US saloon star roars into town
It isn’t often there’s a more popular class than superstocks at Palmerston North, but on Saturday there will be the return of the super saloons, with one of the United States’ rising stars, Bobby Pierce, the star attraction.
Twenty of the country’s top super saloon drivers will all be out to take the scalp of Pierce from Oakwood, Illinois, who although only 20 years old, he’s already one of the new stars in the United States Late Models class.
As long as the weather plays its part, fans at Robertson Holden Speedway will be in for a big night, with the coveted Manawatu superstock title also up for grabs.
There will be plenty of visitors keen to make a statement before the New Zealand title is decided on January 2 and 3 at CET Arena.
Other than he’ll be racing on foreign tracks and different cars to the Late Models raced in the United States, there won’t be excuses from Pierce, who has been given one of the country’s best cars, belonging to Auckland’s Ben Harding.
‘‘I’m competitive and like to win,’’ Pierce said. ‘‘The cars are different from ours, but look like a lot of fun to drive.
‘‘It’s hard to compare the cars and though there’s similarities, the big difference is we race on banked tracks that you can’t walk up.
‘‘Over here I don’t think they’re banked one degree and that makes the style a lot different.’’
Piece said he’d never heard of super saloons until he spoke to Chris Cowling who was in the United States racing.
‘‘I talked to him then was approached by the Ben Harding team to come down here to race.’’
With two national series, The World of Outlaws, more known in the sprintcar class, as well as the Lucas Oil Series, there are plenty of meetings racing for good money.
‘‘I’ve raced in both, but really you need a big budget and plenty of sponsorship to travel around the country,. We’ve done 10 or so races in each series but you can make good money without driving more than six hours.’’
Pierce would ideally love to race regularly in either Nascar or the Nascar truck series, but it’s not only talent you need to race in those classes.
‘‘You don’t need to be just good, but to race in those classes you need to be able to bring a lot of sponsorship that we don’t have. I have raced in six Nascar truck races and enjoyed it.’’
Pierce said with a bit of time in the seat before the three-round series, which had the opening night at Waikaraka Park in Auckland last Saturday, where Pierce performed well.
He crashed in the second race, but showed how good he is in the feature, finishing second after starting well down the grid.
The second round is in Napier, with the final round on the fast, but tight Palmerston North track.
Burger King series promoter Grant Flynn said fans shouldn’t be fooled by Pierce’s age.
Flynn said Pierce is the best saloon car driver in the United States and won the 2016 World 100 at Eldora, adding to the $70,000NZ Lucas Oil race at Florence Speedway Kentucky.