By Mike Spieker
GREENBUSH, Minn. (August 22, 2017) – Austin Pierce picked up his fifth win of the season on Saturday at Greenbush Race Park in Greenbush, Minn. with the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints. Pierce, who started the night with a heat race win, rolled from the seventh starting position for the 25-lap main event.
GREENBUSH, Minn. (August 22, 2017) – Austin Pierce picked up his fifth win of the season on Saturday at Greenbush Race Park in Greenbush, Minn. with the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints. Pierce, who started the night with a heat race win, rolled from the seventh starting position for the 25-lap main event.
“We were second in points after the heat race, which would have put us outside of the front row for the feature, but with the redraw, we had to start inside of row four,” said Pierce. “I thought it was going to be more of a one-lane track like it was the previous time we were there, but you could actually run both the top and bottom. It made for some pretty good passing and we were able to drive up to the front.”
Pierce steadily worked his way up the running order, taking the second spot from Nick Omdahl with 10 laps to go. From there, Pierce moved by Wade Nygaard to take the lead with four circuits remaining.
Pierce ran the final four laps uncontested as he went on to claim his second career win at Greenbush by nearly four seconds.
Around the halfway point of the race, it looked as though Nygaard had the car to beat. However, Nygaard made contact with a lapped car, which severely affected the handling of his race car.
“It actually snapped the rear uprights off so my wing was completely up in the air in the opposite direction,” said Nygaard. “I couldn’t steer it to save my life and I backed up to fourth. I would get to the end of the straightaway and the front end is just dancing around. I can’t get it into the corner at all and when I do get it into the corner, it’s hopping all around. It started to lay rubber out of the corners, which made it even harder to keep the front end on the ground.”
Nygaard would have to settle for a fourth place finish behind Pierce, Jade Hastings and Omdahl. Blake Egeland charged from 12th to finish in fifth.
With the win, Pierce extended his NOSA points lead significantly over Casey Mack.
“We’ve got a pretty comfortable lead now. I guess our goal is to make sure we finish the rest of these races. If we can do that, we should be able to wrap up the points within the next night or two,” said Austin.
The NOSA Sprints will be back in action Friday night at River Cities Speedway.
RESULTS:
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 2A-Austin Pierce, [7]; 2. 8H-Jade Hastings, [6]; 3. 0-Nick Omdahl, [1]; 4. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [8]; 5. 26-Blake Egeland, [12]; 6. 20A-Jordan Adams, [4]; 7. 99-Jordan Graham, [13]; 8. 51-Alex Larson, [10]; 9. 14-Tom Egeland, [5]; 10. 42-Rick Bates, [14]; 11. 4M-Cale Mack, [3]; 12. 27-Nick Ranten, [9]; 13. 24-Jon Sorenson, [15]; 14. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [11]; 15. (DNF) 10TRB-Bob Martin, [16]; 16. (DNF) 31-Shane Roemeling, [2]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [4]; 2. 14-Tom Egeland, [3]; 3. 8H-Jade Hastings, [6]; 4. 31-Shane Roemeling, [7]; 5. 51-Alex Larson, [5]; 6. 26-Blake Egeland, [2]; 7. 24-Jon Sorenson, [1]; 8. 42-Rick Bates, [8]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 2A-Austin Pierce, [2]; 2. 20A-Jordan Adams, [3]; 3. 4M-Cale Mack, [5]; 4. 0-Nick Omdahl, [7]; 5. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [4]; 6. 27-Nick Ranten, [8]; 7. 99-Jordan Graham, [6]; 8. (DNF) 10TRB-Bob Martin, [1]
Pierce steadily worked his way up the running order, taking the second spot from Nick Omdahl with 10 laps to go. From there, Pierce moved by Wade Nygaard to take the lead with four circuits remaining.
Pierce ran the final four laps uncontested as he went on to claim his second career win at Greenbush by nearly four seconds.
Around the halfway point of the race, it looked as though Nygaard had the car to beat. However, Nygaard made contact with a lapped car, which severely affected the handling of his race car.
“It actually snapped the rear uprights off so my wing was completely up in the air in the opposite direction,” said Nygaard. “I couldn’t steer it to save my life and I backed up to fourth. I would get to the end of the straightaway and the front end is just dancing around. I can’t get it into the corner at all and when I do get it into the corner, it’s hopping all around. It started to lay rubber out of the corners, which made it even harder to keep the front end on the ground.”
Nygaard would have to settle for a fourth place finish behind Pierce, Jade Hastings and Omdahl. Blake Egeland charged from 12th to finish in fifth.
With the win, Pierce extended his NOSA points lead significantly over Casey Mack.
“We’ve got a pretty comfortable lead now. I guess our goal is to make sure we finish the rest of these races. If we can do that, we should be able to wrap up the points within the next night or two,” said Austin.
The NOSA Sprints will be back in action Friday night at River Cities Speedway.
RESULTS:
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 2A-Austin Pierce, [7]; 2. 8H-Jade Hastings, [6]; 3. 0-Nick Omdahl, [1]; 4. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [8]; 5. 26-Blake Egeland, [12]; 6. 20A-Jordan Adams, [4]; 7. 99-Jordan Graham, [13]; 8. 51-Alex Larson, [10]; 9. 14-Tom Egeland, [5]; 10. 42-Rick Bates, [14]; 11. 4M-Cale Mack, [3]; 12. 27-Nick Ranten, [9]; 13. 24-Jon Sorenson, [15]; 14. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [11]; 15. (DNF) 10TRB-Bob Martin, [16]; 16. (DNF) 31-Shane Roemeling, [2]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [4]; 2. 14-Tom Egeland, [3]; 3. 8H-Jade Hastings, [6]; 4. 31-Shane Roemeling, [7]; 5. 51-Alex Larson, [5]; 6. 26-Blake Egeland, [2]; 7. 24-Jon Sorenson, [1]; 8. 42-Rick Bates, [8]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 2A-Austin Pierce, [2]; 2. 20A-Jordan Adams, [3]; 3. 4M-Cale Mack, [5]; 4. 0-Nick Omdahl, [7]; 5. 12-Brayden Pengilly, [4]; 6. 27-Nick Ranten, [8]; 7. 99-Jordan Graham, [6]; 8. (DNF) 10TRB-Bob Martin, [1]
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