If it was up to Bobby Pierce, the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision would race in Oklahoma a little more often.
The “Sooner State” became the 32nd different state Pierce has competed in with his first trip to Arrowhead Speedway. A runner-up with the COMP Cams Super Dirt Series on Thursday night got Pierce dialed in for the next two nights of World of Outlaws racing, and the “Smooth Operator” was the man to beat for the rest of the weekend.
“People were saying online, I saw they’re like, ‘oh yeah, this is a Late Model track,’ and I agree,” Pierce said. “It’s nice and wide, like tonight, we used the whole racetrack top to bottom. It was a lot of fun when it’s like that. That’s what I like, when we have a nice, wide track and there’s multiple grooves you can kind of pick from. Had a little bit of cushion up there, a little mud line on the bottom, and it was kind of slick in the middle, but it threw some crumb up there.”
Unlike Friday’s drive to the win from fifth, a Heat Race win and a fortuitous Redraw gave Pierce the Bilstein Pole for Saturday’s 50-lapper. It didn’t come easy for Pierce early though, as second-starting Tim McCreadie made good use of the top to lead the first three circuits until Dustin Sorensen slowed to bring out the first caution.
McCreadie tried the bottom on the restart, leaving the cushion wide open for Pierce to drop the hammer on the restart. The No. 32 built up a big run off Turn 4 and went inside of McCreadie down the frontstretch, drifting up in front of McCreadie in Turn 1 to move into the lead. That gave Pierce the ability to set the pace the rest of the way, something he didn’t take for granted given the tire wear concerns throughout the week and the longer distance of Saturday’s finale.
“T-Mac shot out there early, got the lead on me,” Pierce said. “I didn’t let him go, but that caution came out three laps in, and I was like, ‘well, I’ll go now, try to get the lead, that way I can set my own pace,’ and I got around him on the restart. I just felt like the car was good. I could roll the corners, keep the tires under me and not wheelspin as much as I was the other night. My tires look pretty good, I feel like I could have went 100.”
The same could not be said for Pierce’s closest competitor, as McCreadie popped his right-rear tire while running second with eight laps to go to set up a late-race dash to the finish. No one had anything for Pierce though, as he cruised under the checkered flag 1.6 seconds ahead of the field for his fourth-straight World of Outlaws win and his 11th of the season.
The final yellow played right into Nick Hoffman’s favor, as the No. 9 went from fourth to second to end up on the podium for the 12th time in 2025.
“[Pierce] I feel like was just a tick better,” Hoffman said. “He could kind of maneuver a little bit better than I could. He got the top rolling early, was able to get out front, and then I just screwed around with [Brian] Shirley for too long there.”
Tyler Erb picked up FOX Factory Hard Charger honors for his 10th-to-third drive, enough for his best Series result since his win at Mississippi Thunder Speedway in May.
“Having two days to tinker with it, obviously we’ve never been here,” Erb said. “Tonight the racetrack was really good, it had a huge cushion that was dangerous and hard to run, and then the bottom had enough grip to kind of keep up. And the [Turns 3 and 4] are just so weird. Figuring out how to drive this place first of all and then tinkering with the car a little bit.”
Shirley made it four-straight World of Outlaws top fives in fourth, while Drake Troutman finished fifth for the MD3 Rookie of the Race Award.
RACE NOTES:
Dennis Erb Jr. set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.
Cade Dillard won the Simpson Quick Time Award.
Nick Hoffman won Real American Beer Heat 1.
Brian Shirley won STAKT Products Heat 2.
Bobby Pierce won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.
Tim McCreadie won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.
Ryan Gustin and Eli Ross won the Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdowns.
Bobby Pierce won the Bilstein Pole Award.
Tyler Erb won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.
Drake Troutman was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.
Nick Hoffman won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.
Brian Shirley was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.
Drake Troutman was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.
Cade Dillard was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.
Tim McCreadie was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.
Ethan Dotson was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.
Cody Overton was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.
Chase Junghans was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.
UP NEXT: A return to the southeast lies ahead for the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision with stops at Needmore Speedway (Friday, Sept. 12) and Senoia Raceway (Saturday, Sept. 13). Tickets will be available at the gate.
If you can’t make it to the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[4]; 3. 1-Tyler Erb[10]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[3]; 5. 22*-Drake Troutman[6]; 6. 97-Cade Dillard[8]; 7. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[9]; 8. 9M-Tim McCreadie[2]; 9. 74X-Ethan Dotson[16]; 10. 2-Cody Overton[12]; 11. 19R-Ryan Gustin[17]; 12. 18-Chase Junghans[11]; 13. 96-Tanner English[19]; 14. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[5]; 15. 66-Eli Ross[18]; 16. 1R-BJ Robinson[13]; 17. B1-Brent Larson[15]; 18. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[7]; 19. 49-Jake Timm[14]; 20. 5-Jon Mitchell[24]; 21. 15-Clay Stuckey[26]; 22. 1X-Aaron Marrant[21]; 23. 86-Kyle Beard[22]; 24. 2C-Charlie Cole[25]; 25. 14M-Morgan Bagley[20]; 26. 19-Dustin Sorensen[23]