7/11/2025
Sharon Speedway
BOBBY PIERCE OPENS “BATTLE AT THE BORDER” WITH HIS 3RD STRAIGHT SHARON WORLD OF OUTLAWS LATE MODEL WIN; 1ST ECONO MOD WIN FOR COLETON LONGWELL
By Mike Leone
July 11, 2025
(Hartford, OH)...After a weekend off for the Independence Day holiday, Sharon Speedway returned to action on Friday night to kick-off night one of the “Battle at the Border”. A mid-afternoon torrential downpour tried to damper the activities, but the show went on as scheduled as the sixth event of the 96th anniversary season was completed. Celebrating in the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply Victory Lane were Bobby Pierce (World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Models) and Coleton Longwell (Alcon Mechanical Econo Mods). Sixty-eight cars were on hand for the two-division program.
One-year after sweeping the two-night “Battle at the Border” for his first career Sharon victories worth $25,000, Bobby Pierce put on a dominating performance in Friday night’s 2025 event opener. Debuting a new Longhorn Chassis, Pierce broke away from Drake Troutman after an early battle and led all 40 laps driving a masterful race through lapped traffic to score the $12,000 victory- his seventh of the season in Series competition.
“Honestly, two years ago here, I didn’t really like the track a whole lot,” stated the 28-year-old Oakwood, Illinois standout after his 20th overall win of 2025. “It was pretty hard to get a hold of. Not that I didn’t like the track, it was just hard to get a good setup for it. It was a good track, just kind of had to build a notebook. Last year we came here and won both races, it kind of took me by surprise. Coming in, I had a lot of pressure on myself to outperform that, and the only way to do it is to match it.”
Pierce and local Jared Miley led the 24-car field to green with Pierce taking command over fourth starting Ryan Gustin and Drake Troutman. Miley’s potential fine run ended when he slapped the fence to bring out what would be the event’s only caution with one-lap scored. When racing resumed, Troutman overtook Gustin for second. A great battle was taking place for fourth with Brian Shirley and Nick Hoffman trading the position back and forth before Shirley grabbed it for good on lap five.
Up front, Troutman was on Pierce running the top, but Pierce continued to maintain the lead. Pierce caught lapped traffic on lap 11. Pierce made some great moves in traffic on lap 13 allowing him to open up some ground, while Gustin reapplied pressure on Troutman for second. Shirley caught the duo making it a three-car race for second on lap 16. The seventh starting Shirley was able to drive around Troutman for third on lap 19.
The second-half of the feature saw Pierce open up his lead every lap. In fact, at one point, Pierce stretched his advantage over Troutman to more than seven seconds, while positions second through seventh were all on the same straightaway! Pierce endured some lapped traffic that slowed him in the final laps, but nonetheless the “Smooth Operator” took the checkered flag first by a commanding 5.119 seconds for his 38th career World of Outlaws win in his Low Voltage Solutions/Collins Brothers Towing/Churchill Transport-sponsored #32.
Troutman’s runner-up was the best career finish at Sharon for the World of Outlaws rookie beating his prior best of fifth from the 2023 “Battle at the Border”. Shirley’s third was also his best performance at Sharon topping his fourth place run in 2023. Gustin, a two-time Sharon World of Outlaws winner, dropped to fourth after being as high as second early on. Hoffman was fifth.
Tim McCreadie went 18th to 6th over Ethan Dotson and Dennis Erb, Jr. Western Pennsylvania racer, Mason Zeigler, was the top non-World of Outlaws driver finishing 9th after starting 16th. After just missing the final transfer spot in the second last chance B main, Dustin Sorensen took a provisional and charged from 23rd to 10th!
Hoffman set fast time overall against the 38-car field in qualifying with a lap of 17.300. Heat winners were Gustin, Miley, Troutman, and Pierce. Jake Timm and McCreadie copped the twin last chance B mains.
After winning the debut of the Crown Vic division three weeks ago, Coleton Longwell returned to victory lane on Friday night; however, for the first time ever in the Econo Mod division. The former Sharon Pro Stock winner, made a three-wide pass for the lead on lap eight and cruised to the 20-lap Alcon Mechanical-sponsored feature worth $800.
“Carter (Bidwell) is getting really, really fast,” acknowledged the 24-year-old Kinsman, Ohio racer. “Carter is one of those guys you can capitalize when you can see their brakes are wrong and doing wrong things with their feet. I saw him hiccup with his feet the lap before so I kind of framed him up and when he hiccupped with his feet again, he slid up the race track and I drove under him. He ran a really great race and I’m super proud of him. That’s the best I’ve ever seen him race and he’s doing fantastic. Jeremy (Double) is one of those ones that will gamble on a restart, and he gambled and lost the gamble. We were pretty good and I think can be a touch better center off, but other than that I was pretty happy with it. We’ve been one of the fastest cars here for several years, but I couldn’t slow down to win a race; now we’re getting a good balance.”
Carter Bidwell raced into the early lead over newcomer Bryson Hill with the division’s all-time winner, Jeremy Double, settling in third. Double drove under Hill in turn one to take second on lap three. Longwell meanwhile started in fourth and dropped Hill back another position on lap four. By lap seven, the top three of Bidwell, Double, and Longwell distanced themselves from the field. One lap later, the trio went three-wide with Longwell squeeing into the lead as Double also got by Bidwell.
A caution for Cody Stronghart slowed action with 11 laps scored. The final nine laps saw Longwell pull away as he crossed the finish line first for his third career Sharon victory by 4.998 seconds in his Wedge Motorsports/Close Racing Supply/Dave Baird Racing Enterprises/955 Automotive/YeagerBaum’s Bar & Grill/Yeager’s Poured Silver-sponsored #7. Double was second over a career best run by Bidwell in third. Hill was fourth in the New York racer’s first ever Sharon start. Brendan Warner went ninth to fifth.
Dennis Lunger, Jr. was 6th after starting 11th in his return to racing after suffering some health complications. Jacob Eucker was seventh over Jarrett Young. Josh McDonald earned a $100 Summit Racing Equipment gift card for being the hard charger going 19th to 9th. Garrett Calvert was 10th.
Bryan Wagner received a $100 Performance Bodies gift card for nosing out Jonathan Davis by 0.051 seconds for the 15th spot. Bidwell, Hill, and Double won the heat races, while McDonald won the last chance B main. The 30-car field matched a season high car count as the division has averaged 27 cars per night this season.
Racing resumes on Saturday (July 12) at Sharon with night two of the “Battle at the Border” featuring the World of Outlaws Late Models in a $15,000 to-win event along with the RUSH Sprint Cars for $800 to-win. Pits open at 2 p.m. with general admission at 3:30. Warmups have been moved back 30 minutes until 7 p.m. due to the high temperatures.
World of Outlaws Late Models (30 laps, $12,000 to-win): 1. 32-BOBBY PIERCE[1]; 2. 22-Drake Troutman[3]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[7]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin[4]; 5. 9-Nick Hoffman[6]; 6. 9M-Tim McCreadie[18]; 7. 74X-Ethan Dotson[9]; 8. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[5]; 9. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[16]; 10. 19-Dustin Sorensen[23]; 11. 96-Tanner English[10]; 12. 1-Chub Frank[8]; 13. 157-Mike Marlar[12]; 14. 99B-Boom Briggs[14]; 15. 111-Max Blair[20]; 16. 2-Cody Overton[11]; 17. B1-Brent Larson[15]; 18. 49-Jake Timm[17]; 19. 555-Brock Pinkerous[22]; 20. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[13]; 21. 55-Chris Schneider[19]; 22. 33-Josh Ferry[24]; 23. 10M-Jared Miley[2]; 24. 66-Justin Kann[21].
DNQ for the feature: 29-Ken Schaltenbrand, 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 77-Tyler Dietz, 1Z-Logan Zarin, 48-Colton Flinner, 1C-Alex Ferree, 5M-Ryan Markham, 9S-Breyton Santee, 10-Gary Lyle, J4-John Garvin Jr, 76-Steve Kania, 27-Eric Wilson, 24-Tyler Wyant, 9Y-Levi Yetter.
Alcon Mechanical Econo Mods (20 laps, $800 to-win): 1. 7-COLETON LONGWELL[4]; 2. 83-Jeremy Double[3]; 3. 26X-Carter Bidwell[1]; 4. 38H-Bryson Hill[2]; 5. 12*-Brendan Warner[9]; 6. 71L-Dennis Lunger Jr[11]; 7. 64-Jacob Eucker[10]; 8. 27-Jarrett Young[6]; 9. 37-Josh McDonald[19]; 10. 12C-Garrett Calvert[8]; 11. 4-George Vestal IV[7]; 12. 40R-Clay Ruffo[13]; 13. 4RJ-Robert Simmons[22]; 14. 99E-Zack Eller[12]; 15. 56-Bryan Wagner[15]; 16. 8-Jonathan Davis[5]; 17. 9G-Arianna Samuelson[16]; 18. 47S-Gary Sullivan[21]; 19. 71A-Don Watson[24]; 20. 2P-Branden Porter[23]; 21. 36-Cody Stronghart[14]; 22. 17D-Alan Dellinger[20]; 23. 44R-Bobby Robinson[17]; 24. 51-Brian Lacey[18].
DNQ for the feature: 16C-Amelia Clay, 24R-Derrick Randolph, 35-Rick Wilson Jr, Seth Brenot, 5J-Josalyn Hibbard,14-Dan McEwen.
Sharon Speedway is owned by the Dave Blaney, Ryan Blaney, and Will Thomas III and is a 3/8-mile dirt track located on Custer-Orangeville Road in Hartford, Ohio near the intersection of Routes 7 & 305. For more information, check out the website at www.sharonspeedway.com or call 330-772-5481. Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sharonspeedway and follow us on X (formerly known as Twitter) @sharonspdwy.
Article Credit: Mike Leone
