Pierce Completes First Weekend of 2017 with the World of Outlaws!

By Spieker Promotions

GRAND FORKS, ND (April 11, 2017) – Austin Pierce and the Opp Construction / Lithia Ford crew opened up 2017 last weekend in Arizona with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series. The two-race weekend kicked off Friday night at Cocopah Speedway in Yuma, Ariz.

Under difficult track conditions in the main event, Austin advanced from his 23rd place starting position to 22nd at the checkers.

“It was nice to get on a little bit bigger track,” said Austin. “It started to take rubber at the start of the feature, but I was still happy with the way things went for our team.”

On Saturday, the team made the 200 mile trek to Queen Creek, Ariz. for the Arizona Desert Shootout at Arizona Speedway.

“I was really looking forward to getting to [Arizona Speedway],” continued Austin. “We got to the track to draw the pill and we drew a 58 out of 58 so that kind of took a little steam out of the sail right away.”

Despite going out last for time trials, Austin salvaged a pretty good lap, but he was still forced to race his way into the A-main. A fourth place finish in the Last Chance Showdown meant Austin secured the final transfer spot for the night’s 30-lap main event.

“The race went 30 laps, green to checkered,” he said. “The cushion was pushed all the way up to the wall, but it was awesome to be running the right rear up against the wall like that. We had pretty good speed and held our position throughout the race.

Austin came home 21st, but gained some valuable time out on the track.

“Going from running on a rubber-down track to running up on the cushion, we got to experience every track condition this weekend so it was good for our seat time.”

Austin’s next event will come at his home track River Cities Speedway on April 21st.

“Being able to race at such high speeds with those guys, it really gave me a lot of confidence coming back to [River Cities Speedway]. It should make things go a little smoother and hopefully we can carry that into the local racing and maybe start winning right off the bat.”

“I want to thank my crew for making the long trip down there and taking time off work to come help out with something that I love to do,” concluded Austin.

The entire APR crew would like to thank their sponsors for their continued support!

Opp Construction
Lithia Ford
Highland Excavating
Dahlstrom Motors Inc.
Bun Lounge
AJ’s Sandblasting & Painting
Solem Farms
Vollrath Farms
Hillesland Farms
Grand Forks Abstract & Title (GFabstract.com)
Adams Marketing Promotions
1st Realty
Ostrich Racing Engines
EMi – Eagle Motorsports, Schnee, Henchcraft, Stallard

Up Next:
April 21: River Cities Speedway – NOSA Sprints

Photo by Matt Hill.

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