Tonight at the Perth Motorplex Tyler Erb achieved the one thing he couldn’t do last year, winning the Di Candilo Steel City Late Model Nationals!

Erb put in a spectacular performance to claim the win, his second at the Motorplex venue and fourth in Western Australia, but he certainly didn’t have it all his own way throughout the forty lap affair.

As was the case yesterday, fellow countryman Joe Godsey would start from pole alongside the living legend in ‘Mr Smooth’ Billy Moyer, with Erb coming from position three alongside West Aussie Michael Holmes, continuing his good run.

As the race went green for the first time, Godsey got the jump and led through the first couple of corners, but Moyer used the highline to peg the gap back and lead the first lap by 0.047 seconds.

Godsey didn’t give up though, holding the inside line to be right beside Moyer, the two 0.010 seconds apart at the completion of lap two and 0.087 seconds on lap three.

Behind them Erb moved clearly into third with Michael Holmes in fourth and Kye Blight and Brent Vosbergen battling for fifth.

Moyer got a slight break before going too high through turn one, allowing Godsey back through to lead lap five.

Godsey made his way into lapped traffic on lap eight, Moyer following him but making contact with one car on the way through which hampered his progress slightly and allowed Erb and Holmes to close in on him.

Holmes then looked for a way past Erb on lap ten but didn’t quite pull it off, Moyer, Erb and Holmes in a neat line fighting through traffic as up front Godsey pulled out to a lead over four seconds by the completion of lap twelve.

Traffic was heavy right through the field as there was not a single corner that a battle was not happening for position, with all twenty four starters still running.

With fifteen complete Godsey’s lead was out to 4.6 seconds, with Moyer also able to get a small break on the battling Erb and Holmes.

Jayden Meckenstock became the first retiree of the race about the same time, while back on track Paul Stubber, Ryan Halliday and Jay Cardy (from position fifteen) were having an intense battle for tenth, with lapped traffic playing a huge part, and leader Godsey not far behind the group looking to put them all a lap down.

As the traffic continued to play its part, Godsey’s lead was slowly being chopped away, down to just 3.4 seconds with twenty five laps complete. The race looked like it may well go green to checkers, when disaster struck for his teammate Jeff Roth, turning right hard and spinning out of the exit of turn four to bring on the first yellow light of the race.

This in turn would see Godsey’s lead taken down to nothing, the field bunched up once more for the restart, with Meckenstock still the only retiree.

Godsey got away cleanly on the restart, but Moyer wasn’t letting him go without a fight, sticking to the tail of him before the yellows came on again just one lap later, this time for Jamie Moon who spun in turn one.

This time it was Erb who used the lowline to go underneath Godsey as the race resumed and it worked, the two making contact on the front straight and Erb coming out in front ahead while Godsey touched the wall and was swallowed up by the chasing pack including Moyer and Holmes and Blight.

The newly reshuffled top four of Erb, Holmes, Moyer and Blight, continued to battle it out until the yellows came on once again, this time for Willy Powell who spun in turn two.

On the restart Erb and Godsey exchanged pleasantries before the green flag flew again and this time it became a seven car battle as Erb led Holmes, Moyer, Blight, Godsey, Marc Giancola and Vosbergen in a very tight, hard fought battle.

Holmes got under Moyer on lap thirty two, with Blight loitering around the back of Moyer also looking for a way through but up front it was Erb holding off Holmes and using the highline to try and race away.

Blight continued to use the highline, his traditional spoiler scraping seeing his rear end flapping, which allowed Godsey to look underneath him and try and grab fourth.

Erb had a decent lead and now it was a four car battle between Holmes, Moyer, Blight and Godsey for second place. Erb was back in traffic on lap thirty seven, with Moon becoming just the second retiree as he was being lapped, while Moyer snuck back past Holmes for second.

With one to go Holmes made a last ditch effort to reclaim second but was unable to make the move, while Blight slowed with half a lap to go, allowing Godsey, Giancola, Vosbergen and Cardy to go through, while Blight held on for eighth.

Paul Stubber, Brad Blake, Ryan Halliday and Warren Oldfield rounded out the top twelve, who were the only cars to finish on the lead lap.

Courtesy of tonight’s results, Moyer has just a three point lead on Erb in the overall Di Candilo Steel City USA vs WA Invasion Tour point standings, with Godsey just two further points back in third. Full point’s standings will be posted tomorrow.

Teams now have a couple of days to refresh and repair before they hit the track again on Friday night, this time at Make Smoking History Collie Speedway for round three of four of the Di Candilo Steel City USA vs WA Invasion Tour! Stay tuned through the week for all those details.

The Sims Metal Management Late Model Pro Dirt Series and Di Candilo Steel City Invasion Tour, proudly bought to you by Global XLI, Boyes Mechanical, Cardy Racing Components, Dirt Track Nutters, Pancho’s Mexican Restaurants, APM Roofing, CTM Recruitment, RACIN, Collie Machine Shop, Grays Online, Mac Track, Rockingham Towing, Baldivis Pharmacy, Mezzstor, Palice Property Group, Michael Holmes Racing, West Coast Big Bike Hire, Our Car Autos, Homes by Roth, Dirt on Dirt, QB Metal Recyclers and Bulk Metal Recycling.

Contingency Awards
Pancho’s Pole Position – Joe Godsey
DTN Hard Charger – Ken Macpherson

Release by DTN Media.

Pictures Courtesy DTN Media, Aidan Skraha and Bruce Russell.

Official Results

Heat Seven, 8 laps: 1. Joe Godsey, 2. Jay Cardy, 3. Brad Blake, 4. Brent Vosbergen, 5. Jeff Roth, 6. Chris Pavlovich, 7. Mick Comley, 8. Jayden Meckenstock. Total Time: 2.20.805. Winning Margin: 1.581. Fastest Lap: 17.275 Brad Blake.

Heat Eight, 8 laps: 1. Billy Moyer, 2, Michael Holmes, 3. Kye Blight, 4. Jamie Oldfield, 5. Warren Oldfield, 6. Cameron Pearson, 7. Freddy Kinsella, 8. Jamie Moon. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 2.642. Fastest Lap: 16.888 Billy Moyer.

Heat Nine, 8 laps: 1. Tyler Erb, 2. Marc Giancola, 3. Paul Stubber, 4. Ryan Halliday, 5. Simon McNab, 6. Willy Powell, 7. Ryan Ludlow, 8. Jai Mazzini. DNF: Ken Macpherson (5). Total Time: 2.20.843. Winning Margin: 0.058. Fastest Lap: 17.065 Marc Giancola.

Heat Ten, 8 laps: 1. Jay Cardy, 2. Kye Blight, 3. Billy Moyer, 4. Warren Oldfield, 5. Brent Vosbergen, 6. Jeff Roth, 7. Freddy Kinsella. Total Time: 2.17.979. Winning Margin: 0.420. Fastest Lap: 16.855 Jay Cardy.

Heat Eleven, 8 laps: 1. Jamie Oldfield, 2. Cameron Pearson, 3. Michael Holmes, 4. Tyler Erb, 5. Marc Giancola, 6. Ken Macpherson, 7. Simon McNab, 8. Jamie Moon, 9. Jai Mazzini. Total Time: 2.21.911. Winning Margin: 3.954. Fastest Lap: 17.298 Jamie Oldfield.

Heat Twelve, 8 laps: 1. Paul Stubber, 2. Brad Blake, 3. Joe Godsey, 4. Ryan Halliday, 5. Mick Comley, 6. Chris Pavlovich, 7. Willy Powell (7), 8. Jayden Meckenstock (7). DNF: Ryan Ludlow (7). Total Time: 2.20.677. Winning Margin: 1.783. Fastest Lap: 17.027 Paul Stubber.

Feature, 40 laps: 1. Tyler Erb, 2. Billy Moyer, 3. Michael Holmes, 4. Joe Godsey, 5. Marc Giancola, 6. Brent Vosbergen, 7. Jay Cardy, 8. Kye Blight, 9. Paul Stubber, 10. Brad Blake, 11. Ryan Halliday, 12. Warren Oldfield, 13. Ken Macpherson (39), 14. Jamie Oldfield (39), 15. Cameron Pearson (39), 16. Simon McNab (39), 17. Mick Comley (39), 18. Jeff Roth (39), 19. Chris Pavlovich (39), 20. Freddy Kinsella (38), 21. Willy Powell (37), 22. Jai Mazzini (37). DNF: Jamie Moon (34), Jayden Meckenstock (14). DNS: Ryan Ludlow. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 1.691. Fastest Lap: 17.068 Joe Godsey.