Jonathan Davenport conquered Eldora on Thursday afternoon
Jonathan Davenport has won multiple features at Eldora Speedway and he added another on Thursday afternoon when he took the checkered flag ahead of the pack in the B Group preliminary race for the Thursday night’s Eldora Million.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Blairsville, Georgia earned $12,000 for his efforts in a race held on the half-mile facility located in Rossburg, Ohio and shown live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 124 cars were signed in for competition in both the A & B Groups combined.
Points acquired during all of the day’s activities would play an important role in setting the heat race lineups for the Eldora Million.
Qualifying Results: 1. Spencer Hughes(16.194), 2. Bobby Pierce, 3. Hudson O’Neal, 4. Johnny Scott, 5. Trent Ivey, 6. Earl Pearson Jr., 7. Tim McCreadie, 8. Zack Dohm, 9. Carson Ferguson, 10. Jonathan Davenport, 11. Darrell Lanigan, 12. Ryan Gustin, 13. John Henderson, 14. Kyle Strickler, 15. Gregg Satterlee, 16. Josh Rice
The top-16 were inverted for the purpose of setting the lineups for the heat races. The top-5 from each heat would move on to the feature.
Heat 1 Results: 1. Hudson O’Neal, 2. Jason Feger, 3. Tyler Bruening, 4. Nick Hoffman, 5. Carson Ferguson
A big crash on the first attempt to start the race inflicted damage on the cars of Spencer Hughes, Chris Simpson, Carson Ferguson and defending Dirt Late Model Dream champion Brandon Overton. Simpson and Hughes were eliminated from the heat race. Once the race got going, Bruening took the lead with O’Neal challenging. A lap 2 caution restacked the field. O’Neal took the lead on the restart with G.R. Smith rising to third. Jason Feger moved to the runner-up position as the laps clicked away while O’Neal drove away. Ferguson had to hold off Overton late for the final transfer position.
Heat 2 Results: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Bobby Pierce, 3. Kyle Strickler, 4. Earl Pearson Jr., 5. Jimmy Owens
Jonathan Davenport led the way after the completion of the first lap with Kyle Strickler and Bobby Pierce fighting for second just behind. By the halfway mark, Davenport had pulled away by more than three seconds. Pierce passed Strickler for second with three laps remaining while Davenport cruised to the win.
Heat 3 Results: 1. Gregg Satterlee, 2. Darrell Lanigan, 3. Tim McCreadie, 4. Johnny Scott, 5. Dustin Linville
Gregg Satterlee went to the early lead from the pole position with Darrell Lanigan and Tim McCreadie fighting for second just behind. Satterlee maintained a relatively comfortable advantage throughout with the closest battle being between Dustin Linville and Chase Junghans for the final transfer spot. Satterlee drove tot he victory.
Heat 4 Results: 1. Josh Rice, 2. Ricky Thornton Jr., 3. Brandon Sheppard, 4. Ryan Gustin, 5. Brian Shirley
Josh Rice and Ryan Gustin battled for the lead in the early going with Ricky Thornton Jr. and Brandon Sheppard joining the fray. At the halfway point, Rice had built a lead of three seconds over the runner-up fight. Rice ultimately sailed to the win.
B-main 1 Finish: 1. Brandon Overton, 2. Spencer Hughes
B-main 2 Finish: 1. Chase Junghans, 2. Trent Ivey
Feature Re-cap: When the 25-lap B Group feature took the green flag it was Satterlee who took the early lead ahead of Davenport, O’Neal, Thornton and Feger. On the second lap, Thornton took third away from O’Neal, and soon thereafter, Feger would push O’Neal back to fifth.
Feger, O’Neal and Pierce ran in tight formation for positions 4-6 until a caution for the slowing car of Gustin slowed the action on lap 7. On the ensuing restart, Davenport grabbed the lead while Pierce moved to fourth.
Davenport appeared to be on cruise control as the race moved passed the halfway mark with Satterlee, Thornton, Pierce, Feger and Sheppard ran strung out behind him. Even slower traffic could not deter the race leader over the closing laps.
As the feature neared its ending, the second running car of Satterlee blew a tire costing him spots in the finishing order.
Davenport made yet another trip to Eldora victory lane at the end of the day.
Feature Results: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Ricky Thornton Jr., 3. Bobby Pierce, 4. Brandon Sheppard, 5. Jason Feger, 6. Hudson O’Neal, 7. Tim McCreadie, 8. Darrell Lanigan, 9. Kyle Strickler, 10. Josh Rice, 11. Nick Hoffman, 12. Earl Pearson Jr., 13. Brandon Overton, 14. Jimmy Owens, 15. Tyler Bruening, 16. Johnny Scott, 17. Chase Junghans, 18. Brian Shirley, 19. Carson Ferguson, 20. Spencer Hughes, 21. Dustin Linville, 22. Trent Ivey, 23. Gregg Satterlee, 24. Ryan Gustin
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