By Mike Spieker
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (June 17, 2020) – Austin Pierce left little doubt as to who was the class of the field on Friday night at River Cities Speedway. The two-time series champion picked up another convincing win to remain perfect on the season.
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (June 17, 2020) – Austin Pierce left little doubt as to who was the class of the field on Friday night at River Cities Speedway. The two-time series champion picked up another convincing win to remain perfect on the season.
Nineteen Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints were checked in for the second week of action at River Cities. Heat wins were claimed by Chris Ranten and Wade Nygaard, both of whom started in the sixth position.
Bob Martin and Nick Ranten led the field to green with Martin taking the lead on lap one. A couple of early race restarts shuffled up the running order inside the top five as Jade Hastings and Pierce began working their way forward.
Hastings moved his way up to second and reeled in Martin for the lead. With a daring pass amid lapped traffic at the halfway point, Hastings took the lead. Hastings led until lap 17 when he got caught behind lapped traffic, which allowed Pierce to blow by and take the lead.
Once in command of the race lead, Pierce checked out as he cruised to the win.
“It was a fun race with Jade (Hastings) and Bobby (Martin). The track was phenomenal tonight,” said Pierce after the race. “It had a bottom and a top groove. The top really came in at the end - it was kind of marbly up there to start. We were all pounding the bottom right away, but once we hit that lapped traffic it forced the leaders around. I just kind of went where the lapped cars weren’t and it ended up working out. Luckily, we had a few restarts there because Bobby was on the move again. I don’t know if we would have caught him if it weren’t for those yellows. Jade ran a heck of race and I definitely had to work for it.”
The win was Pierce’s 29th of his career (fifth-most all-time), which puts him just three wins behind 2011 NOSA champ Casey Mack on the all-time wins list.
“It’s definitely a goal I want to try to hit this season yet,” said Pierce. “I was giving him grief even before the stats came out. If we don’t get it done, it’s no big deal, but we’re best friends so it would be pretty cool to catch him.”
The NOSA Sprints return to River Cities Speedway this Friday night. Time trials are at 6:30pm with racing to follow.
Lap Leaders: Bob Martin (1-12), Jade Hastings (13-17), Austin Pierce (18-25)
Hard Charger: Nick Omdahl & Tim Estenson* (+6)
RESULTS:
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 2A-Austin Pierce[6]; 2. 8H-Jade Hastings[5]; 3. 27-Chris Ranten[8]; 4. 051-Nick Omdahl[10]; 5. 9N-Wade Nygaard[7]; 6. 10TRB-Bob Martin[4]; 7. 11M-Brendan Mullen[3]; 8. 13T-Ty Hanten[13]; 9. 55-Nick Ranten[2]; 10. 8C-Jack Croaker[9]; 11. 20A-Jordan Adams[11]; 12. 14T-Tim Estenson[18]; 13. 26-Blake Egeland[14]; 14. 14-Tom Egeland[12]; 15. 41T-Travis Strandell[16]; 16. 10S-Josh Swangler[19]; 17. (DNF) 4-Colton Young[15]; 18. (DNF) 31-Shane Roemeling[1]; 19. (DNF) 17-Zach Omdahl[17]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 27-Chris Ranten[6]; 2. 55-Nick Ranten[2]; 3. 8H-Jade Hastings[4]; 4. 2A-Austin Pierce[5]; 5. 051-Nick Omdahl[3]; 6. 20A-Jordan Adams[1]; 7. 14T-Tim Estenson[10]; 8. 26-Blake Egeland[7]; 9. 41T-Travis Strandell[8]; 10. 17-Zach Omdahl[9]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 9N-Wade Nygaard[6]; 2. 31-Shane Roemeling[2]; 3. 11M-Brendan Mullen[3]; 4. 10TRB-Bob Martin[4]; 5. 8C-Jack Croaker[5]; 6. 13T-Ty Hanten[7]; 7. 14-Tom Egeland[1]; 8. 4-Colton Young[8]; 9. 10S-Josh Swangler[9]
Bob Martin and Nick Ranten led the field to green with Martin taking the lead on lap one. A couple of early race restarts shuffled up the running order inside the top five as Jade Hastings and Pierce began working their way forward.
Hastings moved his way up to second and reeled in Martin for the lead. With a daring pass amid lapped traffic at the halfway point, Hastings took the lead. Hastings led until lap 17 when he got caught behind lapped traffic, which allowed Pierce to blow by and take the lead.
Once in command of the race lead, Pierce checked out as he cruised to the win.
“It was a fun race with Jade (Hastings) and Bobby (Martin). The track was phenomenal tonight,” said Pierce after the race. “It had a bottom and a top groove. The top really came in at the end - it was kind of marbly up there to start. We were all pounding the bottom right away, but once we hit that lapped traffic it forced the leaders around. I just kind of went where the lapped cars weren’t and it ended up working out. Luckily, we had a few restarts there because Bobby was on the move again. I don’t know if we would have caught him if it weren’t for those yellows. Jade ran a heck of race and I definitely had to work for it.”
The win was Pierce’s 29th of his career (fifth-most all-time), which puts him just three wins behind 2011 NOSA champ Casey Mack on the all-time wins list.
“It’s definitely a goal I want to try to hit this season yet,” said Pierce. “I was giving him grief even before the stats came out. If we don’t get it done, it’s no big deal, but we’re best friends so it would be pretty cool to catch him.”
The NOSA Sprints return to River Cities Speedway this Friday night. Time trials are at 6:30pm with racing to follow.
Lap Leaders: Bob Martin (1-12), Jade Hastings (13-17), Austin Pierce (18-25)
Hard Charger: Nick Omdahl & Tim Estenson* (+6)
RESULTS:
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 2A-Austin Pierce[6]; 2. 8H-Jade Hastings[5]; 3. 27-Chris Ranten[8]; 4. 051-Nick Omdahl[10]; 5. 9N-Wade Nygaard[7]; 6. 10TRB-Bob Martin[4]; 7. 11M-Brendan Mullen[3]; 8. 13T-Ty Hanten[13]; 9. 55-Nick Ranten[2]; 10. 8C-Jack Croaker[9]; 11. 20A-Jordan Adams[11]; 12. 14T-Tim Estenson[18]; 13. 26-Blake Egeland[14]; 14. 14-Tom Egeland[12]; 15. 41T-Travis Strandell[16]; 16. 10S-Josh Swangler[19]; 17. (DNF) 4-Colton Young[15]; 18. (DNF) 31-Shane Roemeling[1]; 19. (DNF) 17-Zach Omdahl[17]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 27-Chris Ranten[6]; 2. 55-Nick Ranten[2]; 3. 8H-Jade Hastings[4]; 4. 2A-Austin Pierce[5]; 5. 051-Nick Omdahl[3]; 6. 20A-Jordan Adams[1]; 7. 14T-Tim Estenson[10]; 8. 26-Blake Egeland[7]; 9. 41T-Travis Strandell[8]; 10. 17-Zach Omdahl[9]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 9N-Wade Nygaard[6]; 2. 31-Shane Roemeling[2]; 3. 11M-Brendan Mullen[3]; 4. 10TRB-Bob Martin[4]; 5. 8C-Jack Croaker[5]; 6. 13T-Ty Hanten[7]; 7. 14-Tom Egeland[1]; 8. 4-Colton Young[8]; 9. 10S-Josh Swangler[9]
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