Tanner English tops World of Outlaws Late Models at Highland
Photo by Mike Ruefer
HIGHLAND, Ill.—Highland Speedway may be over three hours from Tanner English’s residence in Benton, KY, but the southern Illinois bullring has always felt like home.
A win and three podiums in DIRTcar Summer Nationals competition highlighted his resume, and he’s finished top 10 in every visit since 2019. In his first World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision start at Highland, English did more than merely keep the streak alive. He grabbed the lead on the opening lap of the Beat the Heat 40 and fended off some of Illinois’ finest for his first Series win since 2022.
“Something about this, I like the big crowds,” English said. “I want to do better, I’ll see a big crowd and I’ll just try to make stuff happen that I probably wouldn’t usually. I don’t know why I do that. And just this kind of dirt, it’s powdery dirt, I’m usually pretty good at it. That’s kind of what I grew up on, Paducah [International Raceway] and Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway. Just something about that dirt, it kind of runs through here.”
When the green flag flew, English rolled the high side to pull ahead of Bilstein Pole Award winner Dustin Sorensen on the opening lap. Sorensen didn’t let him go far though, and on Lap 11 he threw a slider into Turn 1 in an attempt to get the top spot back, but English pulled the crossover and stayed on top.
The track started to become bottom-dominant in the second half of the 40-lapper, with English, Sorensen and third-running Shannon Babb keeping it tight around the tractor tires. Bobby Pierce missed that memo, as he got to the outside of Jason Feger for fourth and challenged Babb for third as the only frontrunner on the cushion.
Pierce’s momentum drove Sorensen to move up to defend, but the move backfired when Babb got by on the inside to get to second. The “Moweaqua Missile” ran down the No. 96 and was all over English’s bumper in the closing laps, but was unable to find a way around and could only watch as English took the checkers in a World of Outlaws race for the fourth time in his career.
English’s years of experience at the 1/4-mile paid dividends in formulating a game plan for the Feature and adding to the sense of urgency in the first half. Had he given up the lead early, he knew there would be no guarantee of another chance later on.
“It don’t always rubber, but it usually moves down to the bottom after that top wears out,” English said. “I knew I didn’t need to waste too much time up there, I just needed to protect a little bit up top, build some speed up and move down when I needed to. That was always on my mind. I almost messed up and gave it away there when I tried to pass Brent [Larson] on the outside. Saw him down there and I about messed up, but it just worked out pretty good. Timing was all perfect, no cautions, that worked out a lot. Usually when I’m leading, there’s 37 cautions, so I was happy to not see a yellow flag.”
While Babb was forced to settle for second, that result put him on a World of Outlaws podium for the first time since 2022 at Davenport Speedway.
“Would have worked out better if we started on the pole for sure,” Babb said. “I think we had the right tire, our car was good, Tanner and everybody did a really good job too. I could kind of see the writing on the wall, we needed to get there as soon as possible, it looked like the bottom was pretty clean.”
Sorensen brought the No. 19 home third for his fourth top five of the year, matching his Bedford Speedway performance in May as his season-best finish.
“We were really good there at the start, all over Tanner,” Sorensen said. “Unfortunately, the track kind of got one lane there, but that’ll happen. This car’s really good. We probably should have run second, but I want to win one of these races so damn bad, I thought I’d try the top there and Shannon got by me.”
Pierce and Feger rounded out the top five.
RACE NOTES:
Tanner English set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.
Bobby Pierce won the Simpson Quick Time Award.
Shannon Babb won Real American Beer Heat 1.
Tanner English won STAKT Products Heat 2.
Dennis Erb Jr. won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.
Dustin Sorensen won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.
Brandon Sheppard won the Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdown.
Dustin Sorensen won the Bilstein Pole Award.
Tristan Chamberlain won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.
Drake Troutman was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.
Shannon Babb won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.
Bobby Pierce was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.
Jason Feger was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.
Dennis Erb Jr. was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.
Nick Hoffman was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.
Jordan Bauer was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.
Drake Troutman was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.
Tristan Chamberlain was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision heads north to Spoon River Speedway for the second half of an Illinois back-to-back on Thursday, Aug. 14. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.
If you can’t make it to the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
RESULTS
WoO Late Model Feature (40 Laps): 1. 96-Tanner English[2]; 2. 18-Shannon Babb[3]; 3. 19-Dustin Sorensen[1]; 4. 32-Bobby Pierce[6]; 5. 25-Jason Feger[5]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[4]; 7. 2-Cody Overton[8]; 8. 9-Nick Hoffman[7]; 9. 10J-Jordan Bauer[14]; 10. 22*-Drake Troutman[9]; 11. 10-Daryn Klein[16]; 12. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[19]; 13. 78-Chad Zobrist[11]; 14. 3S-Brian Shirley[20]; 15. 74X-Ethan Dotson[18]; 16. 16-Matt Bailey[12]; 17. 49-Jake Timm[24]; 18. B5-Brandon Sheppard[17]; 19. 9M-Tim McCreadie[15]; 20. 19R-Ryan Gustin[23]; 21. 26M-Myles Moos[21]; 22. B1-Brent Larson[25]; 23. 93-Cory Lawler[13]; 24. 27-Rodney Melvin[10]; 25. 30-Mark Voigt[22]
Landa Pressure Washers LCS (10 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 2. 74X-Ethan Dotson[3]; 3. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[1]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[12]; 5. 26M-Myles Moos[7]; 6. 30-Mark Voigt[14]; 7. 4-Jordan Suhre[5]; 8. T4-Adam Tischauser[9]; 9. B1-Brent Larson[6]; 10. 49-Jake Timm[8]; 11. 19R-Ryan Gustin[13]; 12. 5J-Dan Jacober[15]; 13. 33-Mike Harrison[10]; 14. 18M-Jimmy Miller[11]; 15. 4S-Jason Suhre[4]
Real American Beer Heat Race 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Shannon Babb[2]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 3. 22*-Drake Troutman[3]; 4. 93-Cory Lawler[6]; 5. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[7]; 6. 4-Jordan Suhre[4]; 7. T4-Adam Tischauser[5]; 8. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]
STAKT Products Heat Race 2 (8 Laps): 1. 96-Tanner English[2]; 2. 25-Jason Feger[1]; 3. 78-Chad Zobrist[4]; 4. 9M-Tim McCreadie[6]; 5. 74X-Ethan Dotson[3]; 6. 26M-Myles Moos[5]; 7. 18M-Jimmy Miller[7]; 8. 5J-Dan Jacober[8]
Keyser Mfg Heat Race 3 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[1]; 2. 2-Cody Overton[3]; 3. 27-Rodney Melvin[2]; 4. 10J-Jordan Bauer[4]; 5. B5-Brandon Sheppard[7]; 6. B1-Brent Larson[5]; 7. 33-Mike Harrison[6]; 8. 30-Mark Voigt[8]
Jarrett Rifles Heat Race 4 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Dustin Sorensen[2]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[3]; 3. 16-Matt Bailey[1]; 4. 10-Daryn Klein[4]; 5. 4S-Jason Suhre[6]; 6. 49-Jake Timm[5]; 7. 3S-Brian Shirley[7]
Real American Beer LM Qual A (2 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:13.114[9]; 2. 25-Jason Feger, 00:13.205[12]; 3. 18-Shannon Babb, 00:13.233[8]; 4. 96-Tanner English, 00:13.267[14]; 5. 22*-Drake Troutman, 00:13.275[11]; 6. 74X-Ethan Dotson, 00:13.309[13]; 7. 4-Jordan Suhre, 00:13.377[5]; 8. 78-Chad Zobrist, 00:13.380[15]; 9. T4-Adam Tischauser, 00:13.508[16]; 10. 26M-Myles Moos, 00:13.580[2]; 11. 93-Cory Lawler, 00:13.630[3]; 12. 9M-Tim McCreadie, 00:13.652[6]; 13. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain, 00:13.817[7]; 14. 18M-Jimmy Miller, 00:14.027[1]; 15. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:14.156[10]; 16. 5J-Dan Jacober, 00:14.461[4]
Real American Beer LM Qual B (2 Laps): 1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:13.321[3]; 2. 16-Matt Bailey, 00:13.479[8]; 3. 27-Rodney Melvin, 00:13.480[1]; 4. 19-Dustin Sorensen, 00:13.528[7]; 5. 2-Cody Overton, 00:13.549[6]; 6. 9-Nick Hoffman, 00:13.562[4]; 7. 10J-Jordan Bauer, 00:13.585[5]; 8. 10-Daryn Klein, 00:13.585[10]; 9. B1-Brent Larson, 00:13.642[2]; 10. 49-Jake Timm, 00:13.678[15]; 11. 33-Mike Harrison, 00:13.706[11]; 12. 4S-Jason Suhre, 00:13.737[9]; 13. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:13.858[14]; 14. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:13.883[12]; 15. 30-Mark Voigt, 00:13.883[13]
CURRENT WORLD OF OUTLAWS LATE MODEL SERIES STANDINGS
Points Updated: August 13, 2025
Pos. No. Driver Hometown Points Gap Starts Wins Top 5s Top 10s
1 32 Bobby Pierce Oakwood, IL 4220 30 7 19 25
2 9 Nick Hoffman Mooresville, NC 4138 -82 30 4 15 25
3 19R Ryan Gustin Marshalltown, IA 4062 -158 30 4 13 21
4 9M Tim McCreadie Watertown, NY 3938 -282 29 4 10 16
5 28 Dennis Erb Carpentersville, IL 3906 -314 29 0 6 15
6 22* Drake Troutman Hyndman, PA 3904 -316 30 1 10 17
7 3S Brian Shirley Chatham, IL 3828 -392 30 1 10 14
8 96 Tanner English Benton, KY 3816 -404 29 1 5 10
9 2 Cody Overton Thomson, GA 3782 -438 30 0 2 11
10 74X Ethan Dotson Bakersfield, CA 3734 -486 29 1 5 12
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DIRTCAR UMP MODIFIEDS
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 1H-Ben Harmon[1]; 2. 45-Chase Holland[5]; 3. 1D-Dean Hoffman[3]; 4. 36-Kenny Wallace[8]; 5. 0-Damian Kiefer[2]; 6. 24S-Jacob Steinkoenig[4]; 7. 81-Kevin Cole[7]; 8. 52JR-Cole Knebel[6]; 9. 77-Ray Bollinger[15]; 10. 121-Deece Schwartz[20]; 11. 87Z-Zeb Moake[11]; 12. 787-Cody Zobrist[17]; 13. 21T-Talen Beard[19]; 14. 94-Austin Rettig[16]; 15. 15-Chris Smith[13]; 16. 77D-Drake Stevenson[10]; 17. 29H-Cale Hartnagel[14]; 18. 14-Rick Conoyer[9]; 19. 52-Billy Knebel[18]; 20. 24H-Mike Harrison[12]
B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 787-Cody Zobrist[2]; 2. 52-Billy Knebel[3]; 3. 21T-Talen Beard[1]; 4. 121-Deece Schwartz[16]; 5. E55-Chad Sellers[7]; 6. 95-Rick Salter[9]; 7. 5-Owen Steinkoenig[4]; 8. 28-Tom Smallwood[8]; 9. 88L-Christian Lee[10]; 10. 88-Jeremy Pate[5]; 11. 1G-Zach Gili[14]; 12. 69-Noah Sugg[6]; 13. (DNS) 22J-Troy Stuckwisch; 14. (DNS) 63E-Bret Eilerman; 15. (DNS) 84G-Gary Gross; 16. (DNS) 24-Zeke McKenzie
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 1H-Ben Harmon[1]; 2. 45-Chase Holland[2]; 3. 14-Rick Conoyer[4]; 4. 15-Chris Smith[3]; 5. 21T-Talen Beard[5]; 6. 88-Jeremy Pate[7]; 7. 95-Rick Salter[6]; 8. 84G-Gary Gross[8]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1D-Dean Hoffman[1]; 2. 81-Kevin Cole[2]; 3. 87Z-Zeb Moake[4]; 4. 77-Ray Bollinger[3]; 5. 787-Cody Zobrist[5]; 6. 69-Noah Sugg[8]; 7. 88L-Christian Lee[7]; 8. 1G-Zach Gili[6]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 0-Damian Kiefer[1]; 2. 52JR-Cole Knebel[2]; 3. 77D-Drake Stevenson[4]; 4. 29H-Cale Hartnagel[7]; 5. 52-Billy Knebel[6]; 6. E55-Chad Sellers[5]; 7. 22J-Troy Stuckwisch[8]; 8. 24-Zeke McKenzie[3]
Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 24S-Jacob Steinkoenig[2]; 2. 36-Kenny Wallace[1]; 3. 24H-Mike Harrison[3]; 4. 94-Austin Rettig[5]; 5. 5-Owen Steinkoenig[8]; 6. 28-Tom Smallwood[4]; 7. 63E-Bret Eilerman[6]; 8. 121-Deece Schwartz[7]
Qualifying 1: 1. 1H-Ben Harmon, 00:14.143[9]; 2. 1D-Dean Hoffman, 00:14.172[13]; 3. 45-Chase Holland, 00:14.197[15]; 4. 81-Kevin Cole, 00:14.316[16]; 5. 15-Chris Smith, 00:14.328[11]; 6. 77-Ray Bollinger, 00:14.330[8]; 7. 14-Rick Conoyer, 00:14.382[10]; 8. 87Z-Zeb Moake, 00:14.387[6]; 9. 21T-Talen Beard, 00:14.410[4]; 10. 787-Cody Zobrist, 00:14.501[12]; 11. 95-Rick Salter, 00:14.521[1]; 12. 1G-Zach Gili, 00:14.626[7]; 13. 88-Jeremy Pate, 00:14.665[14]; 14. 88L-Christian Lee, 00:14.712[2]; 15. 84G-Gary Gross, 00:14.788[3]; 16. 69-Noah Sugg, 00:15.389[5]
Qualifying 2: 1. 0-Damian Kiefer, 00:14.290[15]; 2. 36-Kenny Wallace, 00:14.318[13]; 3. 52JR-Cole Knebel, 00:14.372[8]; 4. 24S-Jacob Steinkoenig, 00:14.385[9]; 5. 24-Zeke McKenzie, 00:14.415[12]; 6. 24H-Mike Harrison, 00:14.462[16]; 7. 77D-Drake Stevenson, 00:14.483[3]; 8. 28-Tom Smallwood, 00:14.570[2]; 9. E55-Chad Sellers, 00:14.572[10]; 10. 94-Austin Rettig, 00:14.578[5]; 11. 52-Billy Knebel, 00:14.708[4]; 12. 63E-Bret Eilerman, 00:14.830[14]; 13. 29H-Cale Hartnagel, 00:14.867[1]; 14. 121-Deece Schwartz, 00:14.943[7]; 15. 22J-Troy Stuckwisch, 00:15.316[6]; 16. (DNS) 5-Owen Steinkoenig
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