Cedar Lake Speedway
Terbo's Cedar Lake win provides sense of relief
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Tyler Erb rolls along at Cedar Lake. (photosbyboyd.smugmug.com)
NEW RICHMOND, Wis. (July 30) — On the surface, polesitter Tyler Erb's flag-to-flag victory in Thursday's 30-lap USA Nationals opener appeared routine. But the 29-year-old accomplished far more than a run-of-the-mill win at Cedar Lake Speedway. | RaceWire
Erb left with a measure of relief, knowing the frustration of last week’s action at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway — where he spun twice while running in the top five — was well behind him. He also left with a sense of redemption. The late-race run-in with Bobby Pierce during the 2020 USA Nationals finale has never been far from Erb's mind.
After spinning while battling Pierce in the 100-lapper then, Erb drove backward on the track under caution to confront him, climbed onto the nose of Pierce's car and was disqualified, ultimately leading to a year-long absence from World Racing Group competition.
“I haven’t ran good here since I got police-escorted out,” Erb said in victory lane. “I have ran good here before, I just had one bad weekend and I feel like I’ve paid for it every time I’ve came here since.
“Last week, we had a good car at Fairbury, and when it doesn’t work out, it’s really hard for me to not lose my mind … I’m working on that,” he added. “Tonight was just a testament to that. We went home this week, worked, did everything we were supposed to do. I only got in one fight with the lady in the toll booth in Chicago, so (things have) gone pretty smooth this week.”
Just as importantly, Erb came away with the impression that Thursday’s closing stretch offered a preview of the kind of racetrack he hopes to see — and thrive on — at the end of Saturday's 100-lap, $100,000-to-win finale.
“If that was the same racetrack for 100 laps, the bottom would’ve gotten really good and you would’ve had to move down at some point,” Erb said. “Saturday they love the full farm. They’re going to farm it and it’s going to be a lot faster for 50 laps, and then by the end of the feature Saturday, it’ll be about how we ended there. That honestly makes me feel good. I don’t mind it slowing down at all. It was just getting very technical, very quick. I’m glad it was 30 and didn’t hit lapped traffic again. Just have to see the cards we’re dealt on Saturday.”
As for what he can control, Erb still has work to do before Saturday's 100-lap finale. While Bobby Pierce and Nick Hoffman have combined to win 22 of the first 38 World of Outlaws Late Model Series features this season, Erb believes Brandon Sheppard is the driver everyone must beat this weekend.
The encouraging part for Erb is he believes he can match Sheppard's pace. He was ahead of the Rocket1 Racing driver in last Wednesday's FloRacing Night in America feature before contact with Josh Rice battling for second sent him spinning. Then, while battling Sheppard for third in Saturday's Prairie Dirt Classic, enough door-to-door contact entering turn three upset Erb's car just enough to send him around again.
The discouraging part is that Sheppard and Mark Richards Racing have been converting many podium runs into victories — seven wins and 11 podium finishes his last 18 races — while Erb had finished in the top-five seven times over an 11-race winless stretch.
“Starting further ahead of him will help. Having that is always the deal,” Erb said. “If you go back to last week Wednesday, I had him beat. Started ahead of him and it worked out until it didn’t. Then the prelim Friday, he beat us fair and square. He was good. Saturday I felt really good because I pulled up next to him trying to pass him, and obviously that didn’t play out for me.
“I feel like we’re 50-50. I feel like we beat him 50 percent of the time,” he added. “It’s just, when I beat him, he runs sixth and I run third. … When I seen Shepp get to second on the board (in Thursday’s feature), I was like, ‘I’d be damned. Here we go.’ But no, it’s cool, man. I really appreciate Mark and everything those guys do.”
Erb, however, isn't quite ready to let go of what transpired at Fairbury. Reflecting on separate incidents with Josh Rice and Brandon Sheppard, he disputed the notion they were, “as everyone says, just racing deals," arguing drivers at this level are too skilled for contact to be purely accidental.
“No, it’s not a racing deal. Listen, I’m going to explain it the best way I can explain it,” Erb said before teeing up one of his quintessential rants. “Jacob Misiorowski, ring a bell? Milwaukee Brewers — best pitcher in the MLB right now. Guy throws 107 (MPH). If he hits you in the side of the head, he knows what he’s doing. You don’t accidentally hit someone on the side of the head at 107. You can throw inside and make them go, ‘Whoa.’ We’re all really good, and I say that as a compliment. Everybody is really good, so, nobody accidentally does s---. Let’s just get that out there. And I’m not dogging Sheppy or Rice.
“I can run down this straightaway and be like, ‘I’m going to hit this penny on the ground’ because I’ve done it for 12 years. And they’ve done it longer, then they’re that much better. That’s my whole deal. There’s no accidents — we all know what we’re doing. You can make it look like an accident and say that’s just hard racing.
“And I’m really not mad them, I’m over it. But what if you go to a dentist and they say, ‘F—, I pulled the wrong tooth.’ Come on, you’re not f------ dumb. They know what they’re doing. Racing is the same way.”
Despite his candid remarks, Erb made sure to separate his opinion of the incidents from his opinion of the people involved. He closed his thoughts on the ordeal by expressing admiration for Sheppard, Rocket Chassis co-owner Mark Richards and the entire Rocket1 Racing organization.
“They do a great job. … I do appreciate everything they do for us and our race team,” Erb said. “I’m really not that mad at them. I was mad, but I wasn’t mad — it’s a different kind of mad.”
Part of Erb hopes he gets another chance to race Sheppard head-to-head in a crown jewel. Beating the Rocket1 Racing driver straight up, in Erb's mind, would make the accomplishment a vindication. Then again, he'd be perfectly content if Saturday's finale never presented the opportunity.
“I would like to be ahead of him and not have to mess with him,” Erb said. “But if you’re behind him, you just have to have a really good race car, and hopefully things play out in our favor.”
Usually, there isn't as much to learn when a driver leads flag-to-flag from the pole. But Erb felt Thursday's victory still taught him plenty, particularly once he caught lapped traffic. His biggest takeaway? He needs to "run lower in traffic" because "when you're in dirty air, you're just in a bad spot.”
“When I hit traffic, I could tell, running higher behind them guys probably wasn’t better,” he said. “I could see Hudson (O’Neal) on the restarts and everything blowing in there next to me. I just felt like, as long as I didn’t complete butcher (turns) three and four, it would be hard for him to get a run. I kept watching the top of three and four, and I was like, ‘Man, it’s got to be good up there.’ I didn’t see anyone making a run, so I kept sticking to my guns.”
Those small but integral adjustments are exactly the kind of details Erb believes have elevated his game this season. To consistently challenge Pierce and Hoffman, he knows there can't be many missed opportunities or overlooked details.
Even if the win column hasn't reflected it as often as he'd like — Thursday marked his third WoO victory of the season, his most on a national tour since winning seven in 2021 — Erb believes his driving has never been better.
“I’ve told a lot people this year — this is probably my best year of racing ever,” Erb said. “I just race Bobby Pierce and Nick Hoffman every night. That puts a damper on it. And Hoffman’s in the same boat. This is the best year he’s ever had, but he races Bobby every night. And that’s tough because that guy wins triple the races we do.
“I’m not mad about it. I’m excited, I’m happy. Won tonight, feel like I have a little bit of a grip on it going into tomorrow and Saturday. That’s all you can ask for.”
