RECAP: Austin Pierce Collects First Win of 2017 at River Cities
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (May 30, 2017) – Last year it took the Opp Construction / Lithia Ford team until the middle of July to pick up their first win of the season. Thankfully, 2017 is a different story for the Austin Pierce Racing crew as they parked their NOSA sprinter in victory lane Friday night at River Cities Speedway.
After driving from fifth to third in his heat race, Austin started on the front row of the 25-lap feature.
At the drop of the green flag, Austin quickly took the lead and opened up a comfortable advantage. Within a matter of laps, the two-time River Cities Speedway track champion found himself in heavy lapped traffic, but continued to put more distance between himself and second place.
“It got to be pretty tough to pass in turns one and two, but luckily it had smoothed out a little bit,” said Austin. “I could ride the top when I had to and hit the moisture on the bottom as well.”
The lone caution flew with nine laps to go, and almost cost Austin the race.
On the restart, Bob Martin drove by Austin to take the lead.
“I got too close to the inside berm and coated my wheels with some slime. It took until about halfway down the front straightaway for them to clean off,” Austin said. “I thought that cost me the race, but luckily he slipped up enough coming off of [turn] two that I could catch the moisture and get back by him.”
Once he regained the lead, Austin checked out from the field to take the win.
“Now we can breathe a little easier, but our goal is to get more than five wins this year,” continued Austin. “That’s going to be pretty tough to do. There’s six or seven guys that can win out here every night.”
Austin’s win was his eighth career visit to victory lane at River Cities Speedway, putting himself just one win behind Donny Schatz and Lou Kennedy for sixth on the all-time wins list*.
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
Upcoming Events:
June 2nd: River Cities Speedway – Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints
June 3rd: Devils Lake Speedway – Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints
2017 Stats:
Races – 6
Wins – 1
Top 5’s – 4
Top 10’s – 4
Heat Wins – 1
*River Cities Speedway wins list accounts wins from its establishment in 1999 to present.
