BEAST CONQUERED: Pierce Wins 11th of Season at Richmond
Godsey bags back-to-back top-fives with seven races now remaining
RICHMOND, KY – July 25, 2021 – Inching closer and closer to a fourth DIRTcar Summer Nationals title with his 11th Feature win of the season Sunday night at Richmond Raceway, Bobby Pierce also made a bit of personal history, reflective of the great success he’s had thus far in his career.
In 2016, Pierce won a season-best 11 Features en route to his second Hell Tour championship in two years. With just seven races remaining on the 2021 schedule, 11 wins and a 186-point lead, Pierce will now go for a new personal best single-season win total before the end of the tour next month.
“It feels great to get my 11th win,” Pierce, of Oakwood IL, said in Victory Lane. “We’ve got seven races left to go, so hopefully we can break it.”
The debut at the 3/10-mile of Richmond, known as The Beast of the East, was a dominant one for Pierce, who led all 40 laps unchallenged for the $5,000 prize. Several caution flags were thrown over the course of the race, forcing Pierce to be good on restarts.
“My dad was signaling me down the backstretch, and every restart I kinda pulled away, even though I didn’t feel great off of Turn 2. It was just so slick out there – this place is really slick,” Pierce said.
Ashton Winger rode third for the opening five laps before getting a run on Tanner English for second, where he stayed to the checkered. English held on for third, Joe Godsey bagged his fifth top-five of the season in fourth and three-time Richmond track champion Derek Fisher rounded out the top-five.
Pierce will also get the opportunity to break another record before the season’s out. Four-time champion Shannon Babb owns the record for the most wins in a single-season at 15, which he set back in 2005. Pierce can both tie and pass Babb, but has to win at least five of the remaining races.
UP NEXT
The Summer Nationals Late Models cap off Week #6 with the final race on Monday night, July 26, in the tour’s debut at Lake Cumberland Speedway. Catch all the action live on DIRTVision presented by Drydene.
ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)
Feature (40 Laps) 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. 12-Ashton Winger[4]; 3. 81E-Tanner English[3]; 4. 14G-Joe Godsey[6]; 5. 38-Derek Fisher[8]; 6. 11-Tommy Bailey[7]; 7. D8-Dustin Linville[9]; 8. 38H-Thomas Hunziker[14]; 9. 12J-Jason Jameson[12]; 10. 21-Kirk Phillips[2]; 11. 74-Mitch McGrath[10]; 12. 14R-Jeff Roth[5]; 13. 118-Mike Fenton[17]; 14. 248-Brandon Lance[18]; 15. T22- Tegan Evans[16]; 16. 83-Scott James[11]; 17. 11W-Jeff Watson[13]; 18. 16-Justin Rattliff[15]; 19. 15-William Byrd[20]; 20. (DNS) 13-Brayton Laster
HISTORY MADE: Hoffman Wins 17th of Season at Richmond, Now Sits Atop All-Time Wins List
It’s official. Nick Hoffman is now the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals’ all-time leader in Feature wins.
At just 29 years of age, the Mooresville, NC-driver has had a season for the record books already and added to it again on Sunday night, winning the tour’s first-ever visit to Richmond Raceway.
He and the Elite Chassis team have been the guys to beat all season long and showed exactly why on Sunday with a dominating flag-to-flag victory in the 25-lap event. For their efforts, Hoffman has now taken sole possession of #1 on the all-time Feature wins list from six-time champion Mike Harrison – a goal he’d been working on, among others, since the start of the tour in June.
“It’s really cool,” Hoffman said in Victory Lane. “Really didn’t start on this whole Hell Tour deal until like 2015, so to pick up that many wins that quick is pretty cool for us.”
On the track, Hoffman was untouchable. Original start, restart – it just didn’t matter. His Elite Chassis #2 jetted out at the drop of the green and took off, leaving his opponents in the dust. At one point, Hoffman’s lead stretched to almost 7 seconds in traffic.
His only concern came upon reaching the rear of the field and dealing with the slower traffic. Several cautions had been thrown throughout for drivers spinning at the bottom of the turns, which Hoffman did his best to try and avoid.
“I could maneuver pretty decent. The biggest thing was I just wanted to pass those guys around the outside – just in case they did spin out, they would go to the bottom,” Hoffman said.
UP NEXT
The Summit Modifieds help cap off Week #6 with the final race on Monday night, July 26, in the tour’s debut at Lake Cumberland Speedway. Catch all the action live on DIRTVision presented by Drydene.
ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view all results)
Feature (25 Laps) 1. 2-Nick Hoffman[2]; 2. 4-Victor Lee[3]; 3. 25-Dennis Roberson[1]; 4. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[4]; 5. 25N-Tyler Nicely[12]; 6. A85-Brandon Hutchinson[6]; 7. 9H-John Demoss[10]; 8. 38-Aaron Branham[5]; 9. 1F-Austin Francis[8]; 10. 37-Harold Branham[14]; 11. 21S-Kenny Shaw[13]; 12. 33Z-Zach Powers[7]; 13. 17-Tyler Rigsby[18]; 14. 27-Tyler Collis[17]; 15. 26- Kyle Cochran[21]; 16. 122-Ryan Turner[19]; 17. 1C-Roy Cox[20]; 18. C8-Jimmy Crabtree[9]; 19. 66W-Tyler Watson[11]; 20. 17R-Jimmy Robinson[15]; 21. 24S-Trae Soper[16]
DIRTcar Summer Nationals is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including: Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, Chevy Performance, DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), FireAde, Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), Indiana Decal Company, Intercomp, iRacing, Racing Electronics, SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), Summit Racing Equipment, and VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel). Contingency sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Beyea Custom Headers, COMP Cams, Drydene, Fox Factory, Hoosier Racing Tire, MSD, Quarter Master, Summit Racing Equipment, VP Racing Fuels, and Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum).
Summit Modified Nationals is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including : Summit Racing Equipment, Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, Chevy Performance, DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), FireAde, Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), Indiana Decal Company, Intercomp, iRacing, Racing Electronics, SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), and VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel). Contingency sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Bassett Racing Wheel, Bell Helmets, Beyea Custom Headers, COMP Cams, Drydene, Fast Shafts, Fox Factory, Hoosier Racing Tire, Jerovetz Motorsports Shock Service, K1 Race Gear, KSE Racing Products, MSD, Mulit FireX, Schoenfeld Headers, Summit Racing Equipment, Velocita USA, VP Racing Fuels, Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum), and Xceldyne.
Sources: Jordan DeLucia, DIRTcar Racing PR