Swanson Wins, Pierce Champion

(September19, 2011) – Joe Swanson did all he could to put the pressure on Aaron Pierce for the H.O.S.S. Championship at Anderson Speedway on Saturday, but Pierce was not going to be denied.

Swanson entered the final race of the 2011 season 20 points behind Pierce for the Hoosier Outlaw Winged Sprint Season. Swanson led the entire distance after starting on the front row as a result of the inversion.

Jimmy McCune moved through the field to finish second followed by Jeff Kaiser, Pierce and Chris Neuenschwander.

McCune has won the previous two races and moved into the second spot on lap 23 with a move in traffic to get underneath Neuenschwander coming off the fourth corner.

With his fourth place finish, Pierce secured the 2011 title.

“We had an awesome car,” he said following his run. “The car was really good tonight. We were running on the outside and it’s tough to pass up there. I ran over something and had a tire going down.”

It was a great night for Pierce at Anderson Speedway, scoring a clean sweep in the competition.

Pierce set a new track record during Herald Bulletin qualifications turning a lap at 10.211-seconds (88.14 mph), breaking the mark set on Oct. 30, 2010 by Charlie Schultz of 10.247-seconds (87.83 mph).

“It felt like 188 mph,” he said of the run.

Pierce captured the win in the first heat race with a dramatic pass of Joe Swanson coming off the fourth corner on the final lap.

Pierce started on the outside of the last row in the heat race and used the outside groove to move into the third position after one circuit. With Swanson passing Ryan Gillenwatter for the lead on the sixth lap, Pierce moved into the second spot with an inside pass.

From there Pierce closed on Swanson and finally made the pass on the final lap. Jimmy McCune finished third followed by Gillenwatter and Chris Jagger.

Anderson’s Jim Sheets broke a dry spell by leading from wire to wire to capture the victory in the second heat race. Richie Jacobs climbed up to the second position before retiring on lap four with smoke coming off the engine headers.

Finishing behind Sheets were Jason Cox, Jeff Kaiser and Cody Gallogy.

Zack Gibson led the entire distance to capture the win in the third heat race followed by Chris Neuenschwander and Hank Lower. During the race the sprint car of Doug Stepke was running second early in the race when he slowed on the third circuit.


























 
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