Jonathan Davenport took the lead on lap 20 and cruised to victory
For its final event of Georgia-Florida SpeedWeeks the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series made its first appearance at the All-Tech Raceway. At the end of the night it was defending series champion Jonathan Davenport who left the Lake City, Florida facility with the winner’s trophy and a check valued at $10,000.
Tim McCreadie led the way in Group A qualifying and overall when he turned a lap of 17.892 seconds around the clay oval. That effort beat out Mark Whitener, Tyler Bruening, Colten Flinner, Brian Shirley and Jimmy Owens.
Fastest in Group B time-trials was Devin Moran who toured the track in 17.965 seconds to beat out Jimmy Sharpe, Jr., Gregg Satterlee, Mike Marlar, Tanner English and Jonathan Davenport.
Tim McCreadie earned the pole for the feature by taking the first heat race of the night ahead of Brian Shirley, Michael Page and Kyle Bronson while Mark Whitener scored the win in the second preliminary ahead of Colton Flinner, Shane Clanton and Earl Pearson, Jr.
Devin Moran would start the feature from the outside of the front row by virtue of his triumph in the third heat over Gregg Satterlee, Brandon Sheppard and Logan Roberson just before Jonathan Davenport grabbed the checkered flag in the fourth and final heat as he beat out Mike Marlar, Jesse Stovall and Tyler Erb.
Billy Moyer, Jr., G.R. Smith and Stormy Scott transferred to the feature out of the first B-main race then Dennis Erb, Jr. won the second B-main ahead of Tanner English and Jeff Mathews.
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At the start of the 50-lap feature Moran bolted to the early lead in front of McCreadie, Davenport, Whitener and Satterlee. Davenport moved to second as he passed McCreadie on the second with Whitener following suit and also getting around the No. 39 machine.
A lap 2 caution for the slowing car of Pearson slowed the action briefly. The restart jumbled the running order as Satterlee moved to second with Whitener going to the third sport. McCreadie moved back around Davenport for fourth on lap 4.
Between laps 5 and 12 the likes of Davenport, Whitener and Marlar exchanged positions at the back of the top-5 while McCreadie got by Satterlee to take second on lap 10. At the same time, the lead car of Moran encountered slower traffic. Davenport took third away from Satterlee on lap 12.
After a lap 16 caution for Stormy Scott it was Davenport who moved to the runner-up spot around McCreadie while the red hot Sheppard grabbed fourth.
Lap 20 saw Davenport slip by Moran for the lead as Sheppard took third away from McCreadie. All the while, there was furious action involving Clanton, Stovall, Satterlee, Owens and Smith as they fought over positions 6-10.
Owens charged all the way to fifth from the rear of the field after having to go to a backup car following a heat race incident. Also, his fellow east Tennessean Marlar charged through the top-5 to get to second.
During the middle stretches of the race the top-5 of Davenport, Marlar, Clanton, Sheppard and Owens spread out and logged laps until Sheppard took third away from Clanton as they raced under the white flag.
But in the end it was Davenport who cruised to the checkered flag to score the win.
Feature Finish: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Mike Marlar, 3. Brandon Sheppard, 4. Shane Clanton, 5. Jimmy Owens, 6. Devin Moran, 7. Tim McCreadie, 8. Josh Richards, 9. Billy Moyer, Jr., 10. Gregg Satterlee, 11. Jesse Stovall, 12. Mark Whitener, 13. Dennis Erb, Jr., 14. Tyler Erb, 15. G.R. Smith, 16. Kyle Bronson, 17. Logan Roberson, 18. Tanner English, 19. Michael Page, 20. Shanon Buckingham, 21. Brian Shirley, 22. Colton Flinner, 23. Stormy Scott, 24. Charles Powell, Jr., 25. Earl Pearson, Jr., 26. Jeff Mathews
