Austin Pierce Grabs Three Podiums in Three Races!
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (July 11, 2017) – Austin Pierce and the Opp Construction / Lithia Ford team were back in action last weekend with two complete shows and a make-up feature on tap. It all began Friday night at River Cities Speedway with the June 9th make-up feature, where Austin rolled off fifth on the starting grid.
Austin quickly worked his way into the top three as the green flag flew. At the midpoint of the race, the two-time River Cities Speedway track champion found himself in a great battle with Mark Dobmeier for the second position.
The two drivers swapped lanes and traded slidejobs lap after lap, while trying to run down Jordan Adams for the race lead.
“That was a lot of fun. It’s always exciting when Mark comes back to race with us because you can see where your caliber of driver is,” said Austin. “He’s one of the best out there. Being able to race wheel to wheel with him was pretty fun.”
Austin took the checkers in second place behind Dobmeier in the first feature, which would set the tone for a very strong run for the Austin Pierce Racing team.
As the regularly scheduled event got underway for the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints, Austin raced his way to a heat race win from the pole position.
“We didn’t really change much on the car from that first feature,” continued Austin. “Luckily we were able to start up front, get the jump, and then it was pretty much wide open after that.”
Austin led the 27-car field to the green flag for the second feature of the evening and got out to the early lead.
“We led the first few laps before we got to lapped traffic. Some of the slower cars went to the top lane and I had to hit the brakes, which allowed Mark (Dobmeier) to see that and go underneath me.”
A lap five restart shuffled Austin back several positions as he got together with another car.
“I dropped back to about sixth or seventh, but we were able to fight our way back to third so we were happy with that,” said Austin.
On Saturday, the APR crew unloaded at Devils Lake Speedway in Crary, N.D.
Austin picked up a second place run in his heat, which placed him sixth on the grid for the 25-lap main event. The feature was plagued by cautions, but Austin was able to move his way forward throughout the race.
He crossed the line in third to pick up his 14th top five of the season.
Upcoming Events:
July 14th: River Cities Speedway – Grand Forks, N.D.
July 16th: Red River Valley Speedway – West Fargo, N.D.
2017 Stats:
Races – 17
Wins – 2
Top 5’s – 14
Top 10’s – 14
Heat Wins – 7
