2/3/2024
Tyler Erb
Runner-up finish in Winter Nationals opener at Ocala Speedway
Best Performance Motorsports pilot, Tyler Erb, unloaded the Bulk Material Lift No. 1 Late Model at the newly rebranded Ocala Speedway (Ocala, Fla.) on Tuesday afternoon to resume the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) speedweeks with the two-day Winter Nationals.
After a strong hot lap session, Erb backed up the third-fastest lap in his time trial group with an eight-lap heat race victory. Taking the green in second for the $10,000-to-win opener, Erb shot underneath Jonathan Davenport on third circuit coming out turn two to assume command of the lead. Attempting to hold off a hard-charging Ricky Thornton Jr. in the closing laps amid lapped-traffic, Tyler surrendered the top spot with two circuits remaining and went on to place second. He finished 0.448 seconds behind Thornton with Devin Moran, Jonathan Davenport, and Mike Marlar rounding out the Top-5.
Chasing another $10,000 top prize in Wednesday’s program at the Florida oval, Tyler took a provisional into the feature after breaking a j-bar in his heat race before the race went green. Cracking the top-10 from the 12th row, Erb marched forward 14 spots in the 40-lapper to register a 10th-place finish.
For a pair of LOLMDS events on Friday and Saturday at All-Tech Raceway (Lake City, Fla.), Erb followed up a consolation victory on Friday evening with a 20th-to-11th march in the 40-lap feature.
Forced to use a provisional into the Winter Finale on Saturday night, Tyler was an early retiree on lap 30.
Full results from the events are available at www.LucasDirt.com.
Article Media
