Jonathan Davenport grabs another Lucas Oil win at East Bay

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

TAMPA, FL (February 12, 2016) – Jonathan Davenport passed Scott Bloomquist with ten laps to go and went on to win the Winternationals event on Friday Night. Davenport’s win was his second of the week in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series competition at East Bay Raceway Park.

Trailing Davenport and Bloomquist to the checkered flag were Darrell Lanigan, Don O’Neal, and Tim McCreadie.

“Just like last night, I gave it all I had. I saved my equipment and my tires. We still have electrical issues with this motor. It was breaking up so bad, that I could only run three-quarters of the throttle until the end of the race. Lee Roy [Rumley] told me if it was skipping too badly, to pull it in. I only ran the first five laps with it skipping,” said a smiling Davenport afterwards.

Bloomquist took off and led the caution-plagued event until Davenport went by him coming to the flagstand on lap 40. Before that, Davenport had a hard-fought battle with Lanigan for second. He broke away from that and was able to challenge Bloomquist for the top spot.

“This Longhorn Chassis; Kevin Rumley he has got this thing working great. With all of the stuff going on, we are as good as we were last year. With all the cautions, I don’t think it helped tire wear any. I couldn’t take off at the starts. It took a couple of laps to get the heat back in them.”

“Darrell and I had a pretty good race for a while. I kind of pinched him off going into turn one and got into the back of Scott [Bloomquist]. I knew if could stay in front him [Lanigan] I would have a chance at Scott at the end of the race. Scott’s car was really good. He is the master of all of this stuff. Once I got going, he started to slow down going into one. I knew after that last restart that I was going to roll around him on the top.”

Davenport’s K&L Rumley-owned entry is sponsored by Baird Transport, Elite Concrete, Mac Trailers, Mega Plumbing of Carolinas, National Transportation, Race Note, JRi Shocks, Sunoco, Dirt Wrap, FK Rod Ends, Bryson Motorsports, CV Products, and Midwest Sheet Metal.

Bloomquist beat Davenport to the finish line the night before, and commented on his race tonight. “I think everything went pretty well until the end. Last night I tore up the tires a little more. The black got a little icy tonight. We didn’t cut up the tire like we did last night. Our restarts weren’t what we are accustomed to. I would spin the tires, and he [Davenport] got too good of a jump.”

“He [Davenport] ran really well tonight. Hopefully we learned some things for tomorrow night. Our car seemed really well balanced out there, but it was still a little bit tight. I had to 3-wheel brake the car to get it to turn. I want to thank Mark Martin Honda, Reece Monument, Crop Production Services, Sorbera Chiropractic, Horton Coal, and everyone else who makes this possible.”

Lanigan is in his first full-year running the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series for Clint Bowyer Racing and was pleased with his third place finish. “We had a good car early on. The last ten laps, we sort of fell off a bit, but we’ve got a pretty good piece with this Georgia Boot/Club 29 car. It was good finish for the team with [Don] O’Neal getting fourth.”

“It’s been so long since we have run here; well over 10 years ago; and a lot has changed with these cars and the track. We will keep working on it and hopefully do better tomorrow night.”

Completing the top ten were Brandon Sheppard, Jared Landers, Jimmy Owens, Devin Moran, and Earl Pearson Jr.

In preliminary action, Jonathan Davenport set the overall Miller Welders Fast Time (Group B) amongst the 35 entrants, with a lap of 14.819 seconds. Scott Bloomquist set the fastest time in Group A with a time of 14.829 seconds. Scott Bloomquist, Jared Landers, Jonathan Davenport, and Don O’Neal won their respective heat races. Mason Zeigler and David Breazeale won their respective B-Mains. Bobby Pierce earned the Miller Welders Fast Time Provisional and Austin Kirkpatrick won the DirtOnDirt.com Strawberry Dash.

For the latest breaking news on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, including the latest series standings, 2016 tour schedule, driver information, and more visit the official website at: www.lucasdirt.com.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series

Race Summary
Friday, February 12th, 2016

40th Annual East Bay Winternationals
East Bay Raceway Park – Tampa, FL

Miller Welders Fast Time Group A: Scott Bloomquist / 14.829 seconds

Miller Welders Fast Time Group B: Jonathan Davenport / 14.819 seconds

Eibach Springs Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Scott Bloomquist, Darrell Lanigan, Brandon Sheppard, Kyle Bronson, Sonny Conley, Colton Flinner, Nick Davis, Ricky Weiss, Bobby Pierce

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Jared Landers, Tim McCreadie, Gregg Satterlee, Steve Francis, Mason Zeigler, James Rice, Austin Kirkpatrick, Eddie Carrier, Jr., Chuck Julie.

Simpson Performance Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Jonathan Davenport, Randy Weaver, Earl Pearson, Jr., Dennis Erb, Jr., David Breazeale, Justin Rattliff, Freddie Carpenter, Chad Hollenbeck, Jimmy Owens

QA1 Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Don O’Neal, Tim Dohm, Devin Moran, Mark Whitener, John Gardner, Allen Murray, Bob Gardner, Alex Ferree

Fast Shafts B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): Mason Zeigler, Ricky Weiss, Sonny Conley, James Rice, Colton Flinner, Nick Davis, Austin Kirkpatrick, Eddie Carrier, Jr.-DNS, Bobby Pierce-DNS, Chuck Julien-DNS

Keyser MFG B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): David Breazeale, Justin Rattliff, Freddie Carpenter, Allen Murray, John Gardner, Bob Gardner, Alex Ferree, Chad Hollenbeck, Jimmy Owens-DNS

*Points are unofficial until Close of Business on the Tuesday following Race Day*