Pierce finds the groove, outruns Davenport to capture 33rd annual Show-Me 100
WHEATLAND, MO. (May 24, 2025) – Bobby Pierce flew under the radar the first two nights of Show-Me 100 weekend, with so-so finishes by his own lofty standards. Not even the 28-year-old Dirt Late Model star felt overly confident heading into the big-money finale.
“I think we were all down in the dumps,” Pierce said. “I think we had a few believers on our team. I know I was pretty negative. We sucked all weekend. We just couldn’t hit on anything.”
Pierce and his Longhorn chassis roared to life in a big way as the 33rd annual Show-Me 100 Presented by Missouri Division of Tourism concluded Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway.
The Oakwood, Ill., driver earned $75,000 for his second Show-Me 100 triumph. Pierce took the lead on lap 69 and clung to it the rest of the way, holding off Jonathan Davenport for his second Show-Me 100 triumph.
After finishing seventh and 10th in preliminaries features, Pierce found his groove – the high groove – over the last half of the 100-lap race as he advanced from an eighth starting position. Using the cushion as the final 57 laps ran caution-free, Pierce blazed to the front.
“It was a really, really fun track. I was waiting for that track all weekend,” Pierce said. “I know with the possibility of rain they would take it easy with track prep. Man, that was a lot of fun. Congrats to ‘JD’ in second and Hudson (O”Neal) third. That was a fun race.”
Asked in victory lane if he felt after two so-so nights if he was confident of his chances, Pierce laughed.
“Did any of you guys think we’d win tonight?” a jubilant Pierce asked his crew members in victory lane. “The track really came around and you could drive it different lines. That’s what I was waiting on. I have to give a huge thanks to the (crew) guys. They worked hard all week and this win goes out to them.”
It was a tale of two races, with the first half plagued by cautions and the second half a blur with Pierce finding the fastest way around.
“This is an awesome facility and the race track was awesome tonight,” Pierce said. “I know a lot of times people go both ways on that, but tonight it was bad-ass. It’s great this pays $75,000 to win. A few years back it was thirty. To see it come to this, hats off to Lucas Oil.”
The race had five changes among three drivers – Pierce, Davenport and Hudson O’Neal. Davenport, the defending race winner, had taken the lead from O’Neal on lap 48 before the event’s seventh caution slowed the three laps past halfway.
Davenport cleared off to a 1.5-second lead by lap 60 as the race started to settle in, but O’Neal and Pierce began to narrow the gap. Pierce found speed on the high side, often his preferred place to be, and went around Davenport out of turn four for the lead on lap 69.
The 2017 Show-Me 100 winner maintained a modest lead over Davenport, though O’Neal slipped to two seconds behind the leader at that point. Pierce’s margin was two car lengths over Davenport on lap 78 when he lost a bit of momentum in turn two – but quickly got going again Davenport could close in.
It was a two-car race at that point and Pierce was picking his way through slower cars a bit better than Davenport and opened a 2.1-second lead by lap 87. Pierce held on from there, prevailing by 2.055 seconds for his second Show-Me 100 victory and denying Davenport a second straight and third overall.
“It was really tough. The line moved a lot until the very end,” Davenport said. “Hats off to the track prep crew. Lucas Oil Speedway is awesome when it moves around like that. I just wish it would have made that last change and pushed that cushion over the top.
“Obviously I didn’t set up to run around the cushion. Everybody knows I’m more middle to bottom. We really made big gains today. When we could run around the middle or bottom we were really good there. Bobby got rolling on the top there like we know he does.
“Just the way it goes. Bobby did a good job. Hudson did a good job. My guys did an awesome job. I should have just been a little more aggressive earlier in the lapped traffic.”
O’Neal, who won both preliminary nights, wound up third with 2023 winner Devin Moran fourth and Daulton Wilson, who started 19th, rallied for fifth.
O’Neal and Davenport broke away from the pack early, with Ricky Thornton Jr. five seconds behind in third, just nine laps in. That’s when the first caution flew as Tyler Stevens slowed to a halt on the track.
Justin Wells, the two-time defending track champion, advanced to third on the restart but meanwhile it was more of the same as O’Neal and Davenport were off and running away out front.
Davenport moved other the high side as he challenged for the lead with lapped cars coming into play. Davenport then made a dive low into turn three and came away with the lead coming to the start-finish line on lap 20.
Behind those two, the eighth-starting Pierce caught and passed Wells for third on lap 33. The action slowed for the second caution on lap 34 for Dalton Imhoff’s spin in turn two. Davenport had a 2.2-second lead over O’Neal at that point with Pierce, Wells and Carson Ferguson completing the top five.
Davenport took advantage of clean air and a clear track ahead to open a 2.5-second lead over O’Neal by lap 40, with Ferguson climbing to third ahead of Pierce and Brandon Overton. One lap later, caution flew for debris on the track as Davenport’s lead was 2.7 seconds.
Only two laps were able to be completed before the fourth caution, again for debris. But Ferguson slipped, allowing Overton to climb to third with Pierce fourth and Ferguson back to fifth.
O’Neal used the high side to take the lead away from Davenport on lap 45, but Davenport snatched it back on lap 48. Pierce was back to third at the midway point, setting the stage for his eventual move to the front.
After winning features on both Thursday and Friday, O’Neal was philosophical after being denied the sweep and a second Show-Me 100 win of his own.
“We just missed it a little bit,” O’Neal said. “All in all, it was a great race. Congrats to Bobby and JD. We had a great week. We can’t hang our heads over a third, especially after the week we’ve had with two wins. We’ll take it.”
Dan Ebert and Spencer Hughes won B-Mains. Tyler Kuykendall of nearby Warsaw, Mo., captured the Midwest Sheet Metal Show-Me Challenge for non-qualifiers. He traded the $2,500 prize for a spot at the tail of the Show-Me 100 lineup, then was the first call out of the feature and finished 27th.
Of the local drivers to make the race, Dillon McCowan of Urbana was 18th, Justin Wells of Aurora was 21st and Cole Wells of Aurora wound up 21st.
LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (May 24, 2025)
33rd annual Show-Me 100 Presented by Missouri Division of Tourism
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
A Feature – 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[8]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[3]; 3. 71-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 4. 99-Devin Moran[4]; 5. 18D-Daulton Wilson[15]; 6. 93-Carson Ferguson[6]; 7. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 8. 76-Brandon Overton[10]; 9. 1-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 10. 79-Donald McIntosh[12]; 11. 60-Dan Ebert[19]; 12. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[13]; 13. 97-Cade Dillard[11]; 14. 58-Garrett Alberson[9]; 15. 11-Gordy Gundaker[17]; 16. 19M-Spencer Hughes[24]; 17. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[25]; 18. 8-Dillon McCowan[18]; 19. 93L-Cory Lawler[22]; 20. 6-Clay Harris[20]; 21. 98-Justin Wells[7]; 22. 2T-Tyler Stevens[14]; 23. 7-Cole Wells[21]; 24. 16-Tyler Bruening[16]; 25. 96-Dalton Imhoff[23]; 26. 15-Clay Stuckey[26]; 27. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[27]
Fast Shafts B-Main 1 – 1. 60-Dan Ebert[1]; 2. 7-Cole Wells[5]; 3. 96-Dalton Imhoff[13]; 4. 7J-Ryan Johnson[8]; 5. 50-Kayden Clatt[7]; 6. 67-Jimmy Vanzandt[10]; 7. 18P-Shannon Parker[12]; 8. 82-Jace Parmley[11]; 9. 1K-Richard Kimberling[14]; 10. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[3]; 11. (DNS) 157-Mike Marlar; 12. (DNS) 40B-Kyle Bronson; 13. (DNS) 91-Chris Jones; 14. (DNS) 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel; 15. (DNS) 3W-Brennon Willard; 16. (DNS) 65-Jon Binning; 17. (DNS) 12-Scott Crigler
UNOH B-Main 2 – 1. 6-Clay Harris[2]; 2. 93L-Cory Lawler[8]; 3. 19M-Spencer Hughes[1]; 4. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[4]; 5. 93M-Mason Oberkramer[5]; 6. 21-Chris Wilhite Jr[9]; 7. 31C-Cole Henson[7]; 8. USA1-Chris Hawkins[13]; 9. 4X-Dalon Helm[12]; 10. 15-Clay Stuckey[3]; 11. 8:05-Robert Hough[16]; 12. (DNS) 1S-Jeremy Shaw; 13. (DNS) 1G-Bryan Glaze; 14. (DNS) S3-Joey Smith; 15. (DNS) 99H-Dylan Hoover; 16. (DNS) 26P-Glen Powell
Midwest Sheet Metal Show-Me Challenge – 1. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[2]; 2. 50-Kayden Clatt[3]; 3. 93M-Mason Oberkramer[4]; 4. 31C-Cole Henson[8]; 5. 21-Chris Wilhite Jr[6]; 6. 18P-Shannon Parker[7]; 7. 4X-Dalon Helm[12]; 8. USA1-Chris Hawkins[10]; 9. 8:05-Robert Hough[13]; 10. 82-Jace Parmley[9]; 11. 7J-Ryan Johnson[1]; 12. (DNS) 67-Jimmy Vanzandt; 13. (DNS) 1K-Richard Kimberling
Show-Me 100 winners
2025 – Bobby Pierce, Oakwood, Ill.
2024 – Jonathan Davenport, Blairsville, Ga.
2023 – Devin Moran, Dresdin, Ohio
2022 – Chris Ferguson, Mount Holly, N.C.
2021 – Hudson O’Neal, Martinsville, Ind.
2020 – Payton Looney, Republic, Mo.
2019 – Canceled (storm damage)
2018 – Scott Bloomquist, Mooresburg, Tenn.
2017 – Bobby Pierce, Oakwood, Ill.
2016 – Jimmy Owens, Newport, Tenn.
2015 – Jonathan Davenport, Blairsville, Ga.
2014 – Don O’Neal, Martinsville, Ind.
2013 – Jimmy Owens, Newport, Tenn.
2012 – Jimmy Owens, Newport, Tenn.
2011 – Jimmy Owens, Newport, Tenn.
2010 – Ray Cook, Brasstown, N.C.
2009 – Brian Birkhofer, Muscatine, Iowa
2008 – Scott Bloomquist, Mooresburg, Tenn.
2007 – Wendell Wallace, Batesville, Ark.
2006 – Wendell Wallace, Batesville, Ark.
2005 – Scott Bloomquist, Mooresburg, Tenn.
2004 – Scott Bloomquist, Mooresburg, Tenn.
2003 – Scott Bloomquist, Mooresburg, Tenn.
2002 – Wendell Wallace, Batesville, Ark.
2001 – Freddy Smith, Knoxville, Tenn.
2000 – Ray Cook, Brasstown, N.C.
1999 – Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
1998 – Freddy Smith, Knoxville, Tenn.
1997 – Rick Aukland, Fargo, N.C.
1996 – Billy Moyer, Batesville, Ark.
1995 – Scott Bloomquist, Mooresburg, Tenn.
1994 – Billy Moyer, Batesville, Ark.
1993 – Billy Moyer, Batesville, Ark.
Motorcycles next up: Following the busy Show-Me 100 weekend, Lucas Oil Speedway will take next weekend off. Next up is Progressive American Flat Track, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, on Saturday, June 7th. It will be Round 6 of the 2025 championship, with Mission AFT SuperTwins, AFT Singles presented by KICKER and Royal Enfield Build under the lights on the dirt oval. Tickets can be purchased at https://www.tixr.com/groups/americanflattrack/events/2025-lucas-oil-short-track-141381
For information on admission or camping for any Lucas Oil Speedway event in 2025, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 295-6043 or email her at nmcmillan@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.
Category: Lucas Oil Speedway, Missouri
