The Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series moved down I-75 to the Tampa area and specifically to Gibsonton as the forty sixth annual Winter Nationals for Late Models opened up Monday night, February 7th at East Bay Raceway Park. And the the ultimate "Ditch Runner", Illinois' Dennis Erb Jr would "catfish" his way to a thirty lap Late Model win to open up the six night series that would conclude Lucas Oil events to be contested in Florida this month.
A large field of seventy drivers would sign in to race on this Monday night, a considerable number given that the winner on this night would only take home Five grand as the dollar increments build as the week progresses. Among the seventy drivers on hand, thirty are making their first Florida appearances of 2022. Also in the pits but not racing on this night were Frank Heckenast Jr and Jeff Mathews while a few others are also expected to arrive later this week. Ryan Gustin was also on hand for practice on Sunday night but didn't race on this night.
However, many of the toughest competitors in the world of dirt Late Model racing would be running tonight and with only twenty four spots plus provisional starters available for the feature race, there would be some hard racing in the qualifying events and time trial success would be abundantly important on Monday.
Track conditions would make the qualifying perhaps even more important than normal as the conditions on Monday were very un East Bay like as the track was very dry even from the first hot lap sessions and started to take rubber before the heat races were done. Quite frankly, from my perspective, it was quite disappointing as the racing on this night at a track long famed for its racy surface was sub par to the racing seen at the other two Florida venues raced at so far. However, I also have to give a "pass" to the track on this night as they have been battling some weather conditions lately with rain on Saturday and Sunday all while trying to squeeze in the finale for the Crates and get Lucas practice run also. Therefore, we aren't going to press the "panic button" quite yet until we see how the racing is in the coming days, while still expressing some disappointment in what we saw, or perhaps better stated, didn't see on Monday.
Quick qualifiers in their groups were Brandon Overton and Erb Jr although with fifteen and mid fifteen second laps, the speeds were way off the normal times here. Hudson O'Neal did his best to wake the crowd up early as he came from eighth to win a heat race, a feat that may not be duplicated at any track all year. To be fair as "Hud" even admitted himself, the other cars were so locked in on running the bottom and "tailgating" each other, it made it kind of easy to just pull out and pass them all. This would be harder in the main with all those drivers a little sharper on what was going on with the track.
It seemed more that a bit strange than with mid forty entries at Bubba they ran four heat races while here at East Bay, with seventy entries and a smaller track they still ran just four heats. And the two, twenty six car B Features for ten laps while taking just the top two were just plain ridiculous. However, in any event, that's what they did.
Twenty four cars plus provisional entries and Berry Barn Strawberry Dash winner Matt Cosner would make up a twenty eight car field for the thirty lap main event. A goodly amount of time was spent before the feature cutting the track and trying to scrape off the rubber but once racing began, it seems to be a wasted effort as several tried to run the second lane and above with little success and most just settled back in "the ditch."
With Brandon Overton on the pole, it would have seemed that this race would be decided early and that Overton would drive from green to checkered for the win. However, so far this year Overton has shown to be quite human and while he led through the first half of the race, he would be pit side by the time the checkered would fly. Overton would lead early with Devin Moran and O'Neal battling for second as Erb Jr started on the outside pole and would slip back in the field.
However, once some green flag laps were completed, Erb Jr would pick up the pace and following a lap fourteen yellow for a slowing Tyler Bruening, Erb Jr would make the move of the race as he would duck under both O'Neal and Moran and take over second. Then, when Overton started to develop a bad push and couldn't hold the bottom, Erb Jr was right there to drive under him and take over the lead on lap eighteen
He would lead the rest of the way and have to stave off competitors following three more restarts including tow for drivers that heard the "siren song" of the top side and tried that line, only to have it bite them both. Ashton Winger was up to third when he tried to get greedy and get more and a spin on the slippery second groove would end his run. Overton, who really fell back out of the top five when his handling woes continued, decided to try the top side and it did work long enough for him to get back to a challenging spot but when he went for broke, that's what he did when he hit the wall and was helped to the pits.
O'Neal gave Erb Jr one more challenge following a lap twenty five yellow but Dennis skimmed the inside yuke tires and then pulled away to collect the win, his first here at East Bay in several years. It was good to see Erb Jr rewarded for his efforts is he is a true "road warrior", hitting races in all parts of the country often by himself or with just Heather Lynn as crew.
O'Neal would finish a strong second ahead of an advancing Tim McCreadie, Shane Clanton and Stormy Scott with Scott particularly getting his best run to date. The crowd was a very strong one for a Monday night and my theory is that with East Bay having a limited "shelf life", many people that might otherwise stay home and watch on tv are going to come here over the next two years, just to say that they have been at East Bay at least once. Strawberry Shortcake is going like hot cakes in the concession stand and the over flow parking was needed for just the first of six nights of action. The extra track work did make this the longest night of Speed Weeks so far, a pattern that will hopefully not continue.
Before the program, I did get a chance to talk to Ricky Kay, co-promoter of the Davenport Speedway with his wife Brenda. He is touring many of the tracks in Florida and the Carolina's, looking for ideas and studying the way they do things to spot areas that he can improve upon at Davenport as he is constantly looking for ways to make the experience better at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds for the fans. He will be the only promoter at the track for 2022 which should make life simpler for him. Their season is scheduled to begin on March 25-26 with a MARS series doubleheader that he is co-promoting with Tony Izzo Jr.
This race report wraps up with some sad news. Many fans of the old Hawkeye Racing News will remember Jim Morrison. He was the last editor of Hawkeye when it was sold by IMCA to a newspaper media group and he navigated the paper through some tough, tough times until the paper was finally folded by the conglomerate that owned it and Jim went to work for the local Vinton newspaper. Jim was a native of Indiana and moved to Iowa to run the paper for IMCA. I had some nice talks with him when I would visit Iowa and attend the races at Benton County and he always struck me as being a very kind and gentle soul, perhaps even too much so for such a cut throat business that media is these days. RIP.
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