PORT ROYAL, Pa. — Jonathan Davenport ended Ricky Thornton Jr.’s four-race winning streak at Port Royal Speedway in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series competition, leading all 50 laps and collecting $50,000 for winning the Rumble by the River presented by FK Rod Ends on Saturday night.
Thornton, who was victorious Friday night, had won the previous four LOLMDS races held at Port Royal over the past two years, but that streak ended as Davenport led wire to wire. Thornton ran second for the entire distance and banked $20,000 for the runner-up finish. Brandon Overton climbed to third, taking home $10,000.
Chris Madden, who ran fourth Friday night, duplicated that finish in Saturday’s finale. Hudson O’Neal, a three-time winner at Port Royal, rounded out the top five.
With his fifth-place finish, O’Neal now trails Brandon Sheppard, who finished 12th, by 55 points heading into the next series event at Knoxville Raceway in September.
“My car was really good in clean air. I was free the whole time,” Davenport said. “The lapped cars were running a little lower, and I would just try to move up. But I feel like if we could have ever gotten into a rhythm with the lapped cars, we were going to be okay because it would have slowed everybody else up, too. Obviously, it would have slowed me up. Everybody keeps saying we’re retiring or I can’t hang because I don’t race every week, but when they put us in certain situations, we are just as good as anyone in the country.”
Thornton, who entered the night looking to win the Rumble by the River finale for the second year in a row, came home in second.
“Obviously, JD was really good as soon as he got out front,” Thornton said. “I was going to have to slide him on that last restart. I thought the top was still good in one and two, but not in three and four. I figured the smart thing was to salvage a second-place finish rather than try to win it and tear everything up. That’s the way our year has gone. I feel like we get up there and win or finish dead last. I kept watching the board. When Overton got to third, I knew he was going to get a really good restart on the bottom. I thought I had a right-rear flat, and it started vibrating really badly and hopping. I don’t know if we broke a shock or something weird like that, but for the last five or six laps, I was really hanging on.”
Overton, who started fifth, moved past Dan Ebert for third just past the halfway mark and held that position for the rest of the race.
“We had a decent weekend. We struggled a little bit last night, and to come out of here on the podium, we’ll take it. I enjoy coming here. I love this big track, and it’s always fun. We’ll take our third-place finish and go on to the next one.”
Rumble by the River presented by FK Rod Ends – Night 2 | Feature Finish (50 Laps):
Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Earnings
1 – 2 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – $50,000
2 – 1 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – $21,300
3 – 5 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – $10,900
4 – 6 – 44M – Chris Madden – Gray Court, SC – $8,000
5 – 8 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $8,300
6 – 21 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $7,300
7 – 4 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – $5,400
8 – 9 – 22F – Chris Ferguson – Mt. Holly, NC – $4,000
9 – 10 – 8 – Dillon McCowan – Urbana, MO – $4,800
10 – 7 – 25Z – Mason Zeigler – Chalk Hill, PA – $3,600
11 – 12 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – $4,300
12 – 14 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – $4,200
13 – 13 – 93F – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $3,900
14 – 18 – 3s – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – $3,400
15 – 24 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $3,300
16 – 17 – 24M – Kenny Moreland – Waldorf, MD – $2,300
17 – 23 – 11 – Josh Rice – Crittenden, KY – $3,100
18 – 19 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – $3,000
19 – 11 – 5T – Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – $2,000
20 – 20 – 24 – Rick Eckert – York, PA – $2,000
21 – 25 – 27 – Trever Feathers – Winchester, VA – $2,000
22 – 22 – 72 – Michael Norris – Sarver, PA – $2,000
23 – 15 – 8K – Kyle Strickler – Mooresville, NC – $2,000
24 – 3 – 9M – Hayes Mattern – Beavertown, PA – $2,000
25 – 16 – 22G – Gregg Satterlee – Indiana, PA – $2,100
