La Salle Speedway
April 7, 2012
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Erb heats up the Thaw Brawl at La Salle Speedway



by Betty Glynn
LA SALLE, IL (April 7) – Thirty two UMP Late Model teams stormed the Illinois Valley area for La Salle Speedway’s opening day on Saturday night. The Thaw Brawl proved to not be a challenge for Dennis Erb Jr. who claimed Easter weekend title.

Bret Sievert scored the fastest lap overall with a time of 13.272. Four heat race line ups were determined based on the group qualifying results. Sievert and Jason Feger took their spots on the front row of the first heat contest. Sievert took charge early with Feger making his way up to his driver door by the fourth lap but he faded back a few car lengths quickly. Sievert pulled into a comfortable lead leaving Feger and Ryan Unzicker to battle for second. Sievert took the checkers with Unzicker beating Feger to the line for the second place finish and Jay Morris earned the final transfer spot.



Erb was uncontested from start to finish beating Brian Shirley, Shawn Toczek, and Rich Bell in the second heat. Frank Heckenast Jr. won the third heat from the front row outside over fourth place starter Brian Birkhofer, Steve Dimmick and Russ Scheffler. Brandon Sheppard held off a strong run by Tyler Reddick to capture the final heat victory. Kevin Weaver and Shannon Babb finished behind them.

Gary Schalmo and Scott Bull each won the B-Main’s.

Sheppard and Sievert topped the grid on the lead row in front of Heckenast and Erb. Unzicker and Shirley were behind them in row three. When the green flag dropped, Sievert was in command with Sheppard lower on the track. During the sixth circuit, Erb was working on passing Sheppard and eyeing the leader. Two laps later, he effortlessly took charge of the pack.



Erb generated a great deal of real estate and outdistanced the competition by Lap 11. Sievert was holding his own in the runner up position while Heckenast and Sheppard duked it out for third.

At the half way point of the race, Erb was leading by nearly half a track. His only challenge was lapped traffic that seemed to stall his smooth operation. With seven laps remaining, seventh place starter Birkhofer moved to the outside of Heckenast for the second place running position. Two laps later, Erb appeared to be a sitting duck as Birkhofer was able to reel him in a bit closing the gap.

Erb’s ride looked seamless from the first lap to the fortieth en route to his $5,000 payday. The former La Salle champion earned the Thaw Brawl title with complete ease. He was dead on with car set up and tires for the drier than normal conditions of the high banks. Birkhofer claimed an impressive second over Babb, Unzicker, Sievert and Shirley.

A-Main (unofficial top 5)
1 28 Dennis Erb Jr Carpentersville, IL $5,000
2 99jr Frank Heckenast Jr Orland Park, IL
3 18 Shannon Babb Moweaqua, IL
4 24 Ryan Unzicker El Paso, IL
5 5 Brett Sievert Mukwonago, WI