Jonathan Davenport scored a preliminary win at Deer Creek
Jonathan Davenport had an option to give up his pole starting position to start 11th and have a chance at a $10,000 bonus but he stated that he wanted to see how his car felt in clean air. Apparently it felt quite good as he dominated Friday’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned feature preliminary for the Gopher 50 at Deer Creek Speedway.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Blairsville, Georgia picked up $5,000 for his win on the Spring Valley, MN track in a race shown live by MavTV Plus/FlorRacing.com.
Points earned in Thursday and Friday features will set the top-16 starters for Saturday’s $50,000-to-win main event.
A total of 40 cars were signed in for competition
Qualifying Results:
Group A Results- 1. Jonathan Davenport(14.029), 2. Mike Marlar, 3. Brandon Overton, 4. Kyle Strickler, 5. Tyler Bruening
Group B Results- 1. Kyle Bronson(14.286), 2. Spencer Hughes, 3. Brandon Sheppard, 4. Tim McCreadie, 5. Earl Pearson Jr.
Heat 1 Results: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Brandon Overton, 3. Tyler Bruening, 4. Shane Clanton
Heat 2 Results: 1. Mike Marlar, 2. Kyle Strickler, 3. Jimmy Owens, 4. Ricky Weiss
Heat 3 Results: 1. Kyle Bronson, 2. Brandon Sheppard, 3. Earl Pearson jr., 4. Chris Simpson
Heat 4 Results: 1. Tim McCreadie, 2. Johnny Scott, 3. Spencer Hughes, 4. Chris Madden
B-main 1 Finish: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Hudson O’Neal, 3. Ryan Gustin, 4. Brent Larson
B-main 2 Finish: 1. Garrett Alberson, 2. Tyler Erb, 3. Cade Dillard, 4. Stormy Scott
Feature Re-cap: The 25-lap feature took the green flag with Davenport leading McCreadie, Bronson, Marlar and Overton. However, a caution just after the completion of the first lap for the slowing car of Chris Simpson.
A second yellow flag flew shortly after the lap 1 restart when Bronson spun in turn one following a furious restart and then collected Sheppard. When the race finally resumed, Marlar went to second after a three-wide fight with Overton also pushing McCreadie back a spot.
Overton took the runner-up position away from Marlar on lap 6 as Davenport continued to lead. McCreadie also moved up on lap 11 when he passed Marlar for third. Davenport then began to encounter slower traffic on lap 15 which allowed Overton and McCreadie to close slightly.
But Davenport handled the slower traffic expertly and was able to maintain a relatively comfortable margin to the end as he sailed under the checkered flag to claim victory.
Feature Results: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Brandon Overton, 3. Tim McCreadie, 4. Mike Marlar, 5. Kyle Strickler, 6. Tyler Bruening, 7. Chris Madden, 8. Earl Pearson Jr., 9. Jimmy Owens, 10. Johnny Scott, 11. Spencer Hughes, 12. Ricky Weiss, 13. Shane Clanton, 14. Ricky Thornton Jr., 15. Stormy Scott, 16. Brent Larson, 17. Tyler Erb, 18. Hudson O’Neal, 19. Garrett Alberson, 20. Cade Dillard, 21. Ryan Gustin, 22. Kyle Bronson, 23. Brandon Sheppard, 24. Chris Simpson
Please consider also reading:
Chris Madden takes Thursday night Lucas Oil feature at Deer Creek
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