IMPERIAL, Pa. — Devin Moran achieved a clean sweep on the opening night of the 36th annual Pittsburgher 100 Presented by Big River Steel on Friday night at Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway.
He secured his seventh Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season, earning a $10,000 victory.
Moran, who turned 30 years old last week, scored his first career win at PPMS. This track was where his dad, Donnie, won 12 times during his Hall-of-Fame career. Jonathan Davenport made it a close race at the end, finishing 0.186 seconds behind the driver from Dresden, Ohio.
Ricky Thornton Jr., who ran as high as second in the race, finished in third, followed by Carson Ferguson, whose first trip to Pittsburgh netted him a fourth-place finish.
Max Blair earned the Todd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race as he came from the 17th starting spot to complete the top five drivers.
Moran jumped to the lead at the start of the 30-lap main event with Thornton in tow. Thornton ran in the second spot and was closing back in on Moran when the only caution of the race flew with 16 laps complete for fourth place running Garrett Alberson, who slowed with a shredded right tire.
After the restart, Moran began to widen the gap as Davenport picked up speed and passed Thornton for second place on lap 17. Davenport was about nine car lengths behind Moran, but in the last 10 laps, he managed to close in on Moran as they encountered traffic.
Davenport got within one car length in the final couple of laps but fell just short of winning his first race at PPMS.
“Man, I have been coming to Pittsburgh a long time, even back in the day with my dad,” Moran said. “I can’t think of a better time to get my first win here. It’s a great way to start the Pittsburgher 100 weekend, for sure. My heart rate was up to whole time. I know it’s like everything is moving in slow motion. You drive so hard at this place. I don’t think Cody [Overton] and I got into each other. But I just knew I had to slide him and keep on going not to lose my momentum because once you lose your momentum here, they can catch you so quick.”
Davenport, seeking his fourth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series title to tie both Earl Pearson Jr. and Jimmy Owens, came home in the runner-up spot.
“It was just a combination of things from qualifying on. If we could have started on the outside of the front row instead of fourth, I might have worked him [Moran] more,” Davenport said. “He did an awesome job. He moved around when he needed to. I was trying to go where he wasn’t. I tried to run a little above him or below him, but it just didn’t work out for us.”
Thornton, who has won two of the last three Pittsburgher races, finished third.
“I didn’t want that yellow. I felt like without the yellow, we had a good shot of winning. I didn’t fire off as well as I needed to. JD’s stuff was really good too. In the grand scheme of things, I am happy with our night. We ran really well and were fast all night. Luckily, we’ve got a little bit we can work on for tomorrow. I know last year when I was here, there was a really big lip around the top, and this year, it’s all knocked down.”
The finish:
Devin Moran, Jonathan Davenport, Ricky Thornton Jr., Carson Ferguson, Max Blair, Mason Zeigler, Drake Troutman, Tim McCreadie, Gregg Satterlee, Mike Marlar, Ross Robinson, Jimmy Owens, Alex Ferree, Boom Briggs, Logan Zarin, Hudson O’Neal, Daulton Wilson, Cody Overton, GTarrett Alberson, Brenden Smith, Colton Flinner, Clay Harris, Michael Norris, Jon Hodgkiss, Cory Lawler.