Tyler Erb won on his first outing in the Best Performance ride
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series contested its second night of competition at Tampa’s East Bay Raceway Park on Tuesday night. Tyler Erb came away from the track as the winner of the $5,000 first prize in the non-points paying event. It was the Texas driver’s second win in as many nights at East Bay. The No. 1 car also garnered a feature win at Golden Isles Speedway on Saturday.
Stormy Scott was fastest in Group A qualifying as he turned a lap in 14.542 seconds around the third-mile “Clay by the Bay”. Brandon Sheppard, Brian Shirley, Earl Pearson, Jr. and Kyle Bronson were just a tick off the fast qualifiers pace in that group.
Red hot Tyler Erb was fastest in Group B qualifying and overall after he toured the track in 14.479 seconds to beat out Jimmy Owens, Billy Moyer, Jr., Colton Flinner and Tanner English.
Earl Pearson, Jr. earned the pole position for the feature by winning the first heat race of the night as he beat out Dennis Erb, Jr. and Josh Richards while Brandon Sheppard won the second heat ahead of Kyle Bronson and Tim McCreadie.
Shanon Buckingham won the third preliminary by besting Brian Shirley and Jonathan Davenport.
Tyler Erb would start the main event from the outside of the front row after winning the fourth heat ahead of Colton Flinner and Gregg Satterlee with Jimmy Owens taking the fifth heat over Tanner English and Hudson O’Neal.
Morgan Bagley grabbed the win in the sixth and final heat ahead of Billy Moyer, Jr. and Billy Moyer, Sr.
Stormy Scott and Don O’Neal won the two B-main races while Austin Hubbard claimed the final spot in the feature by winning the Strawberry Dash.
At the start of the 30-lap feature it was Tyler Erb who shot to the lead with Pearson, Sheppard, Buckingham and Dennis Erb, Jr. trailing. Soon after the start Dennis Erb and Owens moved around Buckingham to claim fourth and fifth.
Dennis Erb moved up challenge Sheppard for third by lap 7 but a caution slowed the action one lap later.
On the ensuing restart Dennis Erb made it an all Erb top-2 as he moved into second behind Tyler Erb. However, Bronson got his car moving on the outside groove at his home track and looked to take on Sheppard and Richards for fourth. Meanwhile, Pearson and Dennis Erb fought over the runner-up position on lap 13 as Bronson cleared the fourth place scrum to join the second place tussle.
Bronson would grab second on lap 17.
Pearson finally got by Dennis Erb for third on lap 18 as Tyler Erb drove away from his pursuers to extend his lead to more than a straightaway. Pearson continued his march forward as he took second from Bronson and pulled Dennis Erb with him as the No. 28 surged to third.
In the closing laps Pearson reeled in Tyler Erb briefly as the two cars worked through slower traffic but the No. 1 Best Performance Motorsports car rolled under the checkered flag to collect their third win in four attempts so far in 2019.
Feature Finish: 1. Tyler Erb, 2. Earl Pearson, Jr., 3. Dennis Erb, Jr., 4. Brandon Sheppard, 5. Jimmy Owens, 6. Brian Shirley, 7. Josh Richards, 8. Kyle Bronson, 9. Billy Moyer, Jr., 10. Tim McCreadie, 11. Jonathan Davenport, 12. Hudson O’Neal, 13. Tanner English, 14. Devin Moran, 15. Morgan Bagley, 16. Billy Moyer, Sr., 17. Don O’Neal, 18. Brandon Overton, 19. Gregg Satterlee, 20. Shanon Buckingham, 21. Colton Flinner, 22. Austin Hubbard, 23. Chase Junghans, 24. Stormy Scott, 25. Devin Gilpin, 26. Scott Bloomquist
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