Jonathan Davenport
The Ultimate Super Late Model Series came to the Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn. on Thursday night to sanction that track’s 12th annual Scorcher event that often coincides with the NASCAR races taking place a short distance away at the Bristol Motor Speedway. This year’s version of the event drew some of Dirt Late Model racing biggest stars and when the dust settled, it was Jonathan Davenport, driving in place of the injured Randy Weaver, who finished ahead of the pack and came away with the $12,000 first prize.
Scott Bloomquist was the fastest driver in Group 1 qualifying and overall when he clocked in at 12.073 seconds around the 4/10 mile clay oval. Davenport and Canadian Ricky Weiss led Group 2 & 3 time-trials respectively.
Bloomquist earned the pole position for the feature by taking the win in the first heat race of the night ahead of Billy Ogle, Jr., Chris Madden and Jimmy Owens. Davenport took the win in the night’s second preliminary race over Jeff Wolfenbarger, Chad Ogle and Kenny Collins while Dale McDowell bested Weiss, Mark Vineyard and Donald McIntosh in the third heat.
At the start of the 50-lap feature, Bloomquist went to the early lead with Davenport and Billy Ogle close behind. However, the racing action slowed abruptly when several cars found themselves in the midst of a pileup at the conclusion of the first lap when Ogle appeared to slow dramatically near the front of the pack. Vineyard and Collins were eliminated in the melee while Ogle had to restart the race from the rear due to making a pit stop. Within that caution period, McDowell also pulled off the speedway and retired his machine for the evening.
When the race restarted, Bloomquist quickly built a lead of almost a full straightaway as Davenport ran just in front of a battle between Weiss and Owens for third. Later, McIntosh would join the third and fourth place runners to make it a three car fight within the top-5.
After 10 caution free laps, Bloomquist reached the tail of the field and set about the process of putting card a lap down. As the laps clicked off, Davenport began to close on the No. 0 racer as both became jammed behind those who were running off the lead pace.
Davenport closed quickly in the traffic on lap 21 and made a bid for the lead. After some contact, Bloomquist found himself spinning at the exit of turn four. Davenport assumed the lead at that point while Bloomquist would have to restart from the tail of the field after coming to the pit area to make repairs to his car.
Davenport drove the ride normally occupied by Randy Weaver
A series of cautions over the next 23 laps framed a hard fought battle between Davenport and Owens for the lead. At the same time, drivers such as McIntosh and Ryan King contested positions within the top-5 as Bloomquist made his way back toward the front from the rear of the pack.
By lap 40, Bloomquist passed McIntosh to take third and set up a titanic battle between himself, Davenport and Owens for the race win. King lost a wheel off his Warrior house car on lap 46, which brought about a four-lap dash to the finish between the big stars. Davenport drove on to the checkered flag as Owens and Bloomquist engaged each other for the runner-up spot.
Feature Finish: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Jimmy Owens, 3. Scott Bloomquist, 4. Donald McIntosh, 5. Chad Ogle, 6. Jeff Wolfenbarger, 7. Billy Ogle, Jr., 8. Jimmy McNamara, 9. Ryan King, 10. Derek Fisher, 11. Vic Hill, 12. Jeremy Hines, 13. Glenn Elliott, 14. Ricky Weiss, 15. Shanon Buckingham, 16. Dennis Franklin, 17. Brian Ligon, 18. Chad White, 19. Mark Vineyard, 20. Dale McDowell, 21. Kenny Collins, 22. Chris Madden
