WHEATLAND, Mo. — Another season meant another trip to victory lane at Lucas Oil Speedway for Jonathan Davenport.
The Blairsville, Ga., driver led all 40 laps Friday night and withstood a late charge from Ricky Thornton Jr., to capture the night one feature at the 11th annual Lucas Oil MLRA Spring Nationals Presented by Arizona Sport Shirts.
Davenport beat Thornton by 1.02 seconds to earn $7,000 in the MLRA season opener. This after winning four Lucas Oil MLRA or Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series features at Lucas Oil Speedway in 2024, plus the Superstar Racing Experience main event at Lucas Oil.Â
“I don’t know, this place just fits me,” Davenport said of his success on the Wheatland dirt. “It constantly changes and gives us all a curve ball for sure. It feels good to come back after that special win the SRX Series. That was definitely cool.
“I just have to thank my guys for all they do for me and thank Longhorn. This is a brand new car. All the guys back at the shop worked hard on this thing.”
A total of 44 late models were on hand for night one of the Spring Nationals with 117 total entries in four divisions checking into the pits.
The stakes will be even higher on Saturday night with $20,000 on the line for the Lucas Oil MLRA 60-lap feature win.
“Thanks to all the fans for coming out,” Davenport said, urging the fans to bring some friends for Saturday’s finale. “We’ll see if we can get another one.”
Davenport grabbed the lead at the start and opened a 1.5-second lead over Mason Zeigler four laps in when the first caution came out as Matt Johnson slowed in turn four. Garrett Smith got around Zeigler on the restart, but another yellow flag flew on lap six.
A debris caution on lap nine, the race’s third yellow, again halted Davenport’s momentum as Smith, Zeigler and Tony Jackson Jr. gave chase.
Finally getting an extended green-flag run, Davenport used the clean air to open a 2.4-second lead over Smith by lap 20, the event’s midpoint. Meanwhile, Thornton rallied from his seventh-starting spot into third by lap 24 as he got around Zeigler.
One lap later, Smith hit the wall exiting turn four and rolled to a stop to bring out caution No. 4. That erased Davenport’s 2.6-second lead over Thornton, with Zeigler third and Jackson fourth.
Davenport quickly moved away after the restart to lead by 1.9 seconds by lap 30 as Thornton was fighting off Zeigler for second. But Thornton started cutting into the margin as Davenport caught lapped traffic with seven laps remaining.
Thornton made a final try on the final lap, diving low into turns three and four, but “Superman” was able to hang on by about five car lengths for the victory.
Zeigler finished third with Garrett Alberson fourth and Jackson winding up fifth.
“You never know who is coming from behind,” Davenport said of the late going. “Ricky didn’t qualify very well and I knew he’d be coming up through there, plus there were several other cars that didn’t get a good qualifying lap in.
“That’s one thing about Wheatland. If you don’t like the race track, just wait a minute because it’s going to change. But I didn’t get quite as slick tonight as I thought it would. The top stayed there longer than I thought it would.”
Thornton said the poor qualifying effort, which relegated him to seventh at the start, was too much to overcome.
“Early in the night we were about a second off the pace to these guys,” Thornton said. “We’ll see if we can get a little better early in the night and start a little farther forward. But once the track slowed down, our car really came to us.
“Congrats to J.D. His stuff looked really good and he was kind of on cruise control. Hopefully we can get a little better.”
The overall fast qualifier was Davenport, who paced Group B with a lap of 14.802 seconds. He went on to win his feature to earn a starting spot on the front row.
Reigning MLRA champion Chad Simpson started sixth and finished sixth in the first series action of the season. Mike Marlar charged from 15th to finish seventh.
POWRi Super Stocks win goes to Carver
Taylor Carver of Lockesburg, Ark., led all 20 laps for the POWRi Super Stocks feature win, holding off Ted Welschmeyer.
Carver started third, but was able to grab the lead on lap one. After two cautions slowed the early action, Carver opened a 1.5-second lead over Welschmeyer who drove around Brian Brown on lap four to get into second.
Carver caught lapped traffic by the midway point on lap 10 when the event’s third caution bunch the field. Three more yellow flags over the next five laps prevented the leader from getting away.
On final caution with two laps to go gave Welschmeyer one more chance, but Carver was up to the challenge and finished his flawless run. He prevailed by 1.07 seconds.
Ed Griggs rallied from 13th to finish third with Kenny Carroll fourth and Brian Brown fifth.
Jordan earns Show-Me Vintage Racers victory
Brandon Jordan of Pineville, Mo., took over the lead from pole-starting at the start and went on to capture the 15-lap Show-Me Vintage Racers feature. Jordan, who started outside of row one, won by 2.6 seconds.
A caution with five laps remaining erased a three-second lead, but Jordan regrouped as action went green and cruised to the finish.
Jordan dedicated the victory to his youngest granddaughter P.J. who was recently diagnosed with autism.
“A lot of these kids are bullied and ridiculed and I think people need to make themselves aware that their mind just works a little differently,” Jordan said. “A lot of the smartest people in the world also have autism. I’m so happy I could get this win. I wish they could have been here tonight.”
Jim Thorne finished third with Bryant Moyer fourth and Rodney Ashworth coming home in fifth.
Lewis scores Legends win
Second-starting Jackson Lewis took the lead on lap four and led the rest of the way to grab the 15-lap Legends feature victory.
Lewis, of Lakeview, Minn., beat Michael Weber by 1.6 seconds for the victory with Chance Gilbert finishing third, Jay Reynolds fourth and early leader and pole-starter Griffin McGrath fifth.
Feature Finish (40 Laps)
1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[7]; 3. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[3]; 4. 58-Garrett Alberson[4]; 5. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[5]; 6. 25S-Chad Simpson[6]; 7. 157-Mike Marlar[15]; 8. 49W-Justin Wells[14]; 9. 15-Justin Duty[23]; 10. 32S-Chris Simpson[10]; 11. 11-Jeff Herzog[12]; 12. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[22]; 13. 36-Logan Martin[9]; 14. 7W-Cole Wells[21]; 15. 22H-Dustin Hodges[11]; 16. (DNF) 8-Dillon McCowan[8]; 17. (DNF) 29-Rodney Sanders[13]; 18. (DNF) 11G-Gordy Gundaker[20]; 19. (DNF) 10S-Garrett Smith[1]; 20. (DNF) 93-Mason Oberkramer[24]; 21. (DNF) 3W-Brennon Willard[25]; 22. (DNF) 1XM-Aaron Marrant[17]; 23. (DNF) 2-Tyler Stevens[18]; 24. (DNF) 7D-Dusty Leonard[19]; 25. (DNF) 1XMJ-Matt Johnson[16]