Austin Pierce Picks Up Podium Finish & Heat Race Win at River Cities!
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (May 9, 2017) – The 2017 River Cities Speedway season opened last Friday night under beautiful sunny skies and packed grandstands. Austin Pierce had a solid night behind the wheel of his Opp Construction No. 2A as he raced to a third place finish in the feature by night’s end.
The night got off to a great start as Austin led all 10 laps of the second heat race and picked up the win. In doing so, he turned a blistering lap of 11.658 seconds, averaging 92.65mph around the high-banked three-tenths mile oval. Austin took the win 2.734 seconds ahead of second place finisher, Chris Ranten.
“We started on the pole and I guess we pulled away pretty good from everybody,” said Austin. “It feels pretty good knowing we had the car set up pretty good right away. Going into the feature I thought there was going to be a little more moisture than there was, but it ended up drying out. We didn’t go forward too far, but we still finished third.”
After the early season struggles the team endured in 2016, it was nice to get 2017 started with a podium finish.
“It was a big confidence booster for us to get a podium finish right off the bat,” said Pierce, the 2014 River Cities Speedway track champion. “We started the feature on a tire we bought last year and it took about 10 laps for it to get heat built up in it. Then I was good for a few laps, but a red flag came out and it was sealed up until the end of the race.”
Next weekend Austin and the team will be back in action at River Cities Speedway Friday, before heading to Brandon, South Dakota for the Silver Shootout at Badlands Motor Speedway.
Austin says with the amount of talent and cars at Badlands, your night depends a lot on the pill draw.
“Hopefully we get a good draw so we have a decent shot qualifying,” he said. “If we can qualify decent, we have a good shot at making it into the A-main and that’s what our goal is heading into the event.”
The entire APR crew would like to thank their sponsors for their continued support!
Opp Construction
Lithia Ford Lincoln of Grand Forks
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
2017 Stats:
Races – 3
Wins – 0
Top 5’s – 1
Top 10’s – 0
Heat Wins – 1
Photo by Steven Young | Speedway Shots
