[Buckeye_Openwheel]

The stars of the Indiana pavement sprint scene were on hand and Despite threatening skies and mother nature interrupting the proceedings with a brief thundershower , The Hoosier Outlaw Sprint Series event From Baer field speedway in fort wayne went off without a hitch. From the beginning it seemed like it would be Aaron Pierce’s day. In qualifying pierce in the black 26 Sam Pierce Chevrolet machine went out and set fast time on lap one of the two lap run, shutting the machine down for the second lap, appearing to know his lap could not be bested on the green surface. Joe Swanson and Cody Gallogly would be second and third fastest both also breaking the 15 second bracket on the ½ mile track.

In the first heat race Troy DeCaire in typical form made a daring move on the start to capture the point by the completion of the first lap. Decaire would drive away for the remainder of the race and be followed to the line by Cody Gallogly from a fifth place start and Aaron Pierce from a sixth place start. Both Davy Hamilton Jr. and Tim Cox who made up the front row of the heat seemed to suffer ill handling machines and were relegated to a finish of fourth and fifth respectively. In heat two the front row of Hank Lower and Jim Sheets and fared much better battling for the top spot throughout the 8 lap heat, sheets would eventually pass lower and to claim the win , Lower would come home second and the 64 Speed Chasers machine of Kody Swanson third

The feature saw a 6 come up as the inversion number putting the 64 of Kody Swanson and the 7 Geoff Kaiser in front of the field. On the start Kaiser quickly jumped out to the lead, but it was the 40:1 TruFuel sponsored car of Troy DeCaire who captured everyone’s attention moving up from a 7th starting position outside the inversion to fourth on the opening lap in a series of wild outside passes. Also on the move was the 26 of Aaron Pierce charging from his sixth place start to second position by lap 3. On lap 5 Pierce was already on Geoff Kaiser’s bumper, the two setting a blistering pace around the half mile, rapidly catching lapped traffic. On lap six leader Geoff Kaiser would make slight contact with 43 car of Sam Davis as Davis appeared to move up on Kaiser while being lapped, the bump would send Davis skidding off the backstretch hard into the tire barrier , the impact catapulting the 43 into the air and upside down. The incident would bring out the red. After gathering his bearings Sam Davis would emerge from the heavily damaged machine uninjured. On the restart Pierce would immediately work his way by Kaiser to take command of the race, Kaiser would settle in in second his ride no worse for wear after the contact with Davis. Pierce would run away from field stretching his lead to a full straightway by lap 20 , on lap 25 Troy DeCaire still moving forward would pass Kaiser for second, upon being passed the 7 of Kaiser would abruptly slow and come to a stop outside of turn two bringing out the yellow and evaporating the immense lead Aaron Pierce had built up. Kaiser would retire pitside with a flat right rear tire. The turn of events gave DeCaire a shot at Pierce, but on the restart Pierce would run away from Decaire, and a new player would jump into the fray as the 7* of Joe Swanson would make a dash forward passing the 75 of Jerry Carver for the third position. Swanson would quickly catch and pressure DeCaire. A close quarters battle would commence culminating in a Swanson making a last lap attempt on the outside of Decaire that resulted in Swanson being sent off the track into the grass on the back stretch . Swanson was able to hang on to the machine, darting back onto the track just as Jerry Carver then in fourth came flying past narrowly avoiding Swanson. Pierce would cross the line first, taking the victory in dominant fashion over Troy Decaire who would claim second after the tussle with Joe Swanson. Jerry Carver would Finish third and Swanson fourth , Chris Nueunschwander would round out the top five After the finish Joe Swanson obviously displeased would stop on the front stretch to confront DeCaire about the last lap altercation. Both drivers would leap from their cars heated after the intense racing but track officials would successfully keep the pair separated, cooler heads eventually prevailing, allowing Aaron pierce to celebrate his win. With the win Aaron Pierce became the third winner in as many dates with the Hoosier Outlaw sprint series. The series moves on to Sandusky speedway for their next event on June 29th with the Auto Value Super Sprints.

By Pete Smith
Staff Writer luvracin.com
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