Jonathan Davenport scored his first Lucas Oil win at Dixie
With just three races remaining in its 2021 season, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series made its way into the state of Georgia for a Saturday night showdown at the Dixie Speedway. After a dominating night of racing, it was Jonathan Davenport who came away with the victory at the track located in Woodstock. The Longhorn Chassis driver from Blairsville, Georgia scored a $15,000 payday in the race shown live by MavTV Plus.
A total of 39 cars were signed in for competition.
Jonathan Davenport was fastest in Group A qualifying with a lap of 13.671 seconds around the 3/8 mile clay oval as he established a new track record to top Brandon Overton, Stormy Scott, Scott Bloomquist and Joseph Joiner.
Tim McCreadie led the way in Group B time-trials when he toured the track in 13.752 seconds bettering Chris Madden, Hudson O’Neal, Earl Pearson Jr. and Kyle Bronson.
Jonathan Davenport would start the feature from the pole by virtue of his win in the first heat race of the night ahead of Stormy Scott, Tyler Erb and Joseph Joiner then Brandon Overton took the second preliminary over Scott Bloomquist, Spencer Hughes and Ricky Thornton Jr.
Tim McCreadie earned a front row starting position after he took the third heat by defeating Hudson O’Neal, Kyle Bronson and Josh Richards just before Chris Madden outran Earl Pearson Jr., Austin Horton and Tyler Millwood in the fourth and final heat.
Christian Hanger and Jimmy Owens won the two B-main races used to set the remainder of the starting grid for the main event.
When the green flag waved over the 50-lap feature it was Davenport who charged to the front of the field with McCreadie trailing closely followed by Madden, Overton and O’Neal, Just outside the top-5, Bloomquist, Scott and Pearson engaged in the three-wide battle for positions 6-8.
Davenport had just begun to slip away from the pack when a caution flag would wave on lap 7 when Bloomquist slowed with mechanical issues.
Madden jumped around McCreadie on the restart for second. Davenport again set off from his pursuers building a lead of more than two seconds by lap 15. However, the front runner would begin to encounter slower traffic that would impede his progress by lap 16.
Although Davenport had a comfortable advantage, a tight race was taking place between Madden, McCreadie, Overton and O’Neal as they battled among traffic within the top-5.
Overton took third away from McCreadie and lap 29 then went on to wrest second away from Madden on lap 31. Meanwhile, McCreadie, O’Neal and Pearson engaged in a fierce fight for positions 4-6.
But even after Overton got to the runner-up spot, he was not able to cut into the lead of Davenport as the race passed the 10 laps to go mark. However, a yellow flag on lap 44 for the spinning car of Matt Cosner allowed the pack to catch up with the leader.
Davenport resumed his leadership until a caution for a flat tire on the Austin Horton car again restacked the field. Once again, the No. 49 car bolted away from a battle between Overton and Madden.
Davenport was initially denied the checkered flag when a yellow flag was again displayed just before Davenport crossed the finish line as Owens stopped on track with a flat tire. But in the end, Davenport would not be denied as he beat the field to the finish line to claim his first LOLMDS win at Dixie Speedway.
Feature Finish: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Brandon Overton, 3. Chris Madden, 4. Tim McCreadie, 5. Earl Pearson Jr., 6. Michael Page, 7. Hudson O’Neal, 8. Kyle Bronson, 9. Josh Richards, 10. Jimmy Owens, 11. Austin Horton, 12. Tyler Erb, 13. Joseph Joiner, 14. Christian Horner, 15. Stormy Scott, 16. Shane Clanton, 17. Tyler Millwood, 18. Spencer Hughes, 19. Ricky Thornton Jr., 20. Matt Cosner, 21. Cody Overton, 22. Cla Knight, 23. David Payne, 24. Scott Bloomquist
