Jonathan Davenport earned $25,000 on night 1 in Las Vegas
The first of the two-night Duel in the Desert event got underway on Friday at the dirt track located near NASCAR’s Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After turning in a dominating performance, it was Jonathan Davenport who would go on to score yet another lucrative victory. The Longhorn Chassis driver from Blairsville, Georgia was rewarded with a $25,000 paycheck for his efforts on the Nevada track.
A total of 32 cars were signed in for competition.
Jonathan Davenport led the way in Group A qualifying with a lap of 17.584 seconds around the half-mile clay oval to beat out Brandon Overton, Morgan Bagley, Justin Duty and Joe Godsey.
Billy Moyer Sr. was quickest in Group B time-trials after the turned a lap of 17.294 seconds topping Tim McCreadie, Chris Ferguson, Stormy Scott and Rusty Schlenk.
Jonathan Davenport won the first heat race of the night besting Bobby Pierce, Morgan Bagley and Jeff Schildmeyer then Brandon Overton took the win in the second preliminary ahead of Josh Richards, Justin Duty and Jason Miles.
It was Billy Moyer Sr. who claimed the third heat ahead of Chris Ferguson, Jeff Smith and Rusty Schlenk just before Tim McCreadie defeated Stormy Scott, Johnny Scott and Jason Papich in the fourth and final heat race of the evening.
Ricky Thornton Jr. beat out Boom Briggs and Billy Moyer Jr. in the lone B-main held to set the remainder of the starting lineup for the main event.
At the start of the 40-lap feature, Davenport blasted to the early which he would eventually hold over the full distance in a race that would see battles being waged behind the leader throughout much of the way. Moyer, McCreadie and Pierce fought for positions 2-4 in the early going as Davenport began to slip away from his pursuers.
The leaders began to encounter slower traffic by lap six which allowed Pierce to make a move that would take third away from McCreadie. In the meantime, fifth-running Overton was able to close the gap on the three drivers in front of him to make it a four-car battle behind Davenport.
Pierce took the runner-up spot away from Moyer on lap 10 then began to cut into Davenport’s advantage until a caution flag waved on lap 12 for the slowing car of Moyer, who had suffered a flat tire. During that caution period, Pierce was also forced to give up second and come to the hot pit area to change a deflating tire.
On the ensuing restart, Overton bolted up to second leaving McCreadie in third and Richards(driving a car provided by Boom Briggs) in fourth. But a lap 13 caution for a spin at the tail of the field would again slow the pace.
Davenport continued to lead after the lap 13 restart with Overton holding second and Richards moving up to third. Further back, defending Duel in the Desert winner Thornton was moving forward as he took sixth away from Ferguson.
At the race’s halfway mark, Davenport led over Overton, Richards, McCreadie and Johnny Scott.
Just after halfway, Overton and Richards fought over second with each taking a turn in that positions before Overton finally reclaimed the spot for good.
A lap 26 yellow flag for debris on the track set up a restart opportunity that allowed Overton to briefly threaten Davenport’s command. Just back of the lead duo, McCreadie took third away from Richards with 10 laps remaining.
Pierce made a comeback from his earlier troubles that would see him rise all the way to fourth as he got around Richards for that position late in the going. But over the closing laps, it was all Jonathan Davenport as the No. 49 machine sailed under the checkered flag to take the victory.
Feature Finish: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Brandon Overton, 3. Tim McCreadie, 4. Bobby Pierce, 5. Josh Richards, 6. Johnny Scott, 7. Ricky Thronton Jr., 8. Cody Laney, 9. Morgan Bagley, 10. Chris Ferguson, 11. Rusty Schlenk, 12. Jason Papich, 13. Billy Moyer Jr., 14. Justin Duty, 15. Jeff Smith, 16. Joe Godsey, 17. Jeff Schildmeyer, 18. Jason Miles, 19. Billy Moyer Sr., 20. Stormy Scott, 21. Jeff Roth, 22. Boom Briggs, 23. Reid Millard, 24. Rob Mayea
