Hoffman Strikes Multiple Times at Farmer City; Wins Night One of Illini 100

Nick Hoffman and Bobby Pierce battling for the lead on Night One of the Illini 100 at Farmer City Raceway (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

FARMER CITY, Ill. — Night One of the Illini 100 at Farmer City Raceway kicked off for the World of Outlaws Late Model series on Friday night.

The night kicked off with Hot Laps and a special prize for the fastest driver was in store. The award of an extra $100 ended up going to Nick Hoffman, who raced a 12.264 second lap. Hoffman proved himself even more worthy of the prize later on, as well.

After the competitive Hot Laps session, qualifying began. Following the setup of their sister division, the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars, the late models split into two groups for qualifying: Group A and Group B. As in the sprint car qualifying sessions, the quickest times got to fill in the rows for the Heat Races, creating the lineup without having to draw for positions.

Unlike their sister series, however, the late models had two cars on the track at one time. Obviously, they were far enough away from each other that they did not interfere with their competitors’ qualifying run, but it was not just a single car on track for two laps.

In Group A’s qualifying, there were four lead changes after the initial quick time was set in the first round. The quickest time for Group A ultimately went to Bobby Pierce with a 12.445 second lap.

In Group B, there were three lead changes after the first round of qualifying was completed. Group B had an exciting end to it as Hoffman came out last to qualify due to drawing the 99 pill. As he finished qualifying though, not only did he take Group B’s quick time, but he took the overall quick time with a 12.395 second lap. Hoffman struck twice and looked to do so at least once more.

Since qualifying set the field for the Heat Races, the drivers immediately lined up to start the excitement of the night. The late models once again modeled their Heat Race rules after the sprint cars by having the top four in the race go to the feature and the top two go to the re-draw.

Heat One began with Pierce and Cade Dillard on the front row and by the end, the two of them had swapped positions. The second race was very similar, except Drake Troutman and Kyle Bronson stayed in their respective spots for the whole race. Troutman was very happy about that as it was his first Heat Race win of the 2024 season.

Heat Race Three saw Hoffman and Daniel Hilsabeck on the front row. Hoffman stunned the field yet by holding onto his lead, while Hilsabeck lost a position to Jason Feger. 

The fourth and final Heat Race started with an all Erb front row. Dennis Erb Jr. was on the pole and Tyler Erb was to his right. Following the second race’s lead, both drivers kept their spots for the entire duration of the race.

The final preliminary event before the feature race was the Last Chance Showdowns. Since the late models normally have more cars than the sprints, they had two Last Chance Showdowns instead of one. This gave a better chance to the extra drivers who did not perform well in qualifying and/or the Heat Races. The top three drivers of each race would advance to the feature.

The first Showdown saw Frank Heckenast Jr. and Tyler Bruening on the front row. Heckenast Jr. kept his spot for the race, but Bruening lost his position to fourth-place starter Max Blair. The next Showdown was very similar, with Ryan Gustin and Jeffrey Ledford leading the field. Gustin kept the pole position, but Ledford lost the second-place spot to third-place starter Ethan Dotson.

Now that the entire field was set-up, the drivers could get underway with the main event, which was a 40-lap A-Main.

Nick Hoffman competing in the Illini 100 at Farmer City Raceway (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

As the green flag flew, Dillard jumped out to the lead as they exited Turn 2. As Dillard entered Turn 3, Hoffman made himself known to Dillard and took advantage of his mistake of drifting up the racetrack just the slightest bit to race side-by-side with him down the front stretch. As soon as they hit Turn 1 though, Hoffman maintained a little bit more speed and was able to get by Dillard.

On Lap 4, Troutman entered the chat by passing Dillard for second through Turn 2. Dillard fought hard with Troutman though, and throughout Turns 3 and 4, he passed Troutman on the low side and got his spot back. As they raced down the front chute and hit Turn 1, Dillard put some space between him and Troutman, leaving Troutman to fend off Pierce.

Pierce set his sights on Troutman and by the time they exited Turn 4, Pierce took over the spot. As they crossed the line, Pierce scored in third.

Pierce raced with a consistent pace, minding his own business, when all of a sudden, he got squirrely and went sideways on the back stretch. Luckily, he was able to save his racecar, but Troutman, Erb and Erb Jr. were able to get around him, putting Pierce all the way back in sixth.

On Lap 12, Pierce got by Erb for fourth by going up high on the back stretch and keeping that momentum throughout Turn 3. Two laps later, Pierce started his battle with Troutman once again. 

Pierce went up high and slid right on top of Troutman’s nose taking over third for just a few seconds before Troutman went low and raced side-by-side with Pierce down the entirety of the front straightaway. As they hit Turn 1, Troutman went low and took third place back from Pierce, but not for long as Pierce was not letting up.

As they came out of Turn 4, Pierce and Troutman switched lanes with Troutman going up high and Pierce going low. Side-by-side directly in front of the fans, Pierce went down low heading into Turn 1, resulting in taking over third permanently from Troutman.

Lap 21 saw Pierce finally catch up to Dillard for second. As they came out of Turn 2, Pierce went high and got some momentum from the turn that allowed him to pass Dillard. Throughout the third and fourth turns, Pierce slid in front of Dillard and ended up putting some space between the two of them, having claimed second-place for himself.

On Lap 31 after a restart, Hoffman drove away without any problems, but Pierce and Dillard were back at it. Pierce slid up in front of Dillard going into Turn 2, but Dillard did not let Pierce have the glory for very long as he slid to the side of Pierce from the bottom.  Keeping their respective lanes throughout the next set of turns, Pierce got some more speed going down the front straightaway and slid down in front of Dillard. Dillard made a crucial mistake by getting just a little bit sideways, allowing Pierce to put just enough distance between the two of them to get ahead. But luck was on Dillard’s side as a caution was thrown right at that moment.

On the final lap, it appeared that Hoffman, Pierce and Dillard were just going to cruise happily into the first, second and third positions, respectively. That did not work out as planned because Hoffman drifted up the track in Turn 4, allowing Pierce to take immediate advantage of the situation. 

Pierce and Hoffman got side-by-side for about five seconds before Pierce shoved Hoffman over the edge of the racetrack. Hoffman said, “watch this”, and came back from the abyss to cross in front of Pierce and take the win exactly at the line.

“I drove into three expecting him [Pierce] to slide me,” said Hoffman. “So I blew in there harder than I ran all night and screwed up. He did the right thing by trying to take my lane away, but I just held it wide. That was stupid on my part. I should’ve won that a little bit easier but I had to make it a show.”