PEVELY, Mo. (June 25) — If former Major League Baseball catcher Yogi Berra was watching Dennis Erb Jr. Saturday night, he’d probably repeat his famous line, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.”
Along with winning for the second straight night at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 to sweep the inaugural St. Louis Firecracker Faceoff, Erb also pulled the same winning move he did in Friday’s main event.
In Saturday’s 55-lap finale of the World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series/DIRTcar Summer Nationals weekend, the 49-year-old driver from Carpentersville, Ill., driver drove by race-long pacesetter Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill., for the lead rounding turns three and four on lap 28 and never looked back en route to a $20,000 payday. Combined with his 40-lap triumph on Friday, he left the 3/8-mile, high-banked oval with 30-grand in first-place checks.
Erb went unchallenged over the race’s second half to win back-to-back features, beating Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., to the finish line by 3.248 seconds. Feger settled for third and leading laps 1-27 off the pole while fifth-place starter Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., placed fourth and WoO rookie Gordy Gundaker of St. Charles, Mo., completed the top five after starting third.
“We were just riding out there and following (Feger) for a little bit,” said Erb, who started fourth in his XR1 Rocket. “I knew we were starting to get into traffic, and I was trying to watch him and see how he was entering the corner. He just went in there and gave me enough room to sneak up underneath him.”
Erb’s win was his fourth on the WoO tour this season to lead all drivers. It was also his 13th overall career series triumph and his 25th DIRTcar Summer Nationals win.
While Erb was able to move past Feger for the lead early in the race, he was still left with having to maneuver through traffic in the remaining distance. He stated that being aggressive was important considering the caliber of drivers behind him.
“I knew we had a good group behind me there, so there was no time to relax,” Erb said. “We just had to make our marks and watch the cars in front of us. You just really can’t back off because you never know what’s going to happen.”
Erb extended his WoO points lead for the second consecutive night, departing the track 144 points ahead of Max Blair of Centerville, Pa., who finished 11th.
Feger was passed by Pierce for second on lap 46 and finished more than a second behind Pierce’s runner-up machine. He noted he couldn’t get his car to stick to the bottom the way he wanted, allowing Erb and Pierce to overtake him.
“I just felt like I was too tight to keep it down there,” Feger said. “I couldn’t get rotated. I couldn’t, like, enter in on the bottom and get rotated.
“I kind of based everything off of (Friday) night and how the track raced. I thought there’d be enough speed to go there, which there was, but instead of all the lapped cars being on the bottom, they were in the middle. So it just kind of made it hard to pass, and (Pierce) and Dennis could rotate the bottom better than I could.”
The 25-year-old Pierce made his way to second from the eighth starting spot. He snuck by Feger on the bottom late in the feature but didn’t have enough time to catch Erb.
“I was searching a little bit, and the top wasn’t really there like it normally is in the past,” Pierce said. “It’s not even like the bottom had that much moisture. The top was just so slick and crumbly. There wasn’t enough bite up there to really get anything going, so it is what it is.
“But hey, coming from eighth to second, cat-fishing like that and scraping the inside wall, we’ll take it any day.”
Pierce also extended his DIRTcar Summer Nationals points lead over Ryan Unzicker of El Paso, Ill., who finished ninth.
The race’s lone caution flag flew on lap six for Brian Shirley’s flat right-rear tire.
Feature lineup
(55 laps)
Row 1: Jason Feger, Logan Martin
Row 2: Gordy Gundaker, Dennis Erb Jr.
Row 3: Shannon Babb, Frank Heckenast Jr.
Row 4: Brian Shirley, Bobby Pierce
Row 5: Daryn Klein, Cade Dillard
Row 6: Max Blair, Jeff Herzog
Row 7: Jordan Bauer, Brent Larson
Row 8: Josh Richards, Joe Godsey
Row 9: Shane Clanton, Tanner English
Row 10: Ryan Gustin, Michael Kloos
Row 11: Boom Briggs, Rusty Griffaw
Row 12: Ryan Unzicker, Trevor Gundaker
Row 13: Paul Roider, Payton Freeman
Consolation results
(10 laps; top three transfer)
First consolation: Shane Clanton, Ryan Gustin, Boom Briggs, Brent McKinnon, Billy Moyer Jr., Stormy Scott, Kyle Beard, Preston Luckman, Justin Duty, Paul Kuper, Blaze Burwell, Deshawn Gingerich, Paul Roider, Tony Wolf, Dane Dacus, Tyler Worley.
Second consolation: Tanner English, Michael Kloos, Rusty Griffaw, Payton Freeman, Ryan Unzicker, Doug Tye, Jeff Roth, Trevor Gundaker, Mark Voigt, Mason Oberkramer, Shannon Kuhn, Kye Blight, Jeb Simmons, Mick Quin. Scratched: Scott Geaschel.
Heat race results
(Eight laps; top four transfer)
First heat: Logan Martin Frank Heckenast Jr., Daryn Klein, Jordan Bauer, Shane Clanton, Ryan Gustin, Justin Duty, Brent McKinnon, Kyle Beard, Blaze Burwell, Paul Roider, Paul Kuper.
Second heat: Jason Feger, Brian Shirley, Max Blair, Josh Richards, Boom Briggs, Billy Moyer Jr., Preston Luckman, Dane Dacus, Deshawn Gingerich, Tyler Worley, Tony Wolf, Stormy Scott.
Third heat: Gordy Gundaker, Bobby Pierce, Cade Dillard, Brent Larson, Michael Kloos, Tanner English, Rusty Griffaw, Doug Tye, Mason Oberkramer, Kye Blight, Shannon Kuhn. Scratched: Scott Gaeshel.
Fourth heat: Dennis Erb Jr., Shannon Babb, Jeff Herzog, Joe Godsey, Payton Freeman, Ryan Unzicker, Trevor Gundaker, Jeff Roth, Mark Voigt, Jeb Simmons, Mick Quin.
Time trials
Driver (car no.), hometown, time (unofficial)
Group A
- Logan Martin (36), West Plains, Mo., 12.907
- Josh Richards (1R), Shinnston, W.Va., 12.942
- Frank Heckenast Jr. (99jr), Frankfort, Ill., 13.005
- Jason Feger (25), Bloomington, Ill., 13.077
- Daryn Klein (10), Fairview Heights, Ill., 13.085
- Brian Shirley (3s), Chatham, Ill., 13.189
- Brent McKinnon (26M), Carlyle, Ill., 13.220
- Boom Briggs (99B), Bear Lake, Pa., 13.242
- Jordan Bauer (10J), St. Jacob, Ill., 13.259
- Max Blair (111v), Centerville, Pa., 13.289
- Paul Kuper (14k), Aviston, Ill., 13.304
- Preston Luckman (77) Coos Bay, Ore., 13.306
- Shane Clanton (25), Zebulon, Ga., 13.327
- Dane Dacus (54), Lakeland, Tenn., 13.330
- Ryan Gustin (19r), Marshalltown, Iowa, 13.334
- Billy Moyer Jr. (21), Batesville, Ark., 13.371
- Justin Duty (15), Mulino, Ore., 13.432
- Deshawn Gingerich (0), Dover, Pa., 13.489
- Blaze Burwell (44), Mount Vernon, Ill., 13.514
- Stormy Scott (2s), Las Cruces, N.M., 13.560
- Paul Roider (23), Columbia, Ill., 13.751
- Tyler Worley (26), St. Genevieve, Mo., 13.852
- Kyle Beard (86), Trumann, Ark., 13.900
- Tony Wolf (16), Highland, Ill., 14.260
Group B
- Gordy Gundaker (11), St. Charles, Mo., 13.135
- Dennis Erb Jr. (28), Carpentersville, Ill., 13.179
- Brent Larson (B1), Lake Elmo, Minn., 13.183
- Shannon Babb (18), Moweaqua, Ill., 13.256
- Cade Dillard (97), Robeline, La., 13.344
- Payton Freeman (F1), Commerce, Ga., 13.356
- Bobby Pierce (32), Oakwood, Ill., 13.398
- Joe Godsey (14G), Edinburgh, Ind., 13.424
- Michael Kloos (6K), Trenton, Ill., 13.447
- Jeff Herzog (11H), Festus, Mo., 13.460
- Doug Tye (4D), Collinsville, Ill., 13.461
- Trevor Gundaker (11), St. Charles, Mo., 13.480
- Kye Blight (31k), Katanning, Western AU , 13.534
- Ryan Unzicker (24), El Paso, Ill., 13.584
- Tanner English (81E), Benton, Ky., 13.594
- Mark Voigt (30), Marine, Ill., 13.619
- Mason Oberkramer (93), Broseley, Mo., 13.691
- Jeff Roth (14R), Bentonville, Ark., 14.031
- Rusty Griffaw (16), Festus, Mo., 14.122
- Mick Quinn (23NZ), Hawks Bay, New Zealand, 14.280
- Shannon Kuhn (11k), Highland, Ill., 14.719
- Jeb Simmons (86), Wentzville, Mo., 15.088
- Scott Geaschel (4E), Collinsville, Ill., no time
Saturday's schedule
6 p.m. - Drivers' meeting
6:30 p.m. - Hot laps
- Late Model hot laps
- Sprint car hot laps
- Late Model time trials (2 laps)
- Sprint car time trails
- Modified hot laps/time trials
Opening ceremonies
- Sprint car heats (8 laps)
- Late Model heats (8 laps)
- Sprint car consolation (10 laps)
- Late Model consolations (10 laps)
- Modified consolations (10 laps)
Feature races
- Sprint cars (35 laps)
- Late Models (55 laps)
- Modifieds (25 laps)
