During the 24 hours leading up to Tuesday night’s Brownstown Speedway Hell Tour season opener, Bobby Pierce and his crew didn’t know if they’d even make it to the Indiana-based track.
The team worked into the dead of the night on Monday to be able to make the tow out to Indiana, and ended up coming out with a win in the season opener.
“A big thanks (goes out) to my crew guys,” Pierce said in victory lane on the DirtVision broadcast. “They worked their butts off. We worked until 1 a.m. last night. We had to put a rear clip on this thing from Eldora.”
Pierce took home the quick time award before winning his heat and trying to drive away from the field in the feature.
However, Tim Lance was having a breakout race for his Hell Tour career. He picked up his first laps lead in his career in the series and got by Pierce midway through the race.
Pierce, as he does, stayed committed to the top side and ran his line back down, chasing Lance and passing him back to take the eventual win.
“That was a battle,” Pierce said on the broadcast. “I was kind of a sitting duck, I felt like. Every lap, I was watching my dad on the backstretch (giving me) stick signals. That was a race, huh.”
The 24-year old tied Scott Bloomquist for fifth on the all-time Hell Tour wins list with Tuesday night being his 28th.
Pierce confirmed on the broadcast that he wouldn’t make it to all 36 races (the series drops all drivers’ five worst finishes) and that while his schedule will remain fluid, he’d make an effort to try and compete for a championships.
“Night 1 of Summer Nationals – starting off on a good note. I won’t be at every single one, but I’ll maybe try to make all 31 points nights.”
The Hell Tour will be back on Wednesday night, as it heads to Peoria Speedway for the second round of the 36-round year. All of the action can be seen live on DirtVision.com.
Hell Tour Round 1 Results
Brownstown Speedway
1. Bobby Pierce
2. Devin Moran
3. Tim Lance
4. Tanner English
5. Devin Gilpin
6. Joe Godsey
7. Brian Shirley
8. Ashton Winger
9. Mitch McGrath
10. Chad Finley
11. Billy Moyer Jr.
12. Dean Carpenter
13. Bob Gardner
14. Richard Frost
15. Jason Feger
16. Brandon Carpenter
17. Jeff Roth
18. Jared Bailey
19. Britan Godsey
20. Brandon Lance
21. Tim Lance Jr.
22. Thomas Hunziker
23. Brayton Laster
