Tyler Erb Gets First Hell Tour Win Of 2025 In Fantastic Race That Featured A 5-Car Battle For The Lead

June 20, 2025  ·
  John Trent

Tyler “Terbo” Erb got his first checkered flag of the Hell Tour in 2025 after a fantastic 5-car battle for the lead that saw him go 3-wide to grab the lead.

Erb’s win did not come easy, he qualified in 11th in the back half of Group B with a time of 16.487 seconds. That gave him a sixth starting position in Heat 3. However, he worked his way through the field and finished second behind Ryan Gustin. With a second place finish in Heat 2, Erb started sixth for the 30-lap feature.

After the green flag waved Erb quickly began his move to the front, working his past Ethan Dotson and into the fifth spot on Lap 2. On Lap 3, he worked his way underneath Dillon McCowan who had did a masterful job of saving his car after some close quarters racing with Chris Simpson that saw him get up into the guardrail in the middle of turns three and four.

Next, Erb set his sights on Simpson and threw a huge slider in turn four on Simpson on lap 5. However, Simpson was able to cross him over, but Erb would not be denied as he threw another slider into 1 and Simpson slipped up over the cushion and allowed Erb to easily get past him.

While Erb was working his way up to third, Christian Hanger, who started on the pole, extended his lead over second place Ryan Gustin to 1.2 seconds. Erb would begin to work on Gustin by Lap 8 when he dived underneath him through 1 and 2, but was unable to complete the pass. On Lap 9, Terbo tried to slide Gustin through 3 and 4, but Gustin was able to hold him off with strong speed on the outside. Erb would remain patient over the next few laps as the two had caught up to Hanger as well as the tail of the field on Lap 13.

However, Terbo saw an opportunity to strike on Lap 15 and he dove to the inside of both Gustin and Hanger going through turns 1 and 2 with Simpson right behind him. Hanger and Gustin were able to hold him off down the backstretch, but coming out of turn 4, Gustin slipped up slightly and Terbo capitalized slipping underneath him and claiming the second spot. However, Terbo made his first mistake coming out of turn 2 and allowed Simpson to attack him from the bottom. Going through 3 and 4, Terbo was able to hold off the challenge and get a great run down the front stretch to close on Hanger. While all this was happening, Mark Whitener had climbed to fifth and challenged both Gustin and Simpson for position.

Terbo then stalked Hanger for the next couple of laps before he attacked him from the top of 3 and 4 while Hanger went low. Coming to the line, Terbo took the lead on Lap 19. Once he took the lead he did not look back as the battle was for 2nd and behind after that. He eventually extended his lead to over 3.5 seconds over the next 10 laps.

Speaking to DirtVision in victory lane, Terbo was asked what’s the biggest difference with his car this week compared to last week. A somewhat subdued Terbo said, “I had DJ and Scott Keyser come out here, for one. Rebuilt all my stuff. You know, I just haven’t been doing what I need to do. It’s pretty simple. I just need to drive the dogs**t out of it and when it’s my night, it’s my night.”

“We spent the day at Birkhofer’s yesterday and can’t thank him and his family enough. We got to wash, do laundry, swim, drink some Busch Lights, it was a good day,” he continued. “Today just kind of started off like how it’s been the last two weeks. I just been getting frustrated searching for something that I’m probably never gonna have. I know what this car is good at, and I know how to do it good. Tonight was the perfect example. Just pound the cushion and really I could peel off and run the bottom and be okay too.”

“Last year we just started of so good that I think everyone thought we were going to start winning. And it’s not easy. All these guys are good,” Terbo added. “We didn’t do it again to prove anything. I still want to win races and things like that.”

Terbo also had praise for the track, “This is a very cool track. I’ve never been here. You know most Iowa tracks are really up to my liking. This one, it definitely ranks up there.”

He concluded, “I’m really happy to be here. I’m excited about racing. I really do. When you don’t win it sucks.”

On Facebook, he added, “Now… it’s the Fun Tour 2.0 (Sorry for cussing) Thanks to everyone that makes this possible!”

Outside of Terbo’s win, current points leader Jason Feger struggled last night. He had to take a provisional, but salvaged a 13th place finish after starting the feature in 19th.

Ashton Winger was the hard charger. He too had to take a provisional and started in 20th. He moved up 9 spots to finish in 11th.

Official Finishing Order

  1. Tyler Erb
  2. Chris Simpson
  3. Mark Whitener
  4. Christian Hanger
  5. Ryan Gustin
  6. Jake Timm
  7. Joseph Joiner
  8. Dillon McCowan
  9. Kyle Bronson
  10. Ethan Dotson
  11. Ashton Winger
  12. Sam Mars
  13. Jason Feger
  14. Dennis Erb Jr.
  15. Drake Troutman
  16. Kayden Clatt
  17. Derrick Stewart
  18. Clay Stuckey
  19. Carson Brown
  20. Frank Heckenast Jr.
  21. Justin Reed
  22. Austin Howes

Jason Feger maintains his overall points lead for the tour. He currently has a 24 point gap over Dennis Erb Jr. With the win, Tyler Erb has moved into third spot. He’s only 45 points behind Feger. Joseph Joiner sits in fourth 66 points behind by being extraordinarily consistent. However, he shared on social media that he’s returning to the south after last night’s race. Drake Troutman sits in fifth 70 points behind Feger.

The Hell Tour combines with the World of Outlaws tonight at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park in Pevely, Missouri. It will stay there on Saturday as well before closing out Week 2 at Lincoln Speedway in Lincoln, Illinois on Sunday.

What do you make of Erb getting his first win in exciting fashion?

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Author: John Trent