Pierce Claims Top 10 Finish with the World of Outlaws!
GRAND FORKS, ND (June 22) – Last Friday night the World of Outlaws Craftman Sprint Cars charged into River Cities Speedway for their first of two stops at the legendary bullring. Nearly two inches of rain less than 24 hours prior to the scheduled start time almost forced the night to be cancelled, but the RCS track crew worked hard to get the track in shape. A great night of racing was seen in its entirety after an hour and a half delay due to the aforementioned soggy conditions.
The evening began with time trials where Austin would lay down a lap of 10.505 seconds, averaging 102.808mph around the 3/10th mile oval, which put him 18th quick in the 34-car field.
The driver of the Lithia Ford/Opp Construction #2Athen backed up his solid qualifying effort by finishing fourth in his heat race, which transferred him directly into the 40-lap, $10,000-to-win A-main.
Pierce started in 14th and traded positions with several drivers in the early going as things got sorted out. At lap seven, Austin found himself in the 10th spot, but lost a couple of positions in consecutive laps which put him back to 12th.
The two-time and defending River Cities Speedway track champion battled back, however, making passes on Cory Mack and Thomas Kennedy to put him back in 10th with seven laps to go. Pierce then set his sights on the Roth Motorsports #83 of Joey Saldana, but wasn’t able to close in on the “Brownsburg Bullet.”
The AllPro Electric/Solem Farms machine crossed the line with a very respectable 10th place finish against the best Sprint Car drivers in the country and was the top finishing local driver in the field.
On Saturday morning the team was all loaded up and ready to head to the Sioux Falls area for a night of racing at Badlands Motor Speedway, but the races were cancelled due to excessive rain.
Next Friday night the Austin Pierce Racing team will be back in action at River Cities Speedway for the Greater Grand Forks Fair double features special.
Season Stats:
Races: 10
Wins: 0
Top 5’s: 4
Top 10’s: 6
Heat Wins: 3
Upcoming Events:
June 24th – River Cities Speedway
June 25th – Badlands Motor Speedway
July 1st – River Cities Speedway
Race recap & photo by Mike Spieker.