ROSSBURG, Ohio — The second night of preliminary action in the 54th edition of the World 100 featured a 21st Eldora Speedway feature win for Jonathan Davenport and a second-straight victory for defending event winner Hudson O’Neal.
Davenport, the five-time World 100 globe trophy winner, drove his late model from ninth on the starting grid and took the lead on lap 21 to win the Group A 25-lap event.
O’Neal, who also won his Feature on Thursday night, made it back-to-back wins at the historic half-mile oval by leading every lap of the Group B Twin 25.
High-points driver Tim McCreadie — the 2018 World 100 winner— finished fourth in the Group A Feature, earning him the high-points driver honors.
As the top event points getter over the two-day stretch, McCreadie earned the right to spin the inversion wheel to determine the invert for Saturday’s Heat Races, which landed on a ‘3.’ This means the top-three starters in each heat will be inverted, giving McCreadie an inside row two starting spot heat one.
Group A Feature
Starting ninth on the grid following a third-place run in the third Shootout, Davenport was not going to let the lack of a top starting spot slow his pursuit of victory.
The Georgia racer worked his way through the top 10 and by the halfway point, trailed only leader Devin Moran. As Moran entered lapped traffic, Davenport was able to reel him in.
With the slower cars working in his favor, Davenport threw a slide job on Moran in turns one and two to take the lead. Following a caution flag, Davenport pulled away for his 21st career victory at Eldora.
Behind Davenport and Moran was multi-time DIRTcar Late Model national points champion Bobby Pierce. The 27-year-old World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series champion started 12th on his way to a third-place finish.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[9]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[12]; 4. 1-Tim McCreadie[7]; 5. 30-Ryan Gustin[1]; 6. 93-Carson Ferguson[3]; 7. 14H-Wil Herrington[11]; 8. 8S-Brian Shirley[4]; 9. 57-Zack Mitchell[17]; 10. 87-Ross Bailes[5]; 11. 10S-Garrett Smith[6]; 12. 96-Tanner English[8]; 13. 8-Kyle Strickler[25]; 14. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[26]; 15. 79-Donald McIntosh[24]; 16. 7-Ricky Weiss[14]; 17. 25F-Jason Feger[15]; 18. 114-Jordan Koehler[16]; 19. 7B-Jeff Babcock[19]; 20. 9-Nick Hoffman[13]; 21. 18-Shannon Babb[23]; 22. 2S-Stormy Scott[10]; 23. 6H-Clay Harris[21]; 24. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[22]; 25. 28C-Tyler Carpenter[20]; 26. 44-Chris Madden[18]
Group B Feature
O’Neal has shown his high-banked, half-mile prowess over the past several years, winning three preliminary features and a World 100 from 2022 through 2023.
Now, he’s won back-to-back World 100 prelim features and will be among the favorites to repeat as event champion.
One night after cashing in for $12,000 in the Group B prelim Thursday, Indiana racer dominated again Friday, leading all 25 laps of the Group B Twin 25 nearly unchallenged.
Cory Hedgecock finished second, while Josh Rice, Jimmy Owens and Shane Clanton completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 2. 23V-Cory Hedgecock[3]; 3. 11R-Josh Rice[2]; 4. 20-Jimmy Owens[4]; 5. 25-Shane Clanton[10]; 6. 12-Jason Jameson[7]; 7. 58-Garrett Alberson[13]; 8. 17M-Dale McDowell[16]; 9. 17D-Zack Dohm[15]; 10. 11-Brandon Overton[22]; 11. 22S-Gregg Satterlee[9]; 12. 72-Michael Norris[5]; 13. 40B-Kyle Bronson[19]; 14. C8-Timothy Culp[11]; 15. 74X-Ethan Dotson[14]; 16. 777-Jared Landers[6]; 17. 18D-Daulton Wilson[17]; 18. 31-Tyler Millwood[8]; 19. 10-Joseph Joiner[21]; 20. 83-Jensen Ford[18]; 21. 219-Gavin Cowan[26]; 22. 68-Adam Stricker[24]; 23. 1B-Rusty Ballenger[23]; 24. 91-Steven Roberts[25]; 25. 15-Clayton Stuckey[20]; 26. 6W-Ben Watkins[12]