Dennis Erb Jr. is no stranger to Victory Lane with the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models. But how he won Friday’s Feature at River Cities Speedway was unexpected.
The Carpentersville, IL driver didn’t use his preferred inside lane, instead of going to the top en route to his third Series win of 2021. Erb made decided to stay there because of how well his Rocket Chassis was running.
“I wanted to go back down but it felt pretty good up [top] and I wanted to keep my momentum up and I really didn’t want to break anything there,” Erb said. “I would’ve rather gotten down to the bottom, but it was working too good up top.”
For a few laps, it seemed the outside wasn’t the place to be. Jimmy Mars nosed ahead of Erb a couple of times on the bottom hoping to steal the win away. But as both drivers inched toward the back of the field, traffic played into Erb’s favor. Most of the cars were on the bottom, giving him a clear lane on the outside.
Erb’s anticipation of traffic in front of him played a role in collecting the $10,000 prize.
“I was trying to watch the cars ahead of me as we were coming up on them because I wanted to keep my speed up and not really back out of it,” Erb said.
The win is Erb’s ninth career World of Outlaws triumph, moving him to 18th on the all-time wins list. He breaks a tie with Mike Marlar and Mars, who finished second.
While slower traffic gave Erb an advantage, it didn’t help the Menomonie, WI driver. Mars had to break his momentum a few times fighting for the win.
“We just kind of got caught up with lap cars and that’s kind of the way it goes,” Mars said. “We got a second out of it, so we’ll take it and move on to the next one.”
Even though he wasn’t victorious, “The Iceman” was still smiling about his podium finish when the race was over.
“[The World of Outlaws] drivers are all top-notch,” Mars said. “To be able to come in every once in a while, and just be pretty competitive says a lot for our team. I’m pretty happy with that overall.”
Ryan Gustin, the top Rookie of the race finished third. The Marshalltown, IA felt his car was a little off, which kept him from catching the top two.
Race Results: 7/16/21 River Cities Speedway
Morton Buildings Feature (40 Laps)-1. 28-Dennis Erb [1][$10,000]; 2. 28M-Jimmy Mars [2][$6,000]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin [4][$3,500]; 4. 97-Cade Dillard [3][$2,800]; 5. 1-Brandon Sheppard [7][$2,500]; 6. 99JR-Frank Heckenast [11][$2,300]; 7. 12-Brad Seng [5][$2,200]; 8. 7P-Joey Pederson [6][$2,100]; 9. 7-Ricky Weiss [8][$2,050]; 10. 44-Chris Madden [15][$2,000]; 11. 44S-Cole Schill [9][$1,600]; 12. 16-Tyler Bruening [17][$1,400]; 13. 55C-Chad Mahder [10][$1,200]; 14. 99B-Boom Briggs [14][$1,100]; 15. B1-Brent Larson [12][$1,050]; 16. 6M-Jeff Massingill [18][$1,000]; 17. 14-Brody Troftgruben [21][$1,000]; 18. E85-Jason Strand [16][$1,000]; 19. 10-Paul Parker [13][$1,000]; 20. F9-Brandon Fuller [22][$1,000]; 21. T1-Tommy Corcoran [19][$1,000]; 22. 90-Lance Matthees [23][$1,000]; 23. 45-Kyle Hammer [24][$1,000]; 24. 77-Jordan Yaggy [20][$1,000] Hard Charger: 99JR-Frank Heckenast[+5]
Qualifying Flight-A –1. 1-Brandon Sheppard, 12.568; 2. 99JR-Frank Heckenast, 12.603; 3. 28M-Jimmy Mars, 12.633; 4. 97-Cade Dillard, 12.678; 5. 44S-Cole Schill, 12.835; 6. 16-Tyler Bruening, 12.862; 7. 17-Mike Greseth, 12.888; 8. 7-Ricky Weiss, 12.907; 9. 5E-Shane Edginton, 12.995; 10. T1-Tommy Corcoran, 13.009; 11. 10-Paul Parker, 13.073; 12. 44-Chris Madden, 13.201; 13. 45-Kyle Hammer, 13.208; 14. 77-Jordan Yaggy, 13.327; 15. 2X-Cody Erickson, 13.73
Qualifying Flight-B-1. 28-Dennis Erb, 12.513; 2. 7P-Joey Pederson, 12.769; 3. 12-Brad Seng, 12.85; 4. B1-Brent Larson, 12.861; 5. 76-Blair Nothdurft, 12.866; 6. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 12.902; 7. 55C-Chad Mahder, 12.994; 8. C4-Ryan Corbett, 12.997; 9. 99B-Boom Briggs, 13.059; 10. 14-Brody Troftgruben, 13.082; 11. 6M-Jeff Massingill, 13.226; 12. E85-Jason Strand, 13.268; 13. 90-Lance Matthees, 13.286; 14. F9-Brandon Fuller, 13.314; 15. 2D-Dan Dowling, 14.526
Drydene Heat #1 – Flight (A) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer-1. 28M-Jimmy Mars [2]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard [1]; 3. 44S-Cole Schill [3]; 4. 10-Paul Parker [6]; 5. 5E-Shane Edginton [5]; 6. 2X-Cody Erickson [8]; 7. 45-Kyle Hammer [7]; 8. 17-Mike Greseth [4]
Drydene Heat #2 – Flight (A) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer-1. 97-Cade Dillard [2]; 2. 7-Ricky Weiss [4]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast [1]; 4. 44-Chris Madden [6]; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening [3]; 6. T1-Tommy Corcoran [5]; 7. 77-Jordan Yaggy [7]
Drydene Heat #3 – Flight (B) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer-1. 28-Dennis Erb [1]; 2. 12-Brad Seng [2]; 3. 55C-Chad Mahder [4]; 4. 99B-Boom Briggs [5]; 5. 76-Blair Nothdurft [3]; 6. 90-Lance Matthees [7]; 7. 6M-Jeff Massingill [6]; 8. 2D-Dan Dowling [8]
Drydene Heat #4 – Flight (B) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer-1. 19R-Ryan Gustin [3]; 2. 7P-Joey Pederson [1]; 3. B1-Brent Larson [2]; 4. E85-Jason Strand [6]; 5. F9-Brandon Fuller [7]; 6. 14-Brody Troftgruben [5]; 7. C4-Ryan Corbett [4]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps) – Top 6 Transfer-1. 16-Tyler Bruening [2][-]; 2. 6M-Jeff Massingill [11][-]; 3. T1-Tommy Corcoran [6][-]; 4. 77-Jordan Yaggy [10][]; 5. 14-Brody Troftgruben [8][]; 6. F9-Brandon Fuller [4][]; 7. 90-Lance Matthees [7][]; 8. 45-Kyle Hammer [9][]; 9. 76-Blair Nothdurft [3][$110]; 10. 2D-Dan Dowling [14][$110]; 11. 5E-Shane Edginton [1][]; 12. 2X-Cody Erickson [5][]; 13. C4-Ryan Corbett [12][]; 14. 17-Mike Greseth [13][]