Tyler Erb picked up $5,000 for the MARS win
With many races across the country rained out, a top field of drivers made their way to the Brownstown Bullring on Friday night to contest a MARS Late Model Championship event. In the end, it was Tyler Erb who pulled his car into victory lane following a race that featured numerous passes and a late race challenge for the race win. It was the first of a two-race weekend at the tour will move to the Fairbury Speedway on Saturday evening.
The Rocket Chassis driver from New Waverly, Texas earned $5,000 for his efforts on the Brownstown, Illinois track in a race aired live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 37 cars were signed in for competition
Qualifying Results:
Group A Results- 1. Tyler Erb(12.830), 2. Drake Troutman, 3. Brian Shirley, 4. Shannon Babb, 5. Brandon Sheppard
Group B Results- 1. Tanner English(13.349), 2. Ryan Unzicker, 3. Mike Harrison, 4. Dennis Erb Jr., 5. Rodney Melvin
Heat 1 Results: 1. Tyler Erb, 2. Brandon Sheppard, 3. Brian Shirley, 4. Daryn Klein
Heat 2 Results: 1. Drake Troutman, 2. Shannon Babb, 3. Frank Heckenast Jr., 4. Jason Feger
Heat 3 Results: 1. Mike Harrison, 2. Rodney Melvin, 3. Tanner English, 4. Spencer Hughes
Heat 4 Results: 1. Ryan Unzicker, 2. Blaze Burwell, 3. Rich Dawson, 4. Kevin Weaver
B-main 1 Finish: 1. Brian Dively, 2. M<att Bailey
B-main 2 Finish: 1. Jason Suhre, 2. Jake Little
MARS Redraw Results: 1. Mike Harrison, 2. Drake Troutman, 3. Ryan Unzicker, 4. Tyler Erb
Feature Re-cap: At the start of the 40-lap feature Erb blasted to the lead ahead of Troutman, Harrison, Unzicker and Melvin. Troutman took the lead from Erb on the second lap then Harrison moved by Erb for second on lap 3. Erb then went back to second on lap 4 as the front runners exchanged positions furiously. At the same time, Sheppard entered the top-5 and looked to move further up the leaderboard.
Erb moved in on Troutman and the two exchanged slide jobs and crossovers as they battled for the top spot. Erb eventually went to the lead on lap 12 while Harrison also passed Troutman to take the runner-up position.
Sheppard was on the move as he jumped up to third by passing Troutman and Unzicker on lap 14. A lap 20 caution flag waved when Unzicker slowed with a flat tire.
On the lap 20 restart, Sheppard moved to second and closed on Erb to fight for the lead. Further back, Babb was working on Harrison for third while Shirley closed from fifth.
Erb found himself amid heavy traffic on lap 30 which allowed Sheppard to make a move to the inside in hopes of taking the lead. Erb was able to hold on but Sheppard showed no signs of going away.
With three laps to go, Sheppard threw a slider on Erb going into turn one to briefly take the lead. However, Erb executed a cross over to regain the top spot on the backstretch. Over the closing laps, Erb was able to maintain his advantage and eventually would sail under the checkered flag for the win,
Feature Results: 1. Tyler Erb, 2. Brandon Sheppard, 3. Shannon Babb, 4. Brian Shirley, 5. Jason Feger, 6. Mike Harrison, 7. Tanner English, 8. Blaze Burwell, 9. Drake Troutman, 10. Frank Heckenast Jr., 11. Daryn Klein, 12. Tommy Sheppard, 13. Rich Dawson, 14. Jake Little, 15. Bob Gardner, 16. Spencer Hughes, 17. Rodney Melvin, 18. Brian Dively, 19. Ryan Unzicker, 20. Jason Suhre, 21. Matt Bailey, 22. Kevin Weaver
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