2-24 Page 13

Hoffman adds a Late Model “Gator” to his pond; Timm highest local finisher in 15th

By Spence Smithback

BARBERVILLE, FL (February 12) - Nick Hoffman still has a long way to go to match his DIRTcar UMP Modified success at Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals in a Late Model, but he’s made plenty of inroads this week.

After collecting his first gator trophy of the week on Wednesday at Volusia Speedway Park in DIRTcar Late Model competition, “The Thrill From Mooresville” backed it up on Thursday, winning for the first time this season with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision.

“You get that first one out of the way and it just makes these come a little easier,” Hoffman said. “Not that any of them are easy. Our car’s really good, as long as I don’t do nothing stupid, get myself qualified early in the night, it just makes the whole night a lot easier.”

Of those WISSOTA-region drivers on hand for World of Outlaws opening action, Winona, Minnesota’s Jake Timm charged through the field from 24th to finish 15th. Lake Elmo, Minnesota’s Brent Larson was 18th, and Rochester, Minnesota’s Dustin Sorensen was 22nd.

Hoffman took control on the opening lap when polesitter Chris Madden slid too high exiting turn two, allowing Hoffman to cross underneath him going down the backstretch. A pair of cautions prevented Hoffman from getting too comfortable in the first half of the race, but he stood his ground on both occasions and ultimately crossed the line more than five seconds clear of the field.

“It’s so hard to slide somebody in turn one here because it leaves yourself hanging off turn two,” Hoffman said. “[Madden] had no choice but to try and slide me, and I anticipated that and was able to cross and have enough grip down the back straightaway. Then once you get out front, I was just trying to save my tires just a little bit just in case we get a late caution. Was able to stretch it out and just kind of cruise.”

Hoffman entered the night as the World of Outlaws points leader and maintained his spot on top by eight points over runner-up Tim McCreadie. In the short term, he also took over the Big Gator points lead by 21 markers over Cody Overton, who was leading the weeklong points until recording a DNF on Thursday.

McCreadie’s second-place run didn’t come easy, as he charged forward from 22nd in the starting order to earn hard charger honors in his 500th World of Outlaws feature start. Bobby Pierce came home third for his best series finish of the young 2026 season, while Tyler Erb and Madden made up the rest of the top five.

SUMMARY

WoO Late Models:

WoO Late Model Feature (35 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[2]; 2. 9M-Tim McCreadie[22]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[10]; 4. 1-Tyler Erb[5]; 5. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 6. 74X-Ethan Dotson[20]; 7. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[7]; 8. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[4]; 9. 22*-Drake Troutman[3]; 10. 11R-Josh Rice[19]; 11. 71-Hudson O'Neal[8]; 12. 19R-Ryan Gustin[14]; 13. 58V-Daulton Wilson[9]; 14. 58-Garrett Alberson[15]; 15. 49-Jake Timm[24]; 16. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[11]; 17. 14-Trey Mills[27]; 18. B1-Brent Larson[25]; 19. 1Z-Logan Zarin[26]; 20. 7-Ross Robinson[18]; 21. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[23]; 22. 19-Dustin Sorensen[21]; 23. 157-Mike Marlar[17]; 24. 16-Tyler Bruening[16]; 25. 55E-Eli Johnson[28]; 26. 19M-Brenden Smith[12]; 27. 8S-Kyle Strickler[13]; 28. 97-Cody Overton[6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Cody Overton[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[4]; 3. 8S-Kyle Strickler[2]; 4. 11R-Josh Rice[5]; 5. 1Z-Logan Zarin[3]; 6. 49-Jake Timm[8]; 7. 388-Jackson Hise[7]; 8. 81-Jason Riggs[9]; 9. 114K-Evan Koehler[6]; 10. 0-Glenn Styres[10]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 2. 58V-Daulton Wilson[4]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[3]; 4. 24-Tyler Wyant[6]; 5. 97D-Cade Dillard[5]; 6. 77-Preston Luckman[9]; 7. 23-Beckham Malone[7]; 8. 8-Matthew Larson[8]; 9. 14R-Reid Millard[10]; 10. 111-Max Blair[2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 2. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[4]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar[3]; 4. 19-Dustin Sorensen[2]; 5. T1-Todd Morrow[6]; 6. 93-Carson Ferguson[5]; 7. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[7]; 8. 49M-Luke Morey[8]; 9. B1-Brent Larson[9]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O'Neal[3]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 4. 74X-Ethan Dotson[4]; 5. 16S-Sam Seawright[6]; 6. 18-Chase Junghans[8]; 7. 99-Devin Moran[7]; 8. 14-Trey Mills[5]; 9. 17-Austin Howes[10]; 10. 55E-Eli Johnson[9]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 3. 16-Tyler Bruening[3]; 4. 76-Brandon Overton[5]; 5. 11-Austin Smith[4]; 6. 99B-Boom Briggs[7]; 7. 13-Dallon Murty[6]; 8. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[8]; 9. 31-Tyler Millwood[9]; 10. J4-John Garvin Jr[10]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 22*-Drake Troutman[2]; 2. 19M-Brenden Smith[4]; 3. 7-Ross Robinson[5]; 4. 09-Michael Leach[1]; 5. 9M-Tim McCreadie[7]; 6. 40B-Kyle Bronson[8]; 7. 114-Jordan Koehler[6]; 8. 11B-Stacy Boles[9]; 9. 60-Dan Ebert[3]

Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11R-Josh Rice[1]; 2. 19-Dustin Sorensen[3]; 3. 97D-Cade Dillard[5]; 4. 93-Carson Ferguson[9]; 5. 388-Jackson Hise[10]; 6. 24-Tyler Wyant[2]; 7. T1-Todd Morrow[6]; 8. 49M-Luke Morey[15]; 9. 49-Jake Timm[7]; 10. 77-Preston Luckman[8]; 11. 81-Jason Riggs[13]; 12. 23-Beckham Malone[11]; 13. 114K-Evan Koehler[16]; 14. 8-Matthew Larson[14]; 15. B1-Brent Larson[18]; 16. 0-Glenn Styres[19]; 17. 14R-Reid Millard[17]; 18. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[12]; 19. 1Z-Logan Zarin[4]; 20. 111-Max Blair[20]

Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 74X-Ethan Dotson[1]; 2. 9M-Tim McCreadie[6]; 3. 18-Chase Junghans[7]; 4. 99-Devin Moran[10]; 5. 09-Michael Leach[3]; 6. 40B-Kyle Bronson[9]; 7. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 8. 14-Trey Mills[13]; 9. 16S-Sam Seawright[4]; 10. 99B-Boom Briggs[8]; 11. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[14]; 12. 13-Dallon Murty[11]; 13. 17-Austin Howes[16]; 14. 11-Austin Smith[5]; 15. 55E-Eli Johnson[19]; 16. 31-Tyler Millwood[17]; 17. 11B-Stacy Boles[15]; 18. 114-Jordan Koehler[12]; 19. 60-Dan Ebert[18]; 20. J4-John Garvin Jr[20]