Jonathan Davenport scored his fourth World 100 win
A four-day stretch of racing at Eldora Speedway was completed on Saturday night with the 50th running of the World 100. Jonathan Davenport etched his name into the history books with his fourth win in the historic race at the legendary Rossburg, Ohio track. The Longhorn Chassis driver from Blairsville, Georgia was awarded $53,000 and the most coveted trophy in Dirt Late Model racing.
A total of 79 cars were signed in for competition.
The starting lineups for Saturday’s heat races were determined by Friday night’s results as well as an invert determined by a spin of the wheel.
Jonathan Davenport bested Kyle Bronson and Spencer Hughes in the night’s first heat race while Brandon Shepperd topped the second preliminary over Darrell Lanigan and Chris Ferguson.
Brandon Overton outran Kyle Strickler and John Blankenship in the third heat race then Johnny Scott beat out Ricky Thornton Jr. and Chris Madden in the fourth heat.
Bobby Pierce took the fifth heat race ahead of Ricky Weiss and Josh Richards just before Scott Bloomquist outperformed Rick Eckert and Tim McCreadie in the sixth and final heat race of the night.
Austin Kirkpatrick, Mike Norris and Frank Heckenast Jr. transferred out of the first Last Chance Showdown then Devin Moran gained entry into the World 100 by virtue of winning the first B-main Scramble.
Ashton Winger, Gregg Satterlee and Mike Marlar made it into the main event out of the second LCS just before Chad Simpson earned the final starting position in the World 100 out of the second B-main Scramble.
At the start of the 100-lap feature it was four-time winner Bloomquist who took the early lead with Pierce, Scott, Overton and Sheppard trailing. Scott charged by Pierce for second on lap 3 as Bloomquist began to pull away.
Bloomquist led the first 18 laps with Scott, Pierce, Overton and Sheppard in tow. However, slower traffic became a factor and Scott took the lead away from Bloomquist as they fought through slower cars on lap 19. Pierce and Overton also went by Bloomquist in succession over the next two laps to place themselves second and third in the running order.
Overton moved in to challenge Scott for the lead on lap 24. Scott briefly tangled with the slower car of Norris on lap 27 as he worked to fight off Overton. A caution was the result when Norris slowed. The yellow flag proved beneficial for Scott as he was allowed to retain the lead.
The top-3 of Scott, Overton and Pierce ran in tight formation over the next several laps until Overton made a move to take the lead on lap 42. Overton began looking like he has over the past three crown jewel races at Eldroa as he pulled away from the pack.
Former World 100 winners Davenport and McCreadie began to rise just before halfway as those two drivers entered the top-5.
Overton lead Pierce, Davenport, McCreadie and Scott to the green for a lap 49 restart. Davenport jumped to second with Pierce and McCreadie following closely. McCreadie moved in on Pierce to challenge for third just before a caution on lap 54 for the slowing car of Bloomquist.
Davenport took the lead away from Overton on the lap 54 restart while McCreadie jumped to third. The No. 39 the moved in on Overton to fight for the runner-up spot. Marlar continued to move up as he took fourth on lap 58 after the No. 157 car started all the way back in 26th.
Former race leader Scott brought out a caution on lap 61 when he bounced off of the turn two wall, erasing the lead Davenport had built.
Marlar went to third on the lap 61 restart then stepped up to work on Overton for second as Davenport worked to slip away from his pursuers. But another caution for the slowing Bloomquist again bunched the field.
Overton and Marlar fought for second lap after lap until Marlar took the spot on lap 77. He then began to cut into Davenport’s lead as the race moved inside of 20 laps remaining. Then, Pierce slowed to bring out a caution on lap 92 setting up a dash to the finish.
Over the closing laps, Davenport went largely unchallenged as he earned his fourth World 100 victory. That number tied him with Scott Bloomquist and Donnie Moran.
Feature Finish: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Mike Marlar, 3. Brandon Overton, 4. Tim McCreadie, 5. Chris Ferguson, 6. Brandon Sheppard, 7. Dale McDowell, 8. Chris Madden, 9. Kyle Bronson, 10. Frank Heckenast Jr., 11. Chad Simpson, 12. Rick Eckert, 13. Josh Richards, 14. Bobby Pierce, 15. Kyle Strickler, 16. Scott Bloomquist, 17. John Blankenship, 18. Johnny Scott, 19. Austin Kirkpatrick, 20. Ricky Thornton Jr., 21. Devin Moran, 22. Ricky Weiss, 23. Darrell Lanigan, 24. Spencer Hughes, 25. Gregg Satterlee, 26. Mike Norris, 27. Ashton Winger, 28. Nick Hoffman
