Pierce and Moran Score Friday Night Wins at Florence

Column By: LUCAS OIL LATE MODELS / FLORENCE SPEEDWAY – WALTON, KENTUCKY – Bobby Pierce and Devin Moran each won a feature race during the Friday night session of the 43rd Annual Sunoco North/South 100 presented by Lucas Oil at Florence Speedway, with both drivers earning $6,000 for their victories.

Pierce took the lead from Jonathan Davenport in the first 25-lap race on the 15th circuit and maintained it for the win. Davenport finished second, followed by Brandon Overton, Brandon Sheppard, and Ricky Thornton, Jr.

In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the third time this season and the 27th time in his career, Pierce will attempt to make history Saturday night in the $75,000-to-win crown jewel race, as he tries to become the first driver to win the race, which began in 1984, three years in a row and four times overall – a feat never before achieved in the race’s storied history.

“It’s very tough to lead at this track, especially around these corners. When they come up, you’ve got so many different lines to run, and JD really likes to run that middle line coming down. It was a great track; it had a bottom, middle, and top. It was tough in lapped traffic, and at one point, they were directly double-file in front of me. I kind of thought JD made the mistake of going low instead of high, but he got underneath those guys, and we almost went 4-wide. That’s not a place you want to be, so I had to back out of it. The straightaways are so long, there’s a lot of time to decide where they’re going. You just have to look ahead and see where they’re running – before you get to them, you already have that decision in your mind,” said the Oakwood, Illinois native.

Davenport, the current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points leader and two-time North/South 100 winner, finished runner-up to Pierce in the first feature.

“Obviously I can’t see much out of the right side,” as he talked about going four-wide in traffic off of turn four on lap 14. “I was coming down through here in the slime, trying to give everybody enough room outside of me. It was pretty wild there for a minute, but congratulations to Bobby. My guys worked today and last night trying to figure out our problem. We still had it in hot laps, and we went and changed one more thing, and that’s what fixed it.”

Overton rounded out the Big River Steel Podium in third in the first feature.

“I’m honestly excited. Obviously, we’re going to face a tough heat; there are no slouches here, and we’ll probably start in the second row. We’ve had a good car both nights, you know. I was trying not to go too hard at the start, then Bobby passed us, and Daulton (Wilson) passed me, so I had to work my way back up to him. We’re okay. I’m excited and looking forward to it.”

The winner’s Bobby Pierce Racing, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Vic Hill Racing Engine and sponsored by Low Voltage Solutions, Churchill Transport, Collins Brothers Towing, Mesilla Valley Transportation, Carnaghi Towing, Pontiac RV, Rio Grande Waste Services, Toyota of Danville, VP Fuels, Ted Brown’s Quality Paint and Body Shop, Fast 1 Speed Shop, Leka Tree Service, Floyd’s Waste Systems, DuroMax Racing Oil, and Bert by Budda.

Completing the top ten in the first feature were Zack Dohm, Michael Chilton, Dustin Nobbe, Max Blair, and Josh Rice.

In the second 25-lap race to finish the night, Mike Marlar was in control from the start until contact from a car he was trying to lap ended his night on lap 15. Moran then inherited the lead and kept the field paced through several cautions in the final 10 laps to take the victory.

Hudson O’Neal finished second, with Justin Rattliff rounding out the Big River Steel Podium in third during the second feature. Garrett Alberson was fourth, and Carson Ferguson completed the top five drivers.

In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the seventh time this year and the 22nd time in his racing career, Moran will be vying for his first North/South 100 victory on Saturday night.

“I definitely thought the checkered flag was ever going to come out. Unfortunately, when the one caution that got us to the lead happened, it was unfortunate for Mikey (Marlar). I really don’t think we had anything for him. Racing just happens like that sometimes when you try to squeeze in there by a lapped car, and apparently that car didn’t know he was there. I really didn’t know where to be on the restarts. I saw the 12 car (Jameson) in second on the top, and you never know where Hudson is going to be because his car has been really good on the bottom, and he’s won races here on the top. It was a nail-biter. I felt like it was never going to end, and when you are running the top, it can be very treacherous. I’m glad it’s over,” said the driver from Dresden, Ohio native.

O’Neal, who started sixth, fought off a battle with James Rattliff and teammates Jason Jameson and Justin Rattliff to finish second.

“We needed to be careful at the right moments, so we had a couple of spots where the caution came out, and we had to go back to second. That’s just part of it, and in these short 25-lap races, you’ve got to take advantage of every opportunity. I fell back to fifth and thought, man, I don’t know if I can catch up in such a short time, but it ended up working out.”

Rattliff, a former Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Rookie of the Year, rounded out the Big River Steel Podium in third place.

“It’s really cool to be up here. I’d like to dedicate this to Jeff Gullett, and I’m glad we could get a good run. I could hit the bottom about every other lap, and then they’d just sail on top, and I was just like I needed to hit my marks. I was just down there trying to be as consistent as I could be,” said the Campbellsville, Kentucky native who has competed in just a handful of races over the past few seasons.

The winner’s Double Down Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Big River Steel, Lazydays RV, C&W Trucking, Hazen Services, BOMAG, Millwood Plumbing, Pee Wee’s Wrecker Service, CarSourceAuto, Anthony’s Pizza, Refuel Wellness, McHugh Chrysler Dodge, Jeep and Ram, Eibach Sprints, VP Fuels, Smoky Mountain Speedway, Haulin’ Haskell’s, Phillips CPA, and Red Oak Pub.

Completing the top ten in the second feature were Logan Zarin, Jason Jameson, Kyle Bronson, Nick Hoffman, and Kyle Strickler.