WHEATLAND, Mo. – It took a while to get there, but the final lap around Sunday night’s CMH Diamond Nationals Presented by Super Clean was a thriller.
Chris Ferguson, in just his second race at Lucas Oil Speedway, beat Jonathan Davenport at the finish line by half a car length. The Mt. Holly, N.C., driver pocketed $12,000 for victory.
Davenport briefly passed Ferguson late in the race before Davenport regained the lead and then held on on the final lap, making the outside line stick out of turn four to prevail by a half-car length.
“I could see Jonathan on the big screen, going into (turn) three,” the 30-year-old Ferguson said after his second career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win. “He was floating a little bit better than I was.
“Man, that was a hard race. Hats off to Jonathan. He’s the best in the country. To race door-to-door with him for a win, it’s a dream come true.”
The start of the 50-lap main event was delayed for two hours after light-but-persistent rain started to fall as the cars rolled onto the track the first time for the feature.
Once it got rolling, laps times and were fast and the action frantic on the re-worked track. The feature had six cautions, the final one on lap 39 to set up a shoot-out between the top two and third-place Shane Clanton.
“Our car seemed to get better as we went,” Davenport said. “Me and Chris put on a heck of a show. The gloves were off and we raced each other clean. I tried to give him room when I tried to slide him over here in (turn) one and tried to come back on the outside.
“We hit going down the back straightaway. As soon as I turned in, I bottomed out so I actually turned in and didn’t get to slide across the race track. Congratulations to him.”
Several contenders fell by the wayside in the first half of the race. Billy Moyer was running fifth when he slowed suddenly on lap five, bringing out the caution. Moyer took over the lead on lap eight, but Ferguson regained it the next time around.
At the time of the caution, Shannon Buckingham was second with Jimmy Owens third and Billy Moyer Jr. in fourth. Owens moved past Buckingham and into second after the restart and, by lap 25, the top three were separated by just one second.
Tanner English spun on the front straightaway to bring out a lap-29 caution. Shane Clanton by then had moved into fourth, behind the leading trio. Meanwhile, Moyer Jr. had to pull off as well.
The ensuing restart didn’t even complete a lap as a multi-car tangle on the backstretch, involving Jesse Stovall, Will Vaught, Jonathan Davenport, Kyle Bronson and Chad Simpson.
At that point, with 21 laps to go, the race was red-flagged to allow drivers to change helmets. Due to the dirt build up from the wet track, drivers had exhausted tear-offs on their helmets and visibility was poor.
Four-time Diamond Nationals winner Owens, the series points leader, used the opportunity to also change a tire that was losing air pressure. He had to restart in 20th instead of second.
They ran just one lap before the fifth-caution, for a slowing Tyler Erb. In that green-flag lap, Clanton zipped from fourth to second and Davenport from sixth to third.
Davenport continued his charge, moving into second on the restart. Meanwhile, fifth-running Mike Marler slowed coming out of turn four and brought out another caution on lap 33.
As Davenport continued to apply pressure to Ferguson, Owens had to pit on lap 39 after he had worked his way back to seventh. He wound up 15th.
From there on, it was a battle between Ferguson and Davenport. Clanton finished third with Rick Eckert fourth and Buckingham fifth.
“I’ll tell you man, God is great. I can’t even believe we’re here,” Ferguson said. “I have so many people to thank. If it wasn’t for my sponsors, I wouldn’t be here right now.
“This is something I’ve dreamed off for a long time, to come out here to a race track like this and for it to end like this. It’s just awesome.”
Forty four cars with drivers representing 18 states checked into the pits for the second half of the big weekend doubleheader.
The finish:
1. 22F-Chris Ferguson[1]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[9]; 3. 25-Shane Clanton[7]; 4. 0E-Rick Eckert[12]; 5. 50-Shanon Buckingham[2]; 6. 40B-Kyle Bronson[17]; 7. 8-Kyle Strickler[22]; 8. 16-Tyler Bruening[21]; 9. 14-Josh Richards[24]; 10. 39-Tim McCreadie[18]; 11. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[4]; 12. 81E-Tanner English[25]; 13. 9-Devin Moran[15]; 14. 00-Jesse Stovall[11]; 15. 20-Jimmy Owens[5]; 16. 57-Mike Marlar[6]; 17. 1T-Tyler Erb[23]; 18. 1V-Will Vaught[14]; 19. 1C-Chad Simpson[13]; 20. 1ST-Johnny Scott[10]; 21. 32B-Cody Laney[16]; 22. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[19]; 23. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[3]; 24. 93-Mason Oberkramer[20]; 25. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[8]; 26. 58-Jeremiah Hurst[27]; 27. 15L-Payton Looney[26]