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Pierce wins at Tri-City, USAC at Terre Haute, dirt late model thoughts | DIRTRACKR Daily 5/26/21
It is Wednesday, May 26th, two thousand and twenty one. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Today we are recapping the racing action from last night including the Flo Late Models and Short Track Super Series, previewing tonight's USAC action at Terre Haute, there are new podcast episodes, I have some late model thoughts, and more so let's jump in.
The FloRacing Night in America Late Models were at Tri-City Speedway last night for night number four, and we got to see the fourth different winner on the season. Bobby Pierce showed up and showed out at a track he's had plenty of success at in the past. He went quick time by nearly two tenths, won his heat race, sat on the pole, and led all 40 laps en route to the $10,000 win. Points leader Jonathan Davenport finished second, Kyle Larson finished third, Earl Pearson Jr. was fourth, and Shannon Babb rounded out the top five. Brandon Sheppard finished 10th in his family B5 Rocket. It was a nice recovery for Larson in the Rumley 6 after issues early in the night. He caught the wall in qualifying and had to be towed off. He later finished second in his heat race and drove from 6th to 3rd in the feature. According to Dirt on Dirt this was Pierce's fourth late model win of 2021, and his 30th career win at Tri-City. They haven't posted updated points standings yet following the race, but there will be a shakeup in the top five. Davenport will maintain the lead, but Devin Moran, Tyler Erb, and Hudson O'Neal all didn't participate, so that will elevate Mike Marlar and Kyle Larson. The Flo late models are back next Wednesday night at Florence Speedway in Kentucky for another $10 grand to win race.
The Short Track Super Series south region was in action last night at New Egypt Speedway in New Jersey, and we saw the fifth different winner in five south region races. Anthony Perrego battled late with Max McLaughlin and Mike Mahaney and came out on top for the $5000 score. Mahaney ended up second and maintains the region points lead, with McLaughlin third, Brandon Grosso fourth, and Stewart Friesen fifth. It will be a quick turn around for a lot of the northeast modified competitors, as the Short Track Super Series north region races Sunday at Penn Can, while the Super DIRTcar Series races Sunday at Weedsport and Monday at Lebanon Valley. Memorial Day weekend always brings a lot of racing, and things are busy across the country including in the northeast. The Short Track Super Series south region is off until June 8th at Big Diamond.
Millbridge Speedway here in North Carolina is running a two day non wing 600 micro show this week they are calling the Patriot Shootout. Last night was night one with $1000 on the line and the field was pretty stacked, including names like Buddy Kofoid, Brent Crews, Nick Drake, Jade Avedisian, Gavan Boschele, and NASCAR drivers Sheldon Creed and Brett Moffitt. Micros at Millbridge always put on a good show, and last night was no different. In the end, Brent Crews grabbed the win with Jade Avedisian second, Nick Drake third, Gavan Boschele fourth, and Buddy Kofoid was fifth. Kofoid was driving Christohper Bell's micro. You can watch the racing tonight live on Speed51.tv. If you want to watch last night's race, it's available on the Swindell SpeedLab YouTube channel.
Looking ahead to tonight, the busy dirt racing week continues, and a busy few days at Terre Haute gets under way. Tonight, the USAC National Sprint Cars are at Terre Haute for the Tony Hulman Classic, before the Silver Crown cars hit the action track tomorrow for the Sumar Classic, and then Friday the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars come through for the Wabash Clash. If you are nearby, Terre Haute is the place to be the next few nights for open wheel fans. The Wednesday and Thursday programs also include DIRTcar Modifieds, while Friday also features RaceSaver sprint cars. Focusing on tonight, Brady Bacon enters the Hulman Classic as the USAC sprint car points leader by 29 markers over Justin Grant. Kevin Thomas Jr., Robert Ballou, and Chris Windom complete the top five. Windom is the defending winner of the event from last season, while Justin Grant also picked up a Terre Haute win in 2020. The hottest driver with the series right now though has been Robert Ballou. He enters on the strength of 10 straight top ten finishes, he's the most recent winner back at Eldora, and his average finish over the previous five races is 4.6. Looking at half mile track stats, in the past year plus, Windom leads all drivers with a half mile average finish of 2.9 and the most wins with two. I kind of like how this is shaping up for Justin Grant though. He had that win at Terre Haute last year, just barely trails Windom in half mile average finish, and is actually tied with Ballou for average finish over the previous five races. He hasn't won since the opening weekend at Bubba, but has been very good lately. Tanner Thorson, KTJ, and Bacon lead the way with two wins each, Bacon has the most top fives with nine, and Bacon, Ballou and Grant are tied for the most top tens with ten each. Through 11 races, the second starting position has the most wins with four, while we've seen winners come from as far back as 11th. If you can't be at Terre Haute tonight, you can watch live on FloRacing.
The Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora is quickly approaching and FloRacing is currently running a contest to send a late model team to the event that wouldn't normally get to participate. The winning driver and team will receive free entry fees and pit passes, a Hoosier tire voucher, free fuel, free seat belts, custom shirts, and more. Voting is underway right now and includes eight late model drivers. They are Austin Kirkpatrick, Brandon Little, Daryn Klien, Jensen Ford, Joshua Bishop, Logan Roberson, Parker Martin, and past conversations guest Ryan Missler. You can submit your vote every day over at Floracing.com.
The podcast page dirtrackr.com is busy again this week. Winged Nation has shows with Blake Anderson, Brian Brown, and Tyler Courtney. Open Red has Brent Marks and a look back at last season's return to racing. Stick Signals has Brent Larson, the Rigsby Report has Rick Schwallie, Forward Bite has Payton Looney, the Dirt from Knoxville has Ryan Giles, Ohio Dirt has Broc Martin, Passing Points has Morgan Turpen, Midwest Autosports has Tyler Tischendorf, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Reporters, the Dirt Nerds, and Wednesdays with Wayne. To see the full list of shows and episodes, visit dirtrackr.com/podcasts.
If you're a dirt late model fan, I'd definitely recommend checking out the Rigsby episode with Lucas series director Rick Schwallie. I listened to it yesterday myself. There is a lot in there to digest, including some Lucas series history, Schwallie's rise from being a photographer, and his current stance on a lot of different issues in the late model world, including if there should be one or two national series. He also clarified the situation with Jonathan Davenport and his status with the series going forward. I disagree personally on some of what he said and talked about, but I understand his position. He's worked for his series for a long time, and his perspective is that of trying to protect and grow what they've built. I get that. But I do find him to be short sighted on some issues. He doesn't like that Rigsby and Ben Shelton have started the Flo series to sort of piggyback off major events and series, and from his point of view has valid reasons. I think it's not realistic to expect drivers to run a series and only run those series races. There is too much money available through the season elsewhere, and a lot of these guys are racing for a living. As a series, you have to understand that some guys are going to try and race as much as they can. That's just the reality of the sport today. Also, having two national tours doesn't seem like it's going to end at any point in the near future, and I wish both sides would recognize that and actually work together more. Schwallie mentioned there has been more communication as of late, and that both the Outlaws and Lucas are working towards a more cohesive set of rules. That's definitely a step in the right direction. But something I'd like to see done better is promotion. When I worked at WRG, we tried briefly to get a rivalry going between the two sides on social media, but I only managed to make everyone mad and it was abandoned. I think a true Outlaws vs. Lucas rivarly, similar in feel to like Outlaws vs. Posse on the sprint car side, could be really fun for both organizations and the fans. Some regular social media banter, drivers getting involved, and even a co-promoted race or two could really set this up. But it won't happen as long as there is this divide between the two parties. I do agree with him on the state of tracks and promoters going forward. There aren't enough young people involved in the promotion of tracks and events and that's an existential problem for dirt racing as a whole going forward. I'd like to do more on this show about events and promotion going forward, but I need to get some more education myself before I do so. If you'd like to listen to that episode specifically, find it on dirtrackr.com, or where you get podcasts.
There are six items on the streaming schedule for today. DIRTVision has DIRTcar eSports action from Charlotte, Fast Four has Outlaw 600 racing from Cycleland, FloRacing has the USAC sprint cars at Terre Haute and weekly racing from Action Track USA, and Speed Sport has IMCA racing from Southern Oklahoma Speedway. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
That's it for the show today, hope everyone has a good Wednesday. If you have thoughts about the topics on today's show, leave them in the comments below or tweet at me.
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