Tyler Erb Wins Tuesday Night Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Thriller At East Bay

Story By: LUCAS OIL LATE MODEL DIRT SERIES – TAMPA, FL – Tyler Erb made a late-race pass on Brandon Overton to win Tuesday Night’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event at East Bay Raceway Park.

A caution flew on the final lap for Brandon Sheppard just before the checkered flag, setting up a duel between Erb and Overton for the top of the podium. The victory for Erb was his 10th career win in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Competition, his third career win at “The Clay by the Bay”, and his third overall win of 2021.

Shirley jumped to the lead at the start of the race and led the first nine laps. Overton moved up from his fifth starting spot to grab the lead. A three-car battle for the lead ensued between Overton, Shirley, and Erb for the remainder of the race.

In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the first time this season Erb commented that the finish would have made for a great television ending. “I thought that would have made a great tv thing. We were able to pull through. It made my heart skip a beat when I headed to the checkered and then the caution came out. I was not happy about that. We definitely had to work for everything we have gotten this week. I can’t thank the crew enough for all they do. Eric Brock gave me the opportunity of a lifetime to drive his car and we hope to be in for a long time.”

Overton was in the hunt once again for a victory at the 1/3 mile oval track. “It’s just hard to make that right call every night on the car because the track changes so much. We just want to keep it on the podium.”

Shirley was the overall fastest qualifier for the 74 entrants and was looking for his first career win in the series and at East Bay but came home third. “I don’t have a ton of experience here. We have run just a few times up front. It is not one of my better tracks. I was set up for the track to get a little blacker where I could steer a little better. I couldn’t hug the corners where I needed to.”

The winner’s Eric and Kelly Brock-owned Best Performance Motorsports Rocket Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and is sponsored by Industrial Resourcing Group, Roberts Bee Company, First Class Septic, Bazell Race Fuels, Lucas Oil Products, Sunoco Race Fuels, Keyser, Franklin Enterprises, KBC Graphics, Boxo, and Corey Frazier State Farm Insurance.

Completing the top ten were Tanner English, Johnny Scott, Hudson O’Neal, Devin Moran, and Tyler Bruening.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Wrisco Industries 45th Annual Winter Nationals – Presented by Lucas Oil
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
East Bay Raceway Park – Tampa, FL

Allstar Performance Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Tanner English / 14.499 seconds
Fast Time Group B: Brian Shirley / 14.256 seconds (overall)

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 81E-Tanner English[1]; 2. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[2]; 3. 16-Tyler Bruening[3]; 4. 49-Jonathan Davenport[5]; 5. 7R-Ross Robinson[4]; 6. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[10]; 7. 36-Matt Irey[6]; 8. 14R-Jeff Roth[13]; 9. 29-Larry Grube[12]; 10. J8-Jadon Frame[7]; 11. 33J-Jeff Mathews[9]; 12. 17D-Zack Dohm[8]; 13. C4-Freddie Carpenter[11]

Summit Racing Equipment Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]; 3. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[1]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar[3]; 5. 11H-Spencer Hughes[7]; 6. 111-Steven Roberts[8]; 7. 19R-Ryan Gustin[5]; 8. 2D-Dan Stone[6]; 9. 4B-Richie Edwards[11]; 10. 111M-Matthew Lux[12]; 11. 99B-Boom Briggs[10]; 12. 1G-Ryan King[9]

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[2]; 3. 9-Devin Moran[4]; 4. 54-David Breazeale[3]; 5. 14-Josh Richards[5]; 6. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[7]; 7. 00H-Wil Herrington[9]; 8. 00S-Jesse Stovall[6]; 9. 48-Colton Flinner[12]; 10. 311-Ken Monahan[8]; 11. 18J-Chase Junghans[10]; 12. 7T-Drake Troutman[11]

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 3. 28E-Dennis Erb Jr[4]; 4. 8-Kyle Strickler[5]; 5. 0E-Rick Eckert[2]; 6. 12D-Doug Drown[6]; 7. 14B-John Baker[8]; 8. 66C-Matt Cosner[7]; 9. 51-Dean Carpenter[10]; 10. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[9]; 11. 3W-Brennon Willard[12]; 12. 94M-Jason Miller[11]; 13. (DNS) 212-Josh Putnam

MyRacePass Heat Race #5 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 22-Gregg Satterlee[4]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 4. 311A-Ashton Winger[5]; 5. 20-Jimmy Owens[3]; 6. 20B-Todd Brennan[6]; 7. 81-Jason Riggs[7]; 8. 4S-Danny Snyder[8]; 9. 27J-Joe Denby[12]; 10. 2S-Stormy Scott[10]; 11. 8A-Rob Anderzack[9]; 12. 995-Manny Falcon[11]

Fast Shafts Heat Race #6 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 25-Shane Clanton[2]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 3. 1ST-Johnny Scott[6]; 4. 40C-Joel Callahan[5]; 5. 385-Mark Whitener[7]; 6. 44H-Dave Hess Jr[3]; 7. 14G-Joe Godsey[9]; 8. 18S-David Seibers[8]; 9. 6S-Blake Spencer[11]; 10. 24D-Michael Brown[4]; 11. 0G-Deshawn Gingerich[10]; 12. 51B-Brandon Carpenter[12]

LINE-X B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 2. 11H-Spencer Hughes[4]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 4. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[5]; 5. 7R-Ross Robinson[3]; 6. 111M-Matthew Lux[14]; 7. 36-Matt Irey[7]; 8. 4B-Richie Edwards[12]; 9. 99B-Boom Briggs[16]; 10. 14R-Jeff Roth[9]; 11. 33J-Jeff Mathews[15]; 12. 1G-Ryan King[18]; 13. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]; 14. 111-Steven Roberts[6]; 15. J8-Jadon Frame[13]; 16. 2D-Dan Stone[10]; 17. 29-Larry Grube[11]; 18. (DNS) 17D-Zack Dohm; 19. (DNS) C4-Freddie Carpenter

UNOH B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 8-Kyle Strickler[2]; 2. 14-Josh Richards[3]; 3. 0E-Rick Eckert[4]; 4. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[5]; 5. 14B-John Baker[8]; 6. 51-Dean Carpenter[12]; 7. 12D-Doug Drown[6]; 8. 00H-Wil Herrington[7]; 9. 18J-Chase Junghans[15]; 10. 00S-Jesse Stovall[9]; 11. 48-Colton Flinner[11]; 12. 311-Ken Monahan[13]; 13. 94M-Jason Miller[18]; 14. 66C-Matt Cosner[10]; 15. 3W-Brennon Willard[16]; 16. 54-David Breazeale[1]; 17. 7T-Drake Troutman[17]; 18. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[14]; 19. (DNS) 212-Josh Putnam

Wrisco Industries B-Main #3 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 385-Mark Whitener[4]; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens[3]; 3. 311A-Ashton Winger[1]; 4. 2S-Stormy Scott[13]; 5. 40C-Joel Callahan[2]; 6. 27J-Joe Denby[11]; 7. 8A-Rob Anderzack[15]; 8. 6S-Blake Spencer[12]; 9. 0G-Deshawn Gingerich[16]; 10. 18S-David Seibers[10]; 11. 14G-Joe Godsey[8]; 12. 4S-Danny Snyder[9]; 13. 51B-Brandon Carpenter[18]; 14. (DNS) 44H-Dave Hess Jr; 15. (DNS) 81-Jason Riggs; 16. (DNS) 24D-Michael Brown; 17. (DNS) 995-Manny Falcon; 18. (DNS) 20B-Todd Brennan

Lucas Oil Feature Finish (30 Laps):