PLYMOUTH, Ind. — Texas racer Tyler Erb made his second DIRTcar Summer Nationals start of 2020 and came home a winner again, leading flag to flag to capture the $5,000-to-win, 40-lap dirt late model stock car special at Plymouth Speedway Tuesday night.
Hailing from New Waverly, Texas, the 23-year-old Erb, who kicked off this year’s Summer Nationals series with a win at Indiana’s Brownstown Speedway on July 8, wheeled his Best Performance Motorsports-owned, New Point Lighting and Design/Industrial Resourcing Group-sponsored, Rocket Chassis No. 1 to the victory at the three-eighths-mile dirt oval in north central Indiana.
Winning his 10-lap qualifying heat race, Erb started on the outside of the front row of the 22-car field alongside Bobby Pierce, who was on top of the Summer Nationals points before the evening’s action.
Erb and Pierce made contact between turns one and two during the opening lap which caused a complete restart with Pierce suffering nose damage in the altercation with Rusty Schlenk also involved.
Everyone came back for the restart with Erb powering into the lead. Erb built a strong lead with Pierce, Frank Heckenast Jr. and Brian Shirley giving chase. Having some difficulty with lapped traffic, Erb was out front when the yellow flag flew with 27 laps in the books when Matt Lux slowed in turn three with third-place runner Pierce almost crashing into Lux.
With Erb still the leader for the restart, Pierce and Heckenast got together right after the green flag waved again with Heckenast ending up in the turn two wall.
There were still 13 laps to go when the green appeared again with Erb holding the top spot with Shirley now running second. With about 10 laps to go, Shirley got close to Erb but Erb pulled away in the final circuits, taking the checkered flag with a commanding margin.
It was Shirley chasing Erb at the finish with Devin Moran, Jason Feger and Kyle Bronson rounding out the top five.
Definitely the “hard charger” of the night, Feger won the earlier 10-lap “last chance” race and started 16th. Pierce settled for sixth with Gordy Gundaker, Stormy Scott, Jonathan Henry and Tyler Carpenter making up the rest of the top 10.
“I knew Shirley was there (with about 10 laps to go),” said Erb. “I saw his nose. He (Shirley) definitely left me a lane. I appreciate that. It’s part of leading. You’re a sitting duck (on the restarts). I had to make the best decision I could and keep my speed up. The track was slick tonight.”
Thirty-one entries were on hand with Shirley grabbing fast time honors with a lap of 15.536 seconds.
The finish:
Tyler Erb, Brian Shirley, Devin Moran, Jason Feger, Kyle Bronson, Bobby Pierce, Gordy Gundaker, Stormy Scott, Jonathan Henry, Tyler Carpenter, Johnny Scott, Bob Gardner, Allen Weisser, Tim Lance, Tim Lance Jr., Myles Moos, Frank Heckenast Jr., Matt Miller, Matt Lux, Devin Shiels, Trevor Gundaker, Rusty Schlenk.