Jonathan Davenport won both races at Magnolia
Because of an uncooperative weather forecast for Saturday, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and officials from Magnolia Motor Speedway made the decision to rearrange the schedule for the ‘Clash at the Mag’ so that the more lucrative weekend finale would be moved to Friday. After the change, the initially schedule $5,000-to-win event set for Friday was nixed with a $12,000-to-win feature put in its place.
Following Thursday’s race on the same track, Jonathan Davenport would come away as the winner at the Columbus, Mississippi facility for the second consecutive night becoming the first four-time winner on the LOLMDS. The Blairsville, GA driver earned $12,000 for his efforts in a race shown live on MavTV Plus.
A total of 42 cars were signed in for competition.
Jonathan Davenport was fastest in Group A qualifying with a lap of 14.039 seconds around the 3/8 mile clay oval to beat out Kyle Bronson, Shane Clanton, Jimmy Owens, and Michael Arnold.
It was Brian Rickman who was quickest in Group B time-trials with a mark of 14.335 seconds topping Ricky Thornton Jr., Earl Pearson Jr., Mike Marlar, and Spencer Hughes.
Jonathan Davenport earned the pole for the feature by outrunning Michael Arnold, Shane Clanton, and Stormy Scott in the night’s first heat race while Jimmy Owens was the victor in the second preliminary over Kyle Bronson, Michael Page, and Tyler Erb.
Earl Pearson Jr. would start from the front row by virtue of his triumph in the third heat ahead of Brian Rickman, Spencer Hughes, and Tim McCreadie just before Mike Marlar took the fourth and final heat by defeating Ricky Thornton Jr., Dalton Cook and B.J. Robinson.
Logan Martin and Hudson O’Neal won the two B-main races used to set the remainder of the starting lineup for the main event.
When the 50-lap feature got underway it was Davenport who went to the early lead over Owens, Pearson, Arnold and Bronson. The leaders ran in single-file formation over the early laps until a caution flagged waved on lap 7 when Dalton Cook made contact with the outside retaining wall.
On the lap 7 restart the No. 40B of Bronson shot up to third after a brief battle with Pearson. Further behind, Marlar slipped back and was engaged in battle with Clanton for sixth.
By lap 15, Davenport appeared to be in control although Owens and Bronson kept pace just a few car lengths behind. However, the two pursuers closed the gap on lap 20 as Davenport found himself caught up in slower traffic. Owens even made a bid for the top spot on lap 22 by moving to the outside. However, that allowed Bronson to look to the inside of the defending series champion.
The top-3 eventually sorted themselves in the order they ran before the battle. A yellow flag was displayed on lap 31 when debris from the Spencer Hughes car was found on the track. Arnold jumped to the outside and passed by both Pearson and Bronson to pull into the third spot.
A caution involving several cars, including Erb, came out on lap 32. On the restart, Arnold challenged Owens for the runner-up position but Owens held the spot until another yellow flag was waved on lap 35 for a spin involving Thornton and David Breazeale.
Arnold got by Owens on the lap 35 restart to grab second. All the while, Davenport began to pull away from the pack. Marlar also moved forward as he took fifth.
A lap 44 caution for a spin by Hunter Rasdon again bunched the field. Restarts inside of the 10-to-go mark calls for a single-file restart. After the final restart, Davenport pulled away and sailed under the checkered flag to complete a sweep of the two races held at Magnolia.
Feature Finish: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Michael Arnold, 3. Jimmy Owens, 4. Kyle Bronson, 5. Mike Marlar, 6. Earl Pearson Jr., 7. Michael Page, 8. Tim McCreadie, 9. Hudson O’Neal, 10. Shane Clanton, 11. Chad Thrash, 12. Stormy Scott, 13. Logan Martin, 14. Kyle Beard, 15. Josh Richards, 16. Tyler Erb, 17. Morgan Bagley, 18. Ray Kulhanek, 19. Matt Cosner 20. Brian Rickman, 21. David Breazeale, 22. Hunter Rasdon, 23. Ricky Thornton Jr., 24. B.J. Robinson, 25. Spencer Hughes, 26. Dalton Cook
