Ryan Gustin Wins At Deer Creek; Brandon Sheppard Leads All 30

Ryan Gustin and Nick Hoffman at the line for Race One at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, MN (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

SPRING VALLEY, Minn. — After night one was rained out on Independence Day, the World of Outlaws late models held a double-header on Friday night at Deer Creek Speedway to kick off the Gopher 50 weekend.

RACE ONE

Tyler Stevens and Dennis Erb Jr. led the 24-car field to the starting area in Turn 4 to kick off the 30-lap main event. In his first ever Outlaw start, Stevens jumped out in front of the field and held the lead throughout the first corner and the back stretch and was able to lead his first lap with the series. Erb, on the other hand, wasn’t faring too well because Shannon Babb had stolen second away from him.

On the first restart of the night due to Cade Dillard and Chad Mahder spinning in Turns 3 and 4, Erb went up against Babb. As they raced down the back straight towards the third turn, Erb went low and tried to slide up in front of Babb, to no avail. Meanwhile, Nick Hoffman was in fourth and on the high side, and was just looking for a place to swoop down and steal a position.

Lap 4 saw Erb lose third to Hoffman. As they shot out of Turn 3 and headed into 4, Hoffman got a little bit more momentum on the top groove and was able to sail right past Erb down the front stretch to have third at the line.

Hoffman now had his sights set on Babb in second, and he gave Babb the same treatment as Erb. As the two of them raced into Turn 3, Hoffman went high and passed him up there, sliding down in front of him as they came out of the corner, getting that runner-up spot. Babb tried hard to re-claim it from the Hoffman but just couldn’t find that sweet area.

Four laps later, Hoffman swapped lanes to take over the lead from Stevens. Going down the back chute, Stevens was running the top and Hoffman was coming up on him fast. Having no intention to slow down at all, Hoffman switched lanes and took the bottom side. This proved to be a good move for Hoffman because he was able to slide up in front of Stevens coming out of Turn 4 to claim the top spot.

On Lap 21, a heated battle started up between three drivers. Babb, who was running in third, began to feel the pressure from Gustin and Pierce. Gustin pulled a slide job on Babb going into Turn 3 and was able to get to the middle lane, but Babb performed a crossover and was able to maintain third. But as the two of them got side-by-side coming down the front straight-a-way, Pierce came up on the bottom of Babb to have a three-wide battle for the third position.

Ryan Gustin competing at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, MN (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

As the three of them exited Turn 2, Babb let off as he had been split by Gustin and Pierce. Pierce came out of the corner ahead of the other two, but Gustin crossed over under Pierce to go neck-and-neck with him going into the next set of turns. 

Going into Turn 3, Gustin got right up next to Pierce and shoved him up the track and almost into the wall. This put Pierce back a space behind Babb, and Gustin was able to sail right on by Babb without any problems.

Lap 24 saw Gustin take over the second place position by slide-jobbing Stevens. Gustin was in the runner-up spot to lead Lap 25. But Pierce, who wasn’t too happy with Gustin due to his move a couple of laps before, was coming up strong as well.

With two laps to go, there was a caution due to Brandon Sheppard slowing and pulling off the track. This caused the top three cars to hash it out pretty good. Hoffman, still in first, was expecting to see Gustin out of the corner of his eye coming down the back stretch, but instead he saw Pierce. 

Gustin was able to get second back from Pierce shortly thereafter, but coming out of Turn 4, a four-wide situation was created. Gustin was on the very top, with Pierce, Babb and Erb below him in that order. Gustin ended up being the victor of that battle.

On the last lap, Gustin made a last gasp attempt to get the lead away from Hoffman. As he raced down the back stretch, Gustin went to the low side heading into Turn 3 and got by Hoffman just enough to stay ahead of him, but coming out of the corner the two of them were side-by-side. Gustin managed to have just a little bit more than Hoffman though, and was able to win the first race of the Gopher 50 weekend by .009 seconds.

“Anytime you’re standing up here in Victory Lane it makes you feel good for sure,” said Gustin. “But I love this place, and I have more laps around this place than anybody so [this] really feels good.”

Dennis Erb Jr. working on his car before Race Two at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, MN (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

RACE TWO

Sheppard and Tyler Bruening started on the front row for the second race of the evening. Sheppard raced out to an early lead, but Bruening was feeling the heat a spot back with Gustin and Kyle Bronson creating a three-wide scenario for the second spot. By Lap 3, Bruening had been passed by both drivers.

Two laps later, Gustin was gunning after Sheppard in the lead, looking for his second win of the night. The two of them raced side-by-side down the back stretch and into the corner, and it seemed like Gustin had it coming out of Turn 4, but Sheppard was able to hold him off to lead yet another lap.

Two laps after that, Pierce and Erb battled it out for fifth. Pierce took the bottom while Erb stayed in the middle. Pierce was able to get by him coming down the front stretch.

On Lap 14, Gustin had gotten back up to the side of Sheppard once again. Gustin slowly closed the gap between the two of them and they ended up side-by-side going down the back straight again. Dustin Walker, a lap car on the bottom, held Gustin up just the slightest bit, causing his advances to be fouled up. Sheppard held on to the lead.

With two laps left to go, Sheppard got held up by a lap car and Gustin saw an opportunity. Gustin sailed right up to the side of Sheppard, ready to go high and pull a slide job on the veteran, but Sheppard went way up to the top in an effort to keep the lead, putting Gustin directly behind him.

The last lap saw both Pierce and Gustin try their hand at passing Sheppard for the lead, but neither of them could do it. Sheppard led all 30 laps of the race, with Gustin, Pierce, Bronson and Tyler Erb rounding out the top five.

“It was really just about making the right choices in traffic,” said Sheppard about his win. “I could’ve made the wrong move and they could’ve drove right by me. Luckily, we had a really maneuverable race car and we were able to put it anywhere we wanted to on the track.  Thank you to everyone who puts this thing together.”