Erb Snaps Three-Year WoO Late Model Winless Drought

Tyler Erb (center) won Friday's World of Outlaws Late Model Series race at Mississippi Thunder Speedway. (Emily Schwanke photo)

FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. – Prior to Friday night, it had been three years since Tyler Erb last rolled into victory lane with the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTvision.

He’d done plenty of winning since then – including 11 wins and a DIRTcar Summer Nationals ‘Hell Tour’ championship last season – but an Outlaws trophy had eluded him since at Atomic Speedway in 2022.

That changed after Erb put on a masterclass in the Dairyland Showdown at Mississippi Thunder Speedway for his fourth career World of Outlaws late model triumph.

“This is top five, one of my favorite places for sure,” Erb said. “Bob [Timm], his whole family, Jake, super good people. At no point in being here do I hate this place or hate anything about it. The people around here, some of my buddies and friends that come, the racetrack, the family, the fans, it’s fantastic.

“I could race here every weekend.”

Erb pulled the Bilstein Pole Award in the re-draw and capitalized on his good fortune, riding the top lane to the early advantage. While Erb quickly put a second between him and the field, the race was on behind him, as Brian Shirley and Bobby Pierce traded sliders for second.

But soon after Shirley gave up the second spot, engine trouble brought his night to an early end.

The No. 3S may have been out of the picture, but Pierce immediately had Nick Hoffman to deal with, as Hoffman made the slider work on Pierce and went to work reeling in Erb.

Slower traffic got thick in the second half of the 50-lap main event, but Erb refused to give up the top of the track while making his way through. That decision paid off, as he pulled out to a 1.4-second margin at the checkered flag.

“I knew at some point the top would probably be the best bet,” Erb said. “I really didn’t expect it to be that good down [in Turns 3 and 4], but my guys were telling me ‘come on, do something.’ Finally, we hit lap cars there and I got in a pretty good rhythm. I could damn near drive wide open straight into [turn] one, just tried not to blow the tires completely off this thing.

“Once I started entering all the way up on the wall, full commit, I felt like I stretched out a little bit.”

Hoffman’s second-place effort was enough to stand on the podium for the first time since Smoky Mountain Speedway in March and cut Pierce’s points lead to 80 entering Saturday’s finale.

“It was almost a situation where I needed to be a little bit tighter to run that bottom and middle,” Hoffman said. “But then if I would have tightened myself up, then I wouldn’t have been able to run that cushion like I could at the end there. It’s a fine line. I just kept my foot in it and got to the point where I had to run that fence like they were, otherwise Bobby and those guys would have drove right by me.

“Felt like our race car was pretty good, but definitely have a little bit of work to do to get a little bit better.”

Pierce came home third for his sixth podium in the last seven World of Outlaws races, but was unable to keep pace with Erb and Hoffman on the top to contend for the win in the late stages.

“We were right there, it was a good race, I just couldn’t make anything work,” Pierce said. “I felt like the car just got worse at the end of the race. I just went back to the bottom and ran third.”

Tim McCreadie had his best night of the season in fourth, while Ashton Winger drove from 18th to fifth for his second top five of the year and the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Saturday’s Dairyland Showdown finale at Mississippi Thunder pays $30,000 to the winner.

The finish:

Feature (50 laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb [1]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman [5]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce [4]; 4. 9M-Tim McCreadie [6]; 5. 12-Ashton Winger [18]; 6. 19R-Ryan Gustin [3]; 7. 74X-Ethan Dotson [13]; 8. 28-Dennis Erb Jr. [12]; 9. 25S-Chad Simpson [9]; 10. 32S-Chris Simpson [15]; 11. 16-Tyler Bruening [17]; 12. 19-Dustin Sorensen [7]; 13. 22*-Drake Troutman [11]; 14. 2-Cody Overton [10]; 15. B1-Brent Larson [14]; 16. 96-Tanner English [23]; 17. 111-Max Blair [16]; 18. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain [24]; 19. 49-Jake Timm [25]; 20. 11-Austin Smith [26]; 21. 28M-Sam Mars [20]; 22. 1X-Aaron Marrant [22]; 23. 14S-Collen Winebarger [21]; 24. 3S-Brian Shirley [2]; 25. 97-Cade Dillard [8]; 26. 25-Shane Clanton [19].