Jonathan Davenport finally made it to the finish at Golden Isles
There’s an old saying in racing that proclaims, “You must first finish in order to finish first.”
Jonathan Davenport had the fastest car all weekend at the Lucas Oil ate Model Dirt Series season opening races at the Golden Isles Speedway in Waynesville, Georgia. But despite setting fast time in qualifying each of the first two nights and piling up an impressive total number of laps led in the Thursday and Friday night features, the Blairsville, Georgia driver had only two disappointing ‘DNF’ results to show for his efforts.
However, that would change on Saturday night as the No. 6 Longhorn Chassis car not only made it to the finish but outran the field in doing so.
For the third night in a row, Davenport set fast time in qualifying when he posted a lap of 15.213 seconds to lead Group A time-trials and overall. He was followed by Ross Bailes, Donald McIntosh and Austin Kirkpatrick.
Jared Landers set the pace in Group B qualifying with a quick time of 15.461 seconds around the 4/10 mile oval. He was followed by Billy Moyer, Jr., Earl Pearson, Jr. and Chris Brown.
Davenport earned the pole for the feature by scoring the victory in the first heat race ahead of Donald McIntosh, Eddie Carrier, Jr. and Steve Francis. Notably in that heat, three-time LOLMDS champion Jimmy Owens hit the wall on the first lap and was forced to retire from the preliminary to repair the damage.
Bailes won out in the second heat race of the night over Kirkpatrick, Don O’Neal and Jay Sessoms while Pearson took the win in heat three besting Landers, Stormy Scott and Dennis Erb, Jr. Billy Moyer, Jr. won the fourth and final heat over Chris Brown, Brandon Sheppard and Scott Bloomquist.
Kenny Pettyjohn and Gregg Saterlee won the two B-main races that served as the last chance for drivers to make the main event.
As he had all weekend, Davenport went to the lead early in the 50-lap feature and looked as if he might check out from the field in the initial circuits. Bailes, Pearson and McIntosh gave chase behind the early pace setter as Landers, who had been fast throughout the weekend, began to move forward from his sixth starting spot. He ultimately moved around McIntosh for 4th on lap 4.
The first of seven caution flags waved on lap 5 when multiple cars tangled in turn three. This not only allowed the field to reel Davenport in but the ensuing restart provided Landers with an opportunity to gain another position, which he did by moving around Pearson for 3rd.
Landers then grabbed 2nd away from Bailes on lap 14 while Davenport wrestled with slower traffic.
As the race approached the midway point, Landers began to close in on Davenport until he eventually overtook the early leader on lap 21. But the Batesville, Ark. driver’s time at the front of the pack would proved to be short-lived. On lap 30, the No. 777 machine came to a halt with a broken wheel.
Davenport then went back to the lead while drivers behind him staged multiple battles for position within the top-10. Among those racing the hardest were Bailes and Bloomquist. While contesting the 3rd position on lap 40, the two cars made contact as they roared down the front straightaway. Each bobbled but was able to maintain control, although Bloomquist lost a spot to Sheppard in the process.
Just two laps later, another caution flag was displayed. As the field rolled slowly around the track, Bloomquist pulled up and brushed the side of Bailes’ car to show his displeasure. Bailes then returned the favor by brushing against Bloomquist seconds later.
From that point, Davenport looked to have the victory in hand until he came onto the front stretch on what would have been the checkered flag lap. However, the car of Mike Benedum sat idle as one of its wheel continued rolling on down the track. LOLMDS officials were forced to put the yellow flag out just before Davenport reached the finish line.
That situation resulted in a one lap dash to the finish, but no one was able to challenge the leader.
Feature finish: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Earl Pearson, Jr., 3. Brandon Sheppard, 4. Scott Bloomquist, 5. Ross Bailes, 6. Dennis Erb, Jr., 7. Donald McIntosh, 8. Kenny Pettyjohn, 9. Jimmy Owens, 10. Stormy Scott, 11. Eddie Carrier, Jr., 12. Chris Brown, 13. Billy Moyer, Jr., 14. Don O’Neal, 15. Steve Francis, 16. Mike Benedum, 17. Jared Landers, 18. Kyle Bronson, 19. Jason Papich, 20. Ivedent Lloyd, Jr., 21. Jay Sessoms, 22. Gregg Satterlee, 23. Austin Kirkpatrick, 24. Devin Moran
