Tyler Erb wins the Lucas Oil feature in Iowa
Tyler Erb turned in an excellent drive on Friday night in the Truck Country 50 at the 300 Raceway on the first of two nights of racing in Iowa for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. The No. 1 Best Performance Motorsports machine led all the way to claim the victory.
It was the first time the series had been able to race since April 10th due to weather and other issues.
The Rocket Chassis driver from New Waverly, Texas claimed a paycheck valued at $12,000 for his efforts on the 3/8 mile oval located in Farley, Iowa and shown live by MavTV Plus.
A total of 23 cars were signed in for competition.
Qualifying Results: 1. Billy Moyer Jr.(15.136), 2. Hudson O’Neal, 3. Ricky Thornton Jr., 4. Tyler Erb, 5. Chad Simpson, 6. Tyler Bruening, 7. Spencer Hughes, 8. Ross Robinson, 9. Tim McCreadie, 10. Jake Timm
Heat 1 Results: 1, Tyler Erb, 2. Billy Moyer Jr., 3. Jake Timm, 4. Spencer Hughes, 5. Chris Simpson, 6. Ashton Winger, 7. Spencer Diercks, 8. Charlie McKenna
Heat 2 Results: 1. Hudson O’Neal, 2. Chad Simpson, 3. Bobby Pierce, 4. Ross Robinson, 5. Daulton Wilson, 6. Earl Pearson Jr., 7. Joel Callahan, 8. David Webster
Heat 3 Results: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Brandon Sheppard, 3. Tim McCreadie, 4. Tyler Bruening, 5. Garrett Alberson, 6. Jimmy Owens, 7. Tim Simpson
Feature Re-cap: Art the start of the 50-lap feature it was Erb who grabbed the early lead ahead of O’Neal, Thornton, Moyer and Simpson. Sheppard split between Moyer and Simpson to take fourth. Moyer, Hughes, McCreadie and Bruening engaged in a hotly contested fight for positions 7-10 on lap 5.
Pierce, Hughes and Bruening then began to mix it up for spots 6-8 with Pierce emerging from that fight then moved by Simpson for fifth on lap 14. Sheppard and Pierce then began trading slide jobs for fourth with Sheppard taking the position.
Up front in a race that ran through the first half caution free, Erb continued to lead with Thornton trailing. Battles were raging throughout the field until the first yellow flag of the night waved on lap 32 when Bruening slowed. During that caution period, top-5 running Pierce was forced to retire from the race with a leaking radiator.
On the restart, Sheppard moved to third while a fast rising Owens broke into the top-5. Sheppard got around Thornton for second on lap 36 then Owens took fourth away from O’Neal two circuits later. Simpson slowed on lap 42 with a flat tire to bring out a caution. Just before the yellow, the lead car of Erb had suffered a bit of damage to his spoiler but he would continued on.
Sheppard closed in but was never able to claim the top spot. After a lap 48 cation for debris, Erb sailed on to the checkered flag to claim the win.
Feature Results: 1. Tyler Erb, 2. Brandon Sheppard, 3. Ricky Thornton Jr., 4. Hudson O’Neal, 5. Jimmy Owens, 6. Garret Alberson, 7. Spencer Hughes, 8. Billy Moyer Jr., 9. Earl Pearson Jr., 10. Ross Robinson, 11. Tim McCreadie, 12. Chad Simpson, 13. Daulton Wilson, 14. Ashton Winger, 15. Tyler Bruening, 16. Jake Timm, 17. Joel Callahan, 18. Bobby Pierce, 19. Charlie McKenna, 20. Tim Simpson, 21. Chris Simpson, 22. Spencer Diercks, 23. David Webster
“I ran second here last year and I think the first year we were here I ran second too,” Erb recalled in his victory lane interview with MavTV’s James Essex. “I really like this place, you don’t really know what you’re going to get. Tonight I don’t feel like it really rubbered so it was a really good race, changed around a lot. It was nerve wracking because I could tell in three and four I started slowing way down. All in all it was a good night.”
Please consider also reading:
Dennis Erb Jr. earns WoO Late Model victory at Marion Center
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