Öhlins Sweeps the Dirt in Florida
March 2nd 2012
Late Model Driver Dennis Erb Jr took the Championships at Dirt Weeks.
The 2012 Dirt Weeks in Florida belong to racer Dennis Erb Jr, racking up wins and points from track-to-track, from series to series. The Carpentersville, Illinois native took home both of the big crowns on his Öhlins equipped car, first earning the Lucas Oil DART Winter Nationals Points Championship at East Bay Raceway, then complementing that with the Championship of the UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Week at Volusia Speedway Park, where Erb Jr took home an alligator for his efforts.
Fellow Öhlins fitted racer Don O’Neal, of Martinsville, Indiana, won the first two races of the DART Winter Nationals at East Bay Raceway, in his number-71 Late Model. Erb Jr came from mid-pack to win the final main of the week in the DART Winter Nationals sanctioned by Lucas Oil, driving his number-28 Bloomquist chassis’d Late Model racecar into the lead with only two laps to go in the Friday night race, securing the week’s championship. O’Neal finished third in points overall for the Late Model Winter Nationals. Erb also now leads the 2012 Lucas Oils championship, with Jimmy Owens in second place for the season.
On Saturday night, at the Bubba Army Winter Nationals at Bubba Raceway Park just north of Ocala, Florida, Rick Eckert from York, Pennsylvania drove his 2011 World of Outlaws championship straight back to the winners circle. Eckert’s number-24 car came on late, taking him in one quick pass from third to first with just a dozen laps remaining in the 60-lap feature. From there Eckert held off all challengers to the checkered.
At the week’s final track, Volusia Speedway Park, It was Öhlins driver Bill Moyer of Batesville, Arkansas winning the UMP series on Tuesday night. On Thursday at Volusia Dennis Erb Jr again doing the winning, this time in the UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit, with Scott Bloomquist, of Mooresburg, Tennessee, finishing second in his Öhlins equipped Bloomquist chassis number-zero.
Bloomquist then figured out Friday's daytime track conditions at Volusia Speedway Park, to earn the win in the postponed 25-lap DIRTcar UMP Late Model Main, opening Friday’s inadvertent double-header due to a rainout on Wednesday. Weird for a week of lead trades, Bloomquist led the entire race, from start to finish.
In the final race of Dirt Weeks, Öhlins drivers Billy Moyer was first with Don O'Neal placing second in the UNOH DIRTcar Nationals. Moyer was the only two-time winner of the week at Volusia in Late Model. Erb Jr rounded out his week and points lead by finishing seventh, and was crowned the Late Model points champion of the 2012 UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit.
Drivers using Öhlins suspension components won more races than any other brand in the Late Model class at Dirt Weeks, scored more points, and racer Erb Jr took the championships. That’s what we do.
