Pierce Beats Shirley in Photo Finish for First Hawkeye 100 Victory
MAQUOKETA, IOWA (August 16, 2025) – What happens when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force? The fans at Maquoketa Speedway found out on Saturday night.
Bobby Pierce entered the night undefeated at Maquoketa in 2025, having swept the weekend in MARS Late Model Championship action in March. Brian Shirley had never lost a World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision race at the track.
Only one of them would be able to keep their streak intact, and at the end of 60 laps, they found themselves drag racing to the line to determine who it would be. The answer was Pierce, who edged out Shirley by 0.056 seconds to score the 40th World of Outlaws win of his career, his ninth of the season and his first at Maquoketa.
“I think Shirley really had to work for it,” Pierce said in Victory Lane. “If it were 61 laps, man, he probably would’ve got it. It was tough, I couldn’t run the bottom like that. I talked about having some stumbling issues. Changed carburetors, and I think something’s wrong with this car because it was almost shutting off every time I went to the bottom. So, I kept going to the top, that was the only line I could run because of it. I knew I needed to pinch the corners off, but I couldn’t do it because of that. We got pretty lucky tonight.”
Pierce started the Feature in fourth behind Nick Hoffman and Ethan Dotson on the front row. Dotson fended off the No. 9 to lead early, sending Hoffman to second until Pierce slid him in Turn 4 to take the spot. Pierce’s focus then turned to Dotson, who he caught and passed in Turn 1 eight laps into the race.
Dotson wasn’t going to go down without a fight though – he exchanged a pair of crossovers on the next circuit, all while Cody Overton rode below both of them to make it a three-way battle for the lead. But once Pierce got to the cushion in Turns 1 and 2, he had all the speed he needed to rocket out of range down the backstretch.
While Pierce was starting to drive away, Hoffman fought his way around Overton and back to second on Lap 25. The gap to Pierce was at 0.8 seconds at that point, but it wouldn’t take long for Hoffman to start reeling in the No. 32. With seven laps to go, Hoffman had caught Pierce and tried a move down low into Turn 1, but Brent Larson went around in Turn 4 to bring out the caution before he could complete the pass.
Pierce survived that restart, but trouble for Tanner English with four to go meant he would have to do it again. Hoffman still didn’t have anything for Pierce, but a new challenger was emerging in Shirley. “Squirrel” got by Hoffman on the bottom with two to go, and he stayed with that game plan in his effort to dethrone Pierce.
With less than half a lap remaining, Pierce had Shirley covered by a car length with the checkered flag in sight. But Shirley found another gear down low off Turn 4 that Pierce couldn’t match – it was enough to get side-by-side with Pierce at the flag stand, but not quite enough to nose out in front.
“I looked up at the white flag, it was tough,” Pierce said. “I’m looking at the screen, I’m looking at the flagman, I’m looking at my dad, try to look at everything. I thought I saw a black nose on the screen, and I was like, ‘man, it may be Gustin.’ Come off the corner and I see it’s Shirley, and I was spinning tires. I was just gassing it, hopefully make it to the line first, and we barely did. That was pretty cool.”
On the other end of the battle, Shirley knew he would have been tough to hold off with a bit more time on his side. Nevertheless, his runner-up effort put him on the podium for the second-straight race and gives him a Series-leading average finish of 1.3 in World of Outlaws action at Maquoketa.
“If there was 101 [laps], I may not be the PDC champ,” Shirley said. “He won the race, he was the car to win. I didn’t do a good job in Qualifying and got myself behind. Fortunately, we’ve got a few things we need to learn here and there.”
Had the race stayed green to the end, Hoffman likely would have been the one going toe-to-toe with Pierce for the victory. Instead, he crossed the line third to earn a spot on the podium for the 11th time in 2025.
“[Pierce] just beat us tonight, he was a little bit better,” Hoffman said. “I felt like I was really good right in the middle of the racetrack where I normally am. I made some speed around the top a couple times, it was just very tricky to figure out where you needed to be exactly. ‘Squirrel’ was obviously on a little bit softer tire than we were, so those restarts played right into his hand, he was able to roll by me and almost get Bobby there at the end.”
RACE NOTES:
Dustin Sorensen set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.
Nick Hoffman won the Simpson Quick Time Award.
Drake Troutman won Real American Beer Heat 1.
Ethan Dotson won STAKT Products Heat 2.
Nick Hoffman won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.
Bobby Pierce won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.
Brent Larson and Dillon McCowan won the Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdowns.
Nick Hoffman won the Bilstein Pole Award.
Brian Shirley won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.
Ethan Dotson was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.
Brian Shirley won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.
Cody Overton was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.
Ethan Dotson was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.
Ryan Gustin was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.
Drake Troutman was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.
Frank Heckenast Jr. was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.
Dennis Erb Jr. was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.
Tyler Bruening was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision travels south to Colcord, OK for the inaugural Sooner State Showdown at Arrowhead Speedway on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 22-23. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.
Feature (60 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[12]; 3. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 4. 2-Cody Overton[5]; 5. 74X-Ethan Dotson[2]; 6. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]; 7. 9M-Tim McCreadie[10]; 8. 22*-Drake Troutman[3]; 9. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[11]; 10. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 11. 25-Jason Feger[9]; 12. 16-Tyler Bruening[7]; 13. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[20]; 14. 15-Justin Duty[23]; 15. B1-Brent Larson[17]; 16. 19-Dustin Sorensen[22]; 17. 43-Derrick Stewart[24]; 18. 96-Tanner English[15]; 19. 99B-Boom Briggs[14]; 20. 99-Caden McWhorter[21]; 21. 49-Jake Timm[19]; 22. 38T-Dylan Thornton[13]; 23. 32S-Chris Simpson[16]; 24. 75M-Dillon McCowan[18]
Category: Iowa
