DAVENPORT, Iowa — Before the 2024 season, only two drivers had won four or more consecutive races to open the DIRTcar Summer Nationals.
Tyler Erb has now made that a three-person club with his fourth-straight feature win Tuesday night at Davenport Speedway.
His company? National Dirt Late Model Hall-of-Famers Scott Bloomquist, who won four-in-a-row to start the season in 1990, and Billy Moyer Sr., who won six-in-a-row to start the 1994 Hell Tour.
“That’s pretty cool because Scott and Billy are two of the best ever,” Erb said. “To be able to be in the same category on anything with them is very, very cool.”
Erb started fourth on the grid after winning his heat race and redrawing fourth-best of all the heat winners. For the first time this season, Erb did not lead the most laps of the main event and was instead forced to battle strong competition to get the top spot in the caution-free contest.
He made his way to second after polesitter Daryn Klein slipped off the edge of the banking on the opening lap. Erb then went side-by-side with new leader Kye Blight down the fronstretch but Blight dove underneath him in turn one and retained the top spot.
Blight, the 31-year-old Australian, began setting a torrid pace around the quarter-mile oval. Blight ran into lap traffic inside the first 10 laps but maneuvered his way around the slower cars to keep a distance between himself and Erb.
But as the laps clicked off, Erb steadily gained on Blight with each circuit. On lap 23, Blight was looking for a lane to get by Max McLaughlin, allowing Erb to pull even with him at the start/finish line.
Erb dove to the bottom side of turn one and slid in front of Blight coming out of turn two to capture the lead. From there, Erb ran away with the race, opening a gap of almost two seconds on Blight by the time the checkered flag waved.
“Kye was fast; his car was really good,” Erb said. “He was running as hard as he could possibly run, and I tried to just pace him. I tried not to get too crazy following him and make a mistake and drive over the cushion or something dumb.
“We just got into lapped traffic, and I made him have to move his line around, and I could tell I could still drive a little straighter and a little harder into the cushion.”
After each win, Erb has mentioned the positive vibes around his team and the role it’s played in the success he’s had so far.
“My crew is happy and working good,” Erb said. “My home life is good, and I guess that has something to do with it too and all that plays a role in being confident. [My team] is confident in me which is big. It’s real easy to get down on yourself; all racers do. We want to be good or the best and when they believe in you it makes you believe in yourself.
“I guess being a good person has helped into this too. I feel like I’m being a better person just in general.”
Zach Zuberbier won the street stock feature and Dakota Cole topped the sport mod race.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[4]; 2. 33-Kye Blight[2]; 3. 10-Garrett Smith[6]; 4. 43-Derrick Stewart[3]; 5. 25-Jason Feger[10]; 6. 58-Tyler Clem[8]; 7. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[7]; 8. 99T-Dylan Thompson[5]; 9. 8-Dillon McCowan[12]; 10. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[14]; 11. 97-Cody Overton[15]; 12. 14JR-Trey Mills[18]; 13. 27M-Rodney Melvin[13]; 14. 22*-Max McLaughlin[17]; 15. 4G-Bob Gardner[19]; 16. 30-Mark Voigt[20]; 17. 29-Spencer Diercks[9]; 18. 25W-Allen Weisser[22]; 19. 28-Carson Brown[21]; 20. 10K-Daryn Klein[1]; 21. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[16]; 22. 32S-Chris Simpson[11]