Despite numerous close calls in crown jewel dirt late model races at Eldora Speedway, Nick Hoffman had yet to conquer the Big E on its biggest nights.
That changed on Saturday night as Hoffman was in the right place at the right time to win the 56 th running of the World 100, the most prestigious of all dirt late model races.
Hoffman started the 100-lap event in ninth position and was riding third when the race turned upside down. With 13 laps to go, second-place Jonathan Davenport stopped with a flat tire. That put Hoffman in position to challenge leader Ryan Gustin on the restart.
That’s when the unthinkable happened. Gustin broke a driveshaft on his No. 19r machine on the restart. Hoffman inherited the lead and held off Ricky Thornton Jr. to score the biggest victory of his career and a $100,000 payday.
