Erb Jr. Snaps Two-Year Winless Streak In World of Outlaws Return To Humboldt
Column By: SPENCE SMITHBACK / WORLD OF OUTLAWS – HUMBOLDT, KS – The wait is over – Dennis Erb Jr. is a winner once again with the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision.
More than two years ago, the Carpentersville, IL native took the checkers at 81 Speedway in what was the latest visit by The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet to the “Sunflower State.” Friday night’s stop at Humboldt Speedway brought the Series back for the first time since, and Erb saw it as the perfect opportunity to end a drought of his own.
“We knew it was going to get here,” Erb said. “Took a little longer than we wanted to, but glad to be back in Victory Lane.”
Two of Erb’s fellow Illinois gassers in Brian Shirley and Bobby Pierce led the field to green, but neither of them got to enjoy much time out front. The home-state favorite, Chase Junghans, rocketed around both of them on the opening lap and ran away from the field early. Junghans won Humboldt’s first World of Outlaws event in 2022, and looked to be on his way to another one when he grew his lead to as large as two seconds.
It wasn’t meant to be for Junghans though, as the No. 18 spun unassisted in Turn 2 with 12 laps on the board to end his chance at glory. Before that caution came out, Erb made his way around Shirley and into second, allowing him to inherit the lead for the restart.
As the race progressed into the second half, the preferred groove became the bottom, just the way Erb likes it. Shirley made multiple attempts to run the cushion and get by Erb, but that strategy instead allowed Dustin Sorensen to get to second.
Sorensen had his first World of Outlaws win within his grasp, and he tried every trick he knew to find a way around Erb. He got alongside the No. 28 on several occasions and even got the lead briefly with 14 to go, but a slower car in the wrong place at the wrong time impeded Sorensen’s momentum and let Erb get back out front.
The No. 19 stayed on Erb’s rear bumper through to the end, but as the high side continued to wear out, his opportunities to make a move stick ran dry as Erb held strong for the win.
“It’s really big,” Erb said. “We’ve been struggling this year, little bit up-and-down year. Got things rolling, then kind of fell off the last couple weeks. Back here tonight, had a good car early and just finished it off here tonight.”
Friday’s race was the closest Sorensen has gotten all season to a win, and while his runner-up matched his career best with the Series, he was still left wondering what could have been.
“I got alongside Dennis there, and then a lap car decided to go to the infield,” Sorensen said. “He didn’t do nothing wrong, it just kind of checked me up and Dennis was able to get back to the bottom. That last lap there, I think if I would have hit it perfect, I might have been able to get alongside Dennis, but it would have taken a lot.”
Rounding out the podium was Shirley, who collected his seventh-straight World of Outlaws top five in his Humboldt debut after taking a gamble on tires come Feature time.
“I felt like at times, definitely early in the race, the softer tire was pretty good,” Shirley said. “It wasn’t really laned up, but where everybody could kind of run the same spot. It was hard to make some gains up top, I tried and lost second to Sorensen there trying to get it. Congrats to Dennis and Dustin, they did a great job.”
Pierce came home fourth in his Humboldt debut, while Ethan Dotson made it back-to-back top fives in fifth.
RACE NOTES:
Ryan Gustin set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.
Chase Junghans won the Simpson Quick Time Award.
Chase Junghans won Real American Beer Heat 1.
Brian Shirley won STAKT Products Heat 2.
Bobby Pierce won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.
Dennis Erb Jr. won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.
Tanner English and Brandon Conkwright won the Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdowns.
Brian Shirley won the Bilstein Pole Award.
Tristan Chamberlain won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.
Ethan Dotson was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.
Dustin Sorensen won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.
Bobby Pierce was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.
Ethan Dotson was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.
Tim McCreadie was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.
Nick Hoffman was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.
Tanner English was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.
Jake Timm was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.
Tristan Chamberlain was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision wraps up the weekend in Kansas at 81 Speedway with the Ed Gressel Tribute on Saturday, Oct. 4. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.
If you can’t make it to the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[4]; 2. 19-Dustin Sorensen[5]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 4. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 5. 74X-Ethan Dotson[11]; 6. 9M-Tim McCreadie[9]; 7. 19R-Ryan Gustin[6]; 8. 9-Nick Hoffman[12]; 9. 96-Tanner English[17]; 10. 49-Jake Timm[10]; 11. B1-Brent Larson[7]; 12. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[21]; 13. 22*-Drake Troutman[13]; 14. 11G-Trevor Gundaker[19]; 15. 92S-Dan Smith[15]; 16. 2-Cody Overton[16]; 17. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[14]; 18. 18-Chase Junghans[3]; 19. 24C-Brandon Conkwright[18]; 20. 8H-John Hansen[22]; 21. 9G-Joseph Gorby[23]; 22. 15-Clay Stuckey[8]; 23. 7D-Dusty Leonard[20]; 24. 48-Hunter Kohn[24]
