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Tyler Erb Jets to victory on Late Model Knoxville Nationals Night One

By Bill Wright (Knoxville, IA) -- Tyler Erb took the lead early and drove to his second career win at the Knoxville Raceway in Thursday’s night #1 of the 17th Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals presented by BRANDT Professional Agriculture. The New Waverly, Texas driver was paid $7,000 for his win.

Ricky Weiss, who became the first Canadian late model winner at Knoxville two years ago, led lap one of the 25-lap main event ahead of Erb, Jonathan Davenport, Tyler Bruening and Tim McCreadie.

PHOTO: Thursday winner Tyler Erb is flanked by Kyle Larson (3rd) and Jonathan Davenport (2nd)--CREDIT: Ken's Racing Pix

Erb shot to the point on lap two and rode the low side of the half-mile out front. McCreadie would move by Bruening on lap eight for fourth, and Kyle Larson would follow into the top five on lap 13.

The leaders hit lapped traffic on the fourteenth circuit. Two laps later, Davenport found his way by Weiss for second. At that point, Chris Simpson slowed, bringing a caution. Erb led Davenport, Weiss, McCreadie and Larson back to green.

Larson shot by McCreadie for fourth on the cushion before Mike Marlar stopped and exited with six laps to go. Erb continued to lead after the restart over Davenport, while Larson worked his way by Weiss for the third spot.

A final restart occurred after Hudson O’Neal and Logan Martin contacted hard in turn four with two to go, bringing out the red flag. Both drivers were uninjured.

Erb cruised the final two laps to win over Davenport, Larson, Weiss and Kyle Strickler. McCreadie, Earl Pearson Jr., Bruening, Chad Simpson and Brandon Sheppard rounded out the top ten. Strickler and Larson set quick time in their respective groups, while Chase Junghans, McCreadie, Weiss, Erb, O’Neal and Josh Richards won heat races. Ricky Thornton Jr. and Shane Clanton claimed the B mains.

Larson was the high point man on the night, but will leave town for his NASCAR obligations. Erb, McCreadie, Strickler and Weiss followed him in points. Drivers will use their top point night between Thursday and Friday to set up Saturday’s lineup (full points below).

“Three years ago, I won my first National race here,” said Erb in Victory Lane. “To win tonight again is awesome. Racing is so up and down. (Davenport and Larson) are at the top of their game. What a lot of people don’t see from the outside, is this day and age, if your car is bad, you’re bad. We’ve been working to make our car better. They are two of the best drivers right now in their craft, and it feels good to beat them.”

“We weren’t that good really,” said Davenport. “We were a whole lot better than we normally are here though. We’re learning and we’re going to keep our heads up. My crew gave me the best car they could. I don’t know what to tell them, because I’m not that comfortable yet. We’ll try to get one spot better tomorrow. We know some areas we need to work on.”

“I was really good in the mid-portions of that,” said Larson. “I started catching some lapped traffic and then the caution came out. I think we needed to stay green and we would have had a better shot. I just struggled on the restarts in these things, and it takes me a couple laps to get my momentum up. After a couple laps, we were able to get going. I just made some mistakes on the cushion and that cost me some time. I’m just happy I got to run at least one night. It was cool to run something completely different here.”

The 17th running of the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals Presented by BRANDT Professional Agriculture continues with Night #2 on Thursday, September 17! For more information, visit or check Knoxville Raceway’s Facebook and Twitter.

17th Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals Presented by BRANDT Professional Agriculture Results

Time Trials Group A (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 8, Kyle Strickler, Mooresville, NC (1), 17.878; 2. 39, Tim McCreadie, Watertown, NY (2), 18.057; 3. 20RT, Ricky Thornton Jr., Chandler, AZ (6), 18.144; 4. 04, Tad Pospisil, Norfolk, NE (7), 18.222; 5. 16, Tyler Bruening, Decorah, IA (20), 18.223; 6. 7W, Ricky Weiss, Headingley, MB, Can. (17), 18.269; 7. 19R, Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, IA (3), 18.347; 8. 157, Mike Marlar, Winfield, TN (11), 18.348; 9. 1C, Chad Simpson, Mount Vernon, IA (12), 18.486; 10. 29D, Spencer Diercks, Davenport, IA (8), 18.523; 11. 66, Kyle Bronson, Brandon, FL (16), 18.567; 12. 1S, Brandon Sheppard, New Berlin, IL (10), 18.578; 13. 18J, Chase Junghans, Manhattan, KS (19), 18.692; 14. 21M, Luke Merfeld, Dubuque, IA (4), 18.756; 15. 1X, Aaron Marrant, Orrick, MO (14), 18.915; 16. 59, Garrett Alberson, Las Cruces, NM (22), 18.942; 17. 30, Todd Cooney, Des Moines, IA (13), 19.097; 18. 33, Nick Marolf, Moscow, IA (24), 19.097; 19. 20, Jimmy Owens, Newport, TN (21), 19.389; 20. 10, Junior Coover, Norfolk, NE (5), 19.443; 21. 21B, Rich Bell, Sheffield, IL (18), 19.57; 22. 25F, Jason Feger, Bloomington, IL (9), 19.604; 23. 6H, Al Humphrey, Giltner, NE (23), 19.833; 24. 22H, Daniel Hilsabeck, Adel, IA (15), NT

Time Trials Group B (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 6, Kyle Larson, Elk Grove, CA (19), 18.041; 2. 46, Earl Pearson Jr., Jacksonville, FL (12), 18.053; 3. 45, Kyle Hammer, Clinton, IL (2), 18.302; 4. 32S, Chris Simpson, Marion, IA (8), 18.325; 5. 36, Logan Martin, West Plains, MO (1), 18.381; 6. 49, Jonathan Davenport, Blairsville, GA (10), 18.501; 7. 1T, Tyler Erb, New Waverly, TX (9), 18.615; 8. 11H, Spencer Hughes, Meridian, MS (15), 18.656; 9. 99JR, Frank Heckenast Jr., Orland Park, IL (4), 18.682; 10. 41, Jeremiah Hurst, Dubuque, IA (23), 18.708; 11. 18, Shannon Babb, Moweaqua, IL (21), 18.832; 12. 25, Shane Clanton, Zebulon, GA (17), 18.864; 13. 56JR, Tony Jackson Jr., Lebanon, MO (13), 18.893; 14. 98, Jason Rauen, Farley, IA (16), 18.910; 15. 14, Josh Richards, Shinnston, WV (14), 19.123; 16. 93, Mason Oberkramer, Broseley, MO (20), 19.130; 17. 71, Hudson O'Neal, Martinsville, IN (6), 19.214; 18. 48, Tim Lance, Brimfield, IL (18), 19.530; 19. 51, Matt Furman, Iowa City, IA (22), 19.590; 20. 80, Allan Hopp, Harlan, IA (3), 19.832; 21. 22M, Charlie McKenna, Clear Lake, IA (5), 19.919; 22. 14M, Reid Millard, Jefferson City, MO (11), 20.274; 23. 10K, Shawn Kirwin, Morris, MN (7), 20.421; 24. 53, Andrew Kosiski, La Vista, NE (24), NT

Heat one (started), 12 Laps, 3:58: 1. Chase Junghans (2); 2. Garrett Alberson (1); 3. Kyle Strickler (6) / 4. Ryan Gustin (4); 5. Jimmy Owens (7); 6. Tad Pospisil (5); 7. Spencer Diercks (3); 8. Jason Feger (8)

Heat two (started), 12 Laps, 3:53: 1. Tim McCreadie (6); 2. Tyler Bruening (5); 3. Mike Marlar (4) / 4. Kyle Bronson (3); 5. Luke Merfeld (2); 6. Todd Cooney (1); 7. Al Humphrey (8); 8. Junior Coover (7)

Heat three (started), 12 Laps, 3:59: 1. Ricky Weiss (5); 2. Chad Simpson (4); 3. Brandon Sheppard (3); 4. Ricky Thornton Jr. (6); 5. Aaron Marrant (2); 6. Rich Bell (7); 7. Nick Marolf (1); 8. Daniel Hilsabeck (8)

Heat four (started), 12 Laps, 3:56: 1. Tyler Erb (4); 2. Kyle Larson (6); 3. Tony Jackson Jr. (2) / 4. Jeremiah Hurst (3); 5. Chris Simpson (5); 6. Mason Oberkramer (1); 7. Matt Furman (7); 8. Reid Millard (8)

Heat five (started), 12 Laps, 3:56: 1. Hudson O'Neal (1); 2. Earl Pearson Jr. (6); 3. Spencer Hughes (4) / 4. Jason Rauen (2); 5. Logan Martin (5); 6. Allan Hopp (7); 7. Shawn Kirwin (8); 8. Shannon Babb (3)

Heat six (started), 12 Laps, 4:00: 1. Josh Richards (2); 2. Frank Heckenast Jr. (4); 3. Jonathan Davenport (5) / 4. Shane Clanton (3); 5. Kyle Hammer (6); 6. Tim Lance (1); 7. Charlie McKenna (7) DNS - 8. Andrew Kosiski

B Main Group A (started), 15 Laps, NT: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr. (1); 2. Kyle Bronson (4); 3. Tad Pospisil (2) / 4. Jimmy Owens (8); 5. Ryan Gustin (3); 6. Luke Merfeld (5); 7. Jason Feger (13); 8. Aaron Marrant (6); 9. Spencer Diercks (10); 10. Rich Bell (9); 11. Al Humphrey (11); 12. Daniel Hilsabeck (15); 13. Junior Coover (14); 14. Todd Cooney (7); 15. Nick Marolf (12)

B Main Group B (started), 15 Laps, 5:15: 1. Shane Clanton (5); 2. Logan Martin (3); 3. Chris Simpson (2) / 4. Jeremiah Hurst (4); 5. Kyle Hammer (1); 6. Mason Oberkramer (7); 7. Jason Rauen (6); 8. Allan Hopp (9); 9. Charlie McKenna (12); 10. Shawn Kirwin (11); 11. Reid Millard (13); 12. Matt Furman (10); 13. Tim Lance (8) DNS - 14. Shannon Babb 15. Andrew Kosiski

A main (started), 25 Laps, NT: 1. Tyler Erb (2); 2. Jonathan Davenport (4); 3. Kyle Larson (8); 4. Ricky Weiss (1); 5. Kyle Strickler (7); 6. Tim McCreadie (5); 7. Earl Pearson Jr. (6); 8. Tyler Bruening (3); 9. Chad Simpson (11); 10. Brandon Sheppard (13); 11. Frank Heckenast Jr. (12); 12. Kyle Bronson (21); 13. Josh Richards (16); 14. Chase Junghans (15); 15. Shane Clanton (20); 16. Spencer Hughes (10); 17. Ricky Thornton Jr. (19); 18. Tony Jackson Jr. (14); 19. Tad Pospisil (23); 20. Garrett Alberson (17); 21. Hudson O'Neal (18); 22. Logan Martin (22); 23. Mike Marlar (9); 24. Chris Simpson (24). Lap Leaders: Weiss 1, Erb 2-25. Hard-charger: Bronson.

Thursday Points

1. Kyle Larson, 493
2. Tyler Erb, 488
3. Tim McCreadie, 488
4. Kyle Strickler, 486
5. Ricky Weiss, 484
6. Earl Pearson Jr., 483
7. Jonathan Davenport, 482
8. Tyler Bruening, 475
9. Chad Simpson, 465
10. Frank Heckenast Jr., 461
11. Ricky Thornton Jr., 455
12. Brandon Sheppard, 454
13. Chase Junghans, 450
14. Spencer Hughes, 450
15. Kyle Bronson, 449
16. Josh Richards, 448
17. Tad Pospisil, 443
18. Shane Clanton, 441
19. Logan Martin, 438
20. Ton Jackson Jr. 436
21. Mike Marlar, 436
22. Chris Simpson, 436
23. Garrett Alberson, 429
24. Hudson O’Neal, 428
25. Kyle Hammer, 426
26. Ryan Gustin, 421
27. Jeremiah Hurst, 417
28. Jason Rauen, 403
29. Luke Merfeld, 402
30. Spencer Diercks, 398
31. Jimmy Owens, 396
32. Aaron Marrant, 396
33. Mason Oberkramer, 395
34. Allan Hopp, 383
35. Shannon Babb, 383
36. Rich Bell, 377
37. Tim Lance, 377
38. Todd Cooney, 377
39. Charlie McKenna, 376
40. Jason Feger, 375
41. Matt Furman, 374
42. Shawn Kirwin, 370
43. Nick Marolf, 370
44. Al Humphrey, 368
45. Reid Millard, 367
46. Junior Coover, 367
47. Daniel Hilsabeck, 361
48. Andrew Kosiski, 355

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