Bobby Pierce
Michael Ledford
Matt Hammond
Ledford Claims $3,000 MARS Modified Win; Hammond Takes $1,000 Pro Late Model Checkers
Results | Story by Matt Skipper | Pictures by Rocky Ragusa & Josh James
Bobby Pierce’s return to Fairbury Speedway on Saturday night could be equated to Taylor Swift’s lyrics of “the air was cold, but something about it felt like home.” Aside from being in his home state, there’s something about Fairbury that’s like home for the Oakwood, IL native. He picked up his 14th win of the 2023 World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model season during the FALS Frenzy and his 16th win overall at the Illinois bullring – also his second in less than a month there. The victory comes after his Friday night win at Brownstown Speedway. And like the race at Brownstown, Pierce started on the outside pole for the Feature.
However, this time he started alongside his closest championship competitor, Chris Madden, for the 50-lap matchup. When the Feature commenced Madden pulled ahead and Pierce found himself having to duel with fellow-Illinois native Brian Shirley for second. The two battled side-by-side for a couple laps before Pierce slid up the track in Turn 2, allowing Shirley to charge ahead. Perfecting his line around the bottom, Shirley snuck underneath Madden a lap later and edged ahead of him for the lead on Lap 5. The two dueled for a few laps with Madden high and Shirley low, before “Smokey” reclaimed full command of the lead. Having seen the low line work, Madden switch to the bottom, putting a car length between he and Shirley.
Pierce was not running the bottom. Much like the track, there’s something about the high side that’s like home for him. Using the momentum built off the high side of Turn 2, Pierce threw his #32 underneath Madden going into Turn 3 to take the lead for split second on Lap 9. Madden dove back underneath him and the two drag raced down the front straightaway. Through the next corner, Madden pulled ahead, but Pierce wasn’t giving up on his high side hustle. On Lap 14, again, using his torpedo launch off Turn 2, he found an opening to the outside of Madden, who was also to the outside of Shirley, down the backstretch and powered by the two with an exciting three-wide pass.
Pierce never surrendered the lead once he was clear of the two leaders, but a late-race caution provoked some nerves for the “Smooth Operator.” While he was leading, Germfree Rookie of the Year contender Nick Hoffman – another Fairbury expert – was on the move behind him, getting to second on Lap 45. “It was a little nerve-racking,” Pierce said. “You never know when a caution will come out and if someone has saved more tire than you. You go into Turn 1 to make a good corner with that gap to second place, and I pushed going into Turn 1 and I saw (Hoffman’s) nose, but I had a good exit off of (Turn) 2 and took care of it. “The car was great, but the most nerve-racking part was going through lap traffic and a couple times I got pinched and I couldn’t get around. It was a great racetrack, so you had a car on the bottom, middle and top and it was kinda hard on some guys but that made for an exciting race there for a little bit. Shirley, Madden and me were all side-by-side and it made for a great race. I knew that Madden was trying to not let me or Shirley by, so he had to protect both lines at once. But it made for a fun race and I’m glad to get the win.”
Hoffman ended up in the runner-up spot, his fifth podium finish this year. He tapped into his Modified experience – which earned his 10 wins at Fairbury – to help make it happen. “The Modified experience was that we raced after the Late Models normally,” Hoffman said. “I’m glad the track was not worked on before we raced, so that the track would slow down, and we could race around each other more. Nine times out of 10 this place gets fast, and you have to ride around the top and a little bit of moisture on the bottom, but the top would prevail. It did that a little bit tonight, but you could make speed through the middle and the bottom. Bobby was so good, and he’s been like that the entire year. This helps us carry momentum into (Senoia Raceway), but we weren’t quite as good as Bobby was tonight.”
Madden was able to recover to finish third, a result that still left him with a smile. “It was a great race,” Madden said. “They did a phenomenal job giving us a good place to race here. We had to make a few adjustments there and we’re still building the notebook and we definitely went too far with a few things and definitely learned a lot tonight, so we’ll keep working at it and we’ll get a win here soon.”
Three-time Prairie Dirt Classic champion Brandon Sheppard came home in fourth, and Brandon, FL’s Kyle Bronson withstood the competition to finish fifth. Brent Larson earned the Fox Factory Hard Charger Award, going from 22nd to 13th.
Ledford Claims $3,000 MARS Modified Win; Hammond Takes $1,000 Pro Late Model Checkers
Results | Story & Pictures by Rocky Ragusa
Fourth starting Michael Ledford moved to the lead on lap two and desecrated his competition on his way to winning the season ending $3,000 to win MARS Racing Series Modified feature. For Ledford, not only was it his 16th win of the season, but it was the biggest of his career. “This is like the perfect ending to our season,” said the Fairbury and Farmer City track champion. “This car has been unbelievable since we got it. Thanks to my brother Jeffrey for his work on the shocks and to Mark Bush Race Cars. If I had seen this track one or two years ago, I would have been 20th.” Josh Harris got past Austin Friedman in the late stages of the race to take second. Frank Marshall held off Trent Young for fourth. Mike McKinney finished in sixth. 14th starter Zeke McKenzie was seventh, followed by Mike Chasteen Jr., MARS Modified champion Michael Long, and Caden McWhorter. 40 Modified drivers made qualifying attempts. Friedman led the first group with a time of 13.646 seconds. The second group was paced by Ledford with a time of 13.505 seconds. Friedman, Adam Pockrus, Ledford, and Marshall won their respective heat races. Austin Rettig took the B-Main win.
Kankakee County Speedway track champion Matt Hammond took the lead at the start of the 20-lap, $1,000 to win Pro Late Model race and led flag-to-flag for his fourth triumph of the year. Hammond withstood a brief challenge from Blaise Baker but was able to pull away for the win. “We had a pretty good car all night,” Hammond spoke. “Blaise was good on those restarts. I was just hoping for a green flag race.” Baker took second, followed by Chris Dick, Ben Kirchner, Jacob Kolwyck, Logan Nesselrodt, Dan Kuhn, 14th starter Sam Moore, Mike Martin, and Brandon Sweitzer. Hammond not only won the feature, but set fast time in qualifying at 13.671 seconds and won his heat race. Chase Wilson took the checkers in the second heat race.