Night 1 of the American Late Model Iron-Man Series took place Friday night at Portsmouth Raceway with the Super Late Models. It was the inaugural Halloween Nationals in Portsmouth, Ohio. While regulars like Colten Burdette has a 128-point championship lead over Rod Conley, Mikes Cook II, and more are racing, there were national drivers competing in the event such as Josh Rice, Jason Jameson, Ryan Montgomery, Adam Strickler, Ricky Thornton Jr, Nick Hoffman, Tyler Erb and more are also competing in the event.
Erb dominated much of the feature before a flat right-rear tire took him out of the lead late in the going. A computer glitch caused a late-race yellow with three laps to go and saw RTJ go on to win the feature.
“Yeah, obviously we don’t want to see a competitor get a flat, let alone Terbo (Tyler Erb) leading,” RTJ told Flo Racing in victory lane. “Obviously, he had a little bit better car than we did. He put himself in position, and unfortunate luck for him. I definitely know how that goes this year. I felt like our car was really good from the get go. I moved up and got back by (Josh) Rice, and I was like, man, I’m just running way too hard right now. I slowed myself back down and moved to the bottom, and just kept saving.
“Really, I didn’t feel like my pace picked up. Just those guys slowed down that much more. This place is so silky and grady, it’s easier to hurt your tires. I figured if those guys was going to go all out right away, I could wait saving and try to do something at the end. I love coming to this place, and hopefully next year, we get to come back again.”
There were 34 Late Models on the entry list for Friday’s feature.
Feature Race Recap – 30-Laps – $10,000 To Win
Hoffman had the pole for the main event while Erb had the outside pole position.
Erb originally took the lead from Hoffman off Turn 2, but the first yellow of the night was flown and was a complete restart. This time around, Erb again got to the top spot over Hoffman on the backstretch using the high line off Turn 2. While Erb broke away early, Hoffman still kept him honest by being not too far from his rear bumper. Near the halfway mark, Hoffman had momentum and closed in rapidly, with Rice in third position. A lead change would take place at Lap 16 at the start/finish line, but Erb retook the lead on the backstretch one lap later.
As Erb had a nice lead over Hoffman, his car got high off Turn 4 and allowed Hoffman to go by and take the lead with five laps to go. The second yellow quickly came out for Erb as he had a flat right-rear tire go down, which took him out of contention.
Hoffman led the field back to green with Ricky Thornton Jr. in second. RTJ threw his car down in the middle of Turns 3 and 4, and grabbed the lead from Hoffman. RTJ’s lead was short-lived as the third yellow was displayed with three laps to go for a computer glitch. This caused a green-white-checkered restart with RTJ, Hoffman, Rice, Drake Troutman, and Jameson in the top five.
Despite the late race yellow, RTJ had a great restart and went on to win the feature.
Heat Race Recaps – Top Three Transfer – 8 Laps A Piece
Prior to the heat races, there was a hot lap and qualifying session. Mike Benedum was the fastest in hot laps with a time of 14.807 seconds. There was a split qualifying session with Flight A and Flight B. Hoffman had the fastest time in Flight A with 14.764 seconds, while Erb held the quickest time in Flight B with 14.987 seconds.
Heat 1 – Hoffman had the pole for heat one and easily won the first heat with Dustin Sorensen and Jameson transferring.
Heat 2 – Drake Troutman had the pole for heat two. As the field went green, the yellow came out for a complete restart. The second start was much cleaner. No more issues were seen in this heat, and Troutman went on to win. Rice and Seth Daniels completed the top three.
Heat 3 – Erb was the top starter for the third heat and claimed the win. He was followed by Tristan Chamberlain and Michael Chilton for the transfers.
Heat 4 – Thornton Jr. had the pole for the fourth and final heat. RTJ claimed the heat win with Montgomery and Burdette taking the final transfers.
Eddie Carrier Jr. won the first B-Main, while Justin Cooper took the second B-Main.
For those who may have missed the feature, you can check out the highlights below.
Official Race Results Following Night 1 of the American Late Model Iron-Man Series at Portsmouth Raceway
- Ricky Thornton Jr
- Josh Rice
- Drake Troutman
- Nick Hoffman
- Jason Jameson
- Dustin Sorensen
- Michael Chilton
- Tristan Chamberlain
- Ryan Montgomery
- Eddie Carrier Jr
- Levi Yetter
- Colten Burdette
- R.J. Conley
- Tyler Erb
- Adam Stricker
- Miles Cook II
- Rod Conley
- Justin Cooper
- Seth Daniels
- Kevin Wagner
- Mike Benedum
Up Next – Night 2 will take place Saturday night live on Flo Racing and Hunt the Front TV.
