Tyler Erb Tops Night One at Knoxville

 Every year except one since its inception, I have been on hand for the 100 lap Knoxville Nationals late model finale. My only miss was in 2009 when Scott Bloomquist won for the second time as the feature was moved to Sunday after it was decided that the track was too fast for safe racing - think about that for a minute! However I had never been to a preliminary qualifying night, a situation I determined to remedy now that I have the benefit of retirement. Thursday night turned out to be the perfect time to make the three hour trip to the legendary 1/2 mile on the Marion County Fairgrounds.
  A solid group of 57 entrants - one more than in 2017 - signed in to do battle. The format for Thursday, which will be repeated on Friday consisted of time trial qualifying, four cars at a time for two laps, with the field split into two groups, then six twelve lap heat races, three for each group. The top eight qualifiers for each heat race are inverted, group one fast timer outside row four of heat one, second fastest outside row two of heat two, and so on. The carrot to go along with this stick is that drivers are awarded points based on their qualifying times with enough emphasis that a quick time can carry more weight than a top finish in the evenings heat race and feature. Following the heat races, a twelve lap C main is run with cars finishing seventh on back in their heat race, top four to the B main. Drivers finishing fourth through sixth in the heats line up ahead of those four in the 15 lap B main, with the top six advancing to the nights A feature event. The C main and B main lineups are also determined by times trials among the qualifying cars. Along the way, points are awarded based on finishes, so the fact that each position matters makes for hard racing all night long.
  And by the way, in addition to the points awarded, the 25 lap A feature both nights pays a cool $7,000 to win. Drivers can keep their point total from Thursday and set out on Friday, or race again and try to improve their standing, as the Saturday lineups are determined by each racers best nights total. And for those who may not know, the Saturday night headliner pays $40,000 to win and I believe $2,500 to start.
  As the evening began, Brandon Sheppard set quick time in the first group with a lap of 17.739 seconds, and that continued to be the mark to beat until the last of the group two cars when Scott Bloomquist absolutely stuck his #0 on his first lap with a time of 17.231 seconds, over 1/2 second faster than Sheppard!
  Heats one through three may have been won from the front row, but there was plenty of action behind the leaders. Jesse Stovall, Chase Junghans, and Dave Eckrich claimed victories while Chris Simpson came from sixth to second in heat two and Earl Pearson Jr. gained five spots to finish third in heat three.
  Bobby Pierce moved up five spots to grab heat four checkers while Bloomquist continued his hot streak, coming from eighth to second and Tyler Erb started sixth and finished third. Local favorite Brian Birkhofer, who recently came out of semi retirement to wheel the Jason Rauen owned #30 lined up third and took the heat five checkers in front of seventh starting Shane Clanton and sixth starter Jimmy Owens. Jared Landers scored the heat six win from outside row one over Jonathon Davenport, while Chad Simpson gained four spots to make the feature lineup.
  Another Iowa hot shoe, Tyler Bruening took C main honors, while Sheppard earned a row ten feature spot with the B main win slipping past Kyle Bronson on the white flag lap.
  Billy Moyer was the loan scratch in C main action after losing an engine in his heat race.
  The feature lineup saw Mason Zeigler and Tyler Erb setting on row one. Zeigler shot to the lead with Erb in tow. Fourth starting Chad Simpson powered around Erb on lap four, but a yellow flag negated the pass. Jeremiah Hurst had finished second in heat one, but trailed smoke for the last several laps, and now his engine appeared to let go. Simpson and Erb battled behind the leader until the caution came out on lap 17 as Bronson saw his night end in a cloud of smoke. Erb had been challenging hard for the lead, and he was able to complete the pass as racing resumed and Zeigler jumped the cushion in turn four, falling to third. The final yellow came two laps later as Pierce slowed, also with looked like engine woes. Pearson was the man on the move as the green flag waved, but there was no catching Erb, who powered to his first ever Knoxville win. Pearson, who started seventh, made a daring move around Simpson in turn four of the final lap, with Chad doing a fantastic job to keep his #25 headed the right direction and come home third. Owens and Frank Heckenast Jr. completed the top five. Bloomquist had moved quickly from eighth into the top five, but then faded a bit to sixth, while Sheppard was the hard charger, starting nineteenth and finishing seventh. Junghans, Chris Simpson and Zeigler rounded out the top ten.
  Certainly things can and will change tonight, but as of Friday morning, Pearson holds the points lead ahead of Bloomquist, Erb, Chad Simpson, and Sheppard. Owens is sixth followed by Heckenast, Chris Simpson, Brandon Overton, and Shane Clanton. Overton finished twelfth in the feature and Clanton sixteenth, so that shows how much a good qualifying lap can help.
  As is almost always the case, the big 1/2 mile was fast and smooth, with excellent racing, plenty of passing, and minimal yellow flags. The final checkers fell around 10:15.
  I will be taking tonight, Friday, off, but Keagan and I hope to be back Saturday morning to enjoy the festivities and witness another Knoxville Late Model Nationals. And don't forget, as an added bonus, the SLMR late models will also be on the card. 30 of the top SLMR drivers have been invited to battle 22 laps for a $4,000 top prize.
  There is still lots going on, so find a race that suits your fancy, head to the track and take advantage of the great fall weather!