5/15/2022
MARS - Midwest Auto Racing Series
PIERCE CASHES IN: Pierce Holds Off Sheppard at FALS
Photo: Mike Ruefer
May 14, 2022 (Fairbury, IL) The 2022 Mars Racing Series opening weekend continued Saturday night at the Fairbury Speedway for the Spring Shootout paying a whopping $30,000 to win. This was the final race of the Illinois Speedweeks presented by FloRacing. The highly anticipated finale to the four days of racing can to a crescendo with a big check on the line. The pits filled up with 50 cars at the track called America's Dirt Track in the Land of Lincoln.
In Allstar Performance qualifying it was Bobby Pierce who laid down the quickest lap at 12.904 seconds. In group B it was Carpentersville, IL driver Dennis Erb Jr. who was quickest with a lap at 13.079 seconds. This set the stage for 6 heat races to start setting the field for the 47 lap $15,000 to win event.
In Arizona Sport Shirts Heat Race #1 fast qualifier Bobby Pierce took the win with Ashton Winger and Garett Alberson also transferring.
Heat Race #2 presented by Dirt Track Bank went to New Berlin, IL racer Brandon Sheppard. Frank Heckenast Jr and Shannon Babb moved on the feature event.
In Oriley's Heat Race #3 Tyler Erb picked up the win with Devin Moran and Gordy Gundaker moving on to the main.
Dennis Erb Jr. found himself out front at the end of Hoosier Tire Midwest Heat #4. Hudson O'Neal and Chris Simpson were your other two transfer drivers.
Heat Race #5 sponsored by Allgaier Performance Parts went to Stormy Scott. Defending series champ Brian Shirley and Mike Marlar also transferred.
In the 6th and final Heat Race presented by Hoker Trucking went to McKay Wenger. Kyle Hammer and Jason Feger took the final two spots from heat race action.
It took a pair of B-mains to set the final four spots. Myles Moos and Ricky Thornton Jr took the wins with runner up finishers Tanner English and Spencer Hughes claiming the final two starting spots. This made our 22 car starting field complete.
The 60 lap $30,000 to win feature was full of side by side racing. Drivers throughout the field swapped spots every corner as the best wheelmen in the country battled on the high banks. Bobby Pierce took the lead on the opening lap and never looked back. In the middle stages we seen several drivers bid to make a run to the front. Hudson O'Neal, Tyler Erb and Dennis Erb all made their presence known. At one point Tyler Erb was the fastest car on the track and catching the top two put jumped the cushion and broke something in the rear end. But in the final laps it was Brandon Sheppard who was able to mount the charge. Bobby Pierce and Brandon put on a show for the fans as Sheppard tried to run down Pierce in the final laps. Brandon got a killer run off of turn two on the final lap and tried to throw a slider on Pierce in the final corner. Not being able to pull off the slider Sheppard had to back off and Pierce drove by Sheppard on the outside to pick up the $30,000 payday.
Bobby Pierce pulled in to Go Lithium victory lane and got out and celebrated his biggest Fairbury win of his career. For the second night in a row Hudson O'Neal settled for the final podium spot. Mike Marlar and Dennis Erb came home with top 5 finishes. The Keyser Manufacturing Hard Charger was Ricky Thornton Jr who came from the 20th starting spot to finish 6th.
The Mars Racing Series moves on to a tripleheader this coming weekend. On Friday night they will race at the Kankakee Speedway for the $5,000 to win Big Daddy Scrap 40. On Saturday the series will make its debut at the Charleston Speedway for the Inaugural Graves 40 paying $5,000 to win. They will finish up next weekend at the Adams County Speedway for a Sunday night $7,000 to win special. All the action can be seen next weekend LIVE on FloRacing.
Stay informed on all the news and results of the Mars Racing Series at www.marsracingseries.com.
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 84-Myles Moos[1]; 2. 81E-Tanner English[2]; 3. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[6]; 4. 35-Derek Chandler[3]; 5. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr[7]; 6. 19X-Cody Bauer[9]; 7. 11H-Jeff Herzog[4]; 8. B12-Kevin Weaver[5]; 9. 21B-Rich Bell[12]; 10. 14M-Morgan Bagley[15]; 11. 21A-Nick Allen[8]; 12. 76-Titus Sneed[11]; 13. 89S-Mike Spatola[10]; 14. 28M-Jake Miller[13]; 15. (DNS) 02-Kent Rosevear; 16. (DNS) 11T-Trevor Gundaker
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 11-Spencer Hughes[4]; 3. 10-Daryn Klein[2]; 4. 97-Cade Dillard[6]; 5. 10S-Taylor Scheffler[11]; 6. 19-Ryan Gustin[15]; 7. 21N-Logan Nickerson[3]; 8. 24-Ryan Unzicker[12]; 9. 10X-Scott Schmitt[9]; 10. 36-Logan Martin[13]; 11. 4G-Bob Gardner[7]; 12. 31-Paul Stubber[10]; 13. 51F-Matt Furman[8]; 14. 212-Josh Putnam[5]; 15. 1X-Aaron Marrant[14]; 16. (DNS) 18-Jeffrey Ledford
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. 89-Ashton Winger[2]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[3]; 4. 84-Myles Moos[5]; 5. 11H-Jeff Herzog[7]; 6. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr[6]; 7. 89S-Mike Spatola[4]; 8. 28M-Jake Miller[9]; 9. (DNF) 02-Kent Rosevear[8]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 2. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[1]; 3. 18B-Shannon Babb[4]; 4. 81E-Tanner English[3]; 5. B12-Kevin Weaver[5]; 6. 21A-Nick Allen[6]; 7. 76-Titus Sneed[8]; 8. (DNS) 11T-Trevor Gundaker
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 1T-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 9-Devin Moran[3]; 3. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[4]; 4. 35-Derek Chandler[2]; 5. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[8]; 6. 19X-Cody Bauer[5]; 7. 21B-Rich Bell[7]; 8. 14M-Morgan Bagley[6]
Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O'Neal[2]; 3. 32S-Chris Simpson[4]; 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]; 5. 11-Spencer Hughes[5]; 6. 4G-Bob Gardner[3]; 7. 31-Paul Stubber[9]; 8. 36-Logan Martin[7]; 9. 18-Jeffrey Ledford[8]
Heat 5 (10 Laps): 1. 2S-Stormy Scott[3]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[2]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar[5]; 4. 10-Daryn Klein[4]; 5. 212-Josh Putnam[1]; 6. 51F-Matt Furman[8]; 7. 10S-Taylor Scheffler[6]; 8. 1X-Aaron Marrant[7]
Heat 6 (10 Laps): 1. 42-Mckay Wenger[1]; 2. 45-Kyle Hammer[3]; 3. 25-Jason Feger[5]; 4. 21N-Logan Nickerson[8]; 5. 97-Cade Dillard[6]; 6. 10X-Scott Schmitt[7]; 7. (DNF) 24-Ryan Unzicker[4]; 8. (DNF) 19-Ryan Gustin[2]
Qualifying 1: 1. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:12.904[5]; 2. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 00:12.911[4]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb, 00:12.956[1]; 4. 89-Ashton Winger, 00:12.991[20]; 5. 1-Brandon Sheppard, 00:13.029[22]; 6. 35-Derek Chandler, 00:13.126[8]; 7. 58-Garrett Alberson, 00:13.127[3]; 8. 81E-Tanner English, 00:13.142[9]; 9. 9-Devin Moran, 00:13.183[23]; 10. 89S-Mike Spatola, 00:13.268[24]; 11. 18B-Shannon Babb, 00:13.272[12]; 12. 11G-Gordy Gundaker, 00:13.296[10]; 13. 84-Myles Moos, 00:13.307[19]; 14. B12-Kevin Weaver, 00:13.321[16]; 15. 19X-Cody Bauer, 00:13.333[11]; 16. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr, 00:13.345[21]; 17. 21A-Nick Allen, 00:13.501[14]; 18. 14M-Morgan Bagley, 00:13.534[15]; 19. 11H-Jeff Herzog, 00:13.637[6]; 20. 11T-Trevor Gundaker, 00:13.658[13]; 21. 21B-Rich Bell, 00:13.658[2]; 22. 02-Kent Rosevear, 00:13.788[17]; 23. 76-Titus Sneed, 00:13.951[7]; 24. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr, 00:13.964[18]; 25. 28M-Jake Miller, 00:14.473[25]
Qualifying 2: 1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:13.079[16]; 2. 212-Josh Putnam, 00:13.229[1]; 3. 42-Mckay Wenger, 00:13.274[2]; 4. 71-Hudson O'Neal, 00:13.283[6]; 5. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:13.337[17]; 6. 19-Ryan Gustin, 00:13.374[8]; 7. 4G-Bob Gardner, 00:13.383[18]; 8. 2S-Stormy Scott, 00:13.399[5]; 9. 45-Kyle Hammer, 00:13.411[14]; 10. 32S-Chris Simpson, 00:13.437[15]; 11. 10-Daryn Klein, 00:13.468[20]; 12. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 00:13.490[3]; 13. 11-Spencer Hughes, 00:13.562[22]; 14. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:13.563[19]; 15. 25-Jason Feger, 00:13.571[9]; 16. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:13.615[24]; 17. 10S-Taylor Scheffler, 00:13.652[23]; 18. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:13.665[25]; 19. 36-Logan Martin, 00:13.705[11]; 20. 1X-Aaron Marrant, 00:13.815[21]; 21. 10X-Scott Schmitt, 00:13.992[7]; 22. 18-Jeffrey Ledford, 00:14.047[13]; 23. 51F-Matt Furman, 00:14.174[10]; 24. 21N-Logan Nickerson, 00:14.267[12]; 25. 31-Paul Stubber, 00:14.367[4]