2021 World 100 at Eldora Speedway

Gregg Satterlee Nets $10,000 In World 100 Prelim

Gregg Satterlee Nets $10,000 In World 100 Prelim

Gregg Satterlee fought off a challenge from Bobby Pierce to win Friday's second World 100 prelim race at Eldora Speedway

Sep 11, 2021 by FloRacing Staff
Gregg Satterlee Nets $10,000 In World 100 Prelim

ROSSBURG, Ohio — Gregg Satterlee led all 25 laps of Friday's second preliminary feature for the 50th annual World 100. The 37-year-old Indiana, Pa., driver was glad he was leading, but he was glad when it was over, too.

"I was glad to see the checkered flag fly," Satterlee said while picking up his $10,000 paycheck. "Nothing's for sure at these races, but it's fun getting up on this stage. It's awesome to see a big huge crowd ... there's nothing like this place (other than) Eldora."

The pole-starting Satterlee turned back challenges from his high-flying fellow front-row starter Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., whose failed slide-job stab on the 24th lap gave Satterlee breathing room over the last lap and a half as he took the checkers by 1.309 seconds at the historic half-mile oval.

Pierce's Scooby Doo-themed car — sidelined Thursday because his team was disqualified because of a crew member's altercation with a track worker came home second ahead of fellow Illinois driver Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin. Nick Hoffman of Mooresville, N.C., drove his Scott Bloomquist Racing entry to a fourth-place finish and Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., Thursday's runner-up in the 51st annual World 100, rounded out the top five.

Satterlee, who also won a Dream preliminary victory at Eldora in June, drove a smooth, middle-of-the-track line to victory while the wall-hugging Pierce gave chase throughout the race, pulling to within a few tenths of a second on a couple of occasions.

"I was a little worried. I know he's really good here," Satterlee said. "All the 10 or 12 cars behind me are all really good here. I was just trying to make smooth laps. I knew getting out front and having clean racetrack was going to be huge, cautions definitely fell at the right time. It just gave me the clean racetrack.

"I've gotta thank crew chief Robby Allen. We were working really hard at making this race car faster, and we wound up and swung for the fence in this feature, and I think we definitely got a hold of something. Hopefully we have something for tomorrow. It's a whole new night tomorrow. Nothing's for sure."

Satterlee dealt with little lapped traffic with spaced out cautions that played to his favor as he continually edged away from the field when the green flag reappeared.

"I was getting really good restarts, so I was glad to see the cautions," he said. "I was starting on the inside and was able to get a lot of grip off the front straightaway. This Clements Racing Engine, it just pulls all the way down the straightaway. I knew all I had to do was not get broke loose before I got to the brown (parts of the surface), and get back in front of 'em. I knew I had a couple of laps to work with."

Pierce thought his timing might've been off in making his bid for the lead, but finishing second was better than being towed off the racetrack.

"That's what my crew said, maybe (the slide job) was one lap too soon," Pierce said. "But the air here is so, you know, it's to treacherous getting in behind somebody, that I felt like I might've stuffed it in the wall if I tried to wait behind him one more lap. All in all, a great finish. Congrats to Gregg on the win."

For the first- and second-place finishers, the conversation obviously turned to the winner of the night's first preliminary feature winner: Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., whose remarkable Eldora record in 2021 includes six feature victories with two Dreams (at more than $125,000 a pop) and Friday's 51st annual World 100 ($54,000) among them.

Can Satterlee or Pierce beat Overton in Saturday's $53,000-to-win World 100?

"I don't know. He looks pretty fast," Satterlee said. "But I feel like our car is about as good as it's ever been here. We're going to give 'er hell."

Pierce was somewhat less confident, hoping he'd have outrun Satterlee "because I feel like that's the only race we (could've won) this weekend," he said.

"I don't think anyone's got anything for (Overton). He's just too fast in the slick," Pierce said. "Unless the track changes drastically, I just don't see it happening. We're going to give it our all like we tonight. You definitely can't be beating the wall down for 100 laps tomorrow; 25 laps, you can kind of do that, but not for 100, so we're going to have to try to get a little bit better and see what we can do."

Three cautions slowed the action in the second 25-lapper, most significantly when the first start was called back as Tyler Erb and Darrell Lanigan came together down the backstretch with onrushing cars able to mostly avoid the mess. Erb was able to continue but Lanigan drove his tattered No. 29 to the pits while Erb retired during a lap-18 slowdown.

Sixth-running Brian Shirley slowed on the eighth lap for the second yellow, dropping fluid on the track as he cruised to the infield pits. The final caution was for a Josh Richards flat tire on lap 18 in a race where 21 drivers completed 25 laps.