off with a heat win and that got our confidence going in the right direction. The track was way different than the previous week, but it was great. I had a lot of fun out there. Hopefully next week we can get up into the top three.”
An off-season shake up to the Austin Pierce Racing pit crew has the team still trying to get used to each other, but things are coming along nicely so far.
“We are putting together a new crew right now. It includes some of the same faces, some are different, but I think we are headed in the right direction. I still have Kyle Kozel, he knows quite a bit. Then I brought in Lee Kozel, who used to help [Jason] Linnell back in the day, so it’s just a matter of getting gelled together.”
Season Stats:
Races: 2
Wins: 0
Top 5’s: 1
Top 10’s: 2
Heat Wins: 1
DNF’s: 0
Upcoming Events:
May 13th – River Cities Speedway
May 14th – Devils Lake Speedway
May 20th – River Cities Speedway
Recap by Mike Spieker, photo by Adrienne Gahm.
—
Spieker Promotions | Speedway Shots