After a pair of rainouts earlier in the week, the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Models headed north for a triple-header featuring action in North Dakota and Minnesota.
Friday night saw the series at River Cities Speedway, where Nick Hoffman held off 20221 winner Dennis Erb Jr. and Ashton Winger for the 40-lap feature. The win was anything but smooth for Hoffman, who started on the pole but immediately lost the lead to Winger on the start. He fell back as far as third before finding his way back to the lead on a restart with about ten laps remaining. Rookie Drake Troutman followed up his first career win at Pevely with a solid 4th-place finish.
The setting for night two was Ada, Minnesota’s Norman County Raceway. “The Thrill from Mooresville” came into the event as the defending winner, and he made sure we’re going to have to say that again next year. Hoffman started on the pole and this time made sure he kept it. In fact, he never lost it, leading all 50 laps and scoring his second victory in as many nights. “It’s the best I’ve ever felt in a late model,” Hoffman said in victory lane. “Coming off the Dream, we were kind of riding a high there and then kept carrying it over the last two nights. It’s going really good, and everything’s kind of firing on all eight cylinders.”.
The series kept digging on Sunday, this time back in North Dakota, at Minot’s Nodak Speedway, a track the series hadn’t visited since Raegan was in the White House. Bobby Pierce looked stout in hot laps and qualifying, putting his red 32 on the pole. Rookie Ethan Dotson was able to steal the lead on the opening lap and led much of the event until a lead battle broke out between him and Pierce. The battle opened the door for McCreadie, who made a brilliant three-wide pass for the lead, clearing Pierce in turn 2, and driving away for the win. Pierce finished second, and Nick Hoffman finished 3rd.
Hoffman’s strong weekend puts him 78 points behind Pierce in the season standings. The World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Models next race is at Deerk Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, MN, on July 3rd and 4th for the Gopher 50. As always, go see them in person, or watch any World of Outlaws event live on DirtVision.