2/10/2024
Tyler Erb
Erb tops Davenport, grabs LOLMDS prelim at East Bay Raceway Park
Tyler Erb notched his first win of the 2024 season Wednesday night aboard his Bulk Material Lift / Anthony’s Pizza No. 1 Best Performance Motorsports / Sani-Weld Inc. / Base Racing Fuel / First Class Septic / XR1 Rocket Chassis / Clements Racing Engine Super Late Model.
Erb streaked to the $7,000 victory during the 48th annual Wieland Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park. During the six-race series he collected four Top-5 finishes and found himself regularly in contention for the win.
“We had a good week at East Bay (Raceway Park), but we had a chance for it to be a great week. We led a lot of laps there, and I feel like we should’ve come away with more than one win, but we’re still proud to have accomplished that. I can’t say enough about Integra Shocks and all the support that them and all our sponsors provide us,” Erb said. “We’re looking forward to running all six nights this week at Volusia (Speedway Park). We’ve got a really good hot rod right now, and we have the potential to accomplish a lot this season.”
After wet weather washed out Monday’s opener, Tyler Erb embarked on one of his favorite tracks on Tuesday with a visit to East Bay Raceway Park (Tampa, Fla.) for the 48th-and-final Wieland Winternationals.
With 75 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) entries converged at the 1/3-mile oval, Erb went fastest in his 37-car group in time trials before picking up a flag-to-flag victory in his heat. After leading laps 4-10 from the front row of the feature, Tyler slid back to a sixth-place finish in Tuesday’s opener.
Following Tuesday’s program, qualifying was held for Monday’s rain-delayed program with Tyler qualifying 22nd fastest to position him eighth on the starting grid for his heat race, which was scheduled for after Wednesday’s event.
On Wednesday, Tyler outran Brandon Overton in his heat race to secure the eight-lap victory. Winning an exciting battle over Jonathan Davenport in the main event, Erb wrestled away the lead for good on lap 27 and paced the final 14 circuits en route to his first win of the season and 20th-career LOLMDS triumph. He pocketed the $7,000 payday ahead of Mike Marlar, Davenport, Daulton Wilson, and Dennis Erb Jr.
With confetti still on his car, Erb ended the night by racing from eight-to-first in his make-up heat race from Monday to earn the second-starting spot for the make-up feature on Thursday evening.
After qualifying third fastest in his group for Thursday night’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) program, Tyler battled the handle in his heat race to finish fourth, which relegated him to a B-Main. After winning the B-Main from the pole position, Tyler advanced to the 40-lap feature, where he passed six cars to finish 14th in the $10,000-to-win affair.
Monday’s make-up program finally saw the feature contested following Thursday night’s finale. Rolling off from the outside-front-row for the 30-lap $5,000-to-win feature, Tyler ran in a podium spot for much of the event before ultimately finishing sixth.
Friday evening’s $12,000-to-win event at the 1/3-mile oval saw a second victory of the week slipping from the clutches of the Texas native. After qualifying second fastest in his group and then winning his heat race, Tyler started third in the finale. Charging to the lead on the 13th circuit, Erb paced the field until lap 28. Battling for the top spot, Tyler and the leader made incidental contact, which resulted in damage to Erb’s No. 1 entry, sidelining him to a 24th-place finish.
The historic week of racing at the legendary oval drew to a close on Saturday night with a $15,000-to-win event. Tyler once again hit the ground running with the fastest lap in Allstar Performance qualifying followed by a heat race win to earn the pole position for the feature. Erb led the first 15 circuits before settling into a third-place finish in the 50-lap finale.
Tyler sits ninth in the latest LOLMDS standings.
Full results from the week as well as the latest standings are available at www.LucasDirt.com.
Best Performance Motorsports now turns its attention to the 53rd annual Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park (Barberville, Fla.) this Monday – Saturday. The first two days of the week are highlighted by $7,000-to-win DIRTcar Nationals events, while Wednesday will see the field divided into a trio of $5,000-to-win DIRTcar Nationals features.
The World of Outlaws (WoO) Case Late Model Series sanctions the events on Thursday – Saturday with $12,000 up for grabs the first two nights, followed by a $20,000-to-win finale on Saturday.
Full details on the week are available at www.DIRTcarNationals.com.
Article Credit: Heath Lawson image
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