BANNER, Ill. — Illinois Speedweek with FloRacing Night in America presented by Kubota roared into Spoon River Speedway on Wednesday night, where Jonathan Davenport topped a star-studded field of 48 competitors to snare the $20,000 victory.
“I was getting a little nervous, I knew Hudson (O’Neal) had softer left-side tires on than what I did and he could put around the infield there. I tried it, I was just too tight to turn down in there,” Davenport said. “Man, it’s been a long time since I won in Illinois, I can’t even remember when the last time was. Awesome fans, awesome place. Like I said after my heat race, first time I laid eyes on this place it was almost like my favorite place in the south, East Alabama Motor Speedway. A lot of characteristics the same, the dirt’s totally different, but I still like these high-banked, fast race tracks.”
Via their performances in preliminary action, Brian Shirley and Jonathan Davenport found themselves positioned on the front row at the high-banked oval for the 50-lap feature.
Davenport darted to the lead as the green flag waved, turning back challenges from Shannon Babb, Hudson O’Neal, Shirley, and a host of others during the races early stages.
As the Georgia driver began to encounter lapped traffic, the grooves begin to change, and he soon began to face challenges from Hudson O’Neal.
A lap 32 caution gave O’Neal his best shot at the lead, but Davenport pulled away to ultimately take the win by 1.075 seconds.
O’Neal was second followed by seventh-starting Bobby Pierce, Brian Shirley, and 10th-starting Dennis Erb Jr.
The finish:
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 2. 71-Hudson O’Neal[6]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[7]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 5. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[10]; 6. 99-Devin Moran[8]; 7. 24-Ryan Unzicker[13]; 8. 18-Shannon Babb[5]; 9. 9H-Nick Hoffman[9]; 10. 96-Tanner English[19]; 11. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[18]; 12. 93-Carson Ferguson[17]; 13. 19R-Ryan Gustin[11]; 14. 2-Cody Overton[4]; 15. 18D-Daulton Wilson[15]; 16. 89-Mike Spatola[22]; 17. 1-Brandon Sheppard[12]; 18. 22*-Drake Troutman[24]; 19. 25-Jason Feger[21]; 20. (DNF) 157-Mike Marlar[14]; 21. (DNF) 15-Clay Stuckey[23]; 22. (DNF) 58-Garrett Alberson[16]; 23. (DNF) 40B-Kyle Bronson[3]; 24. (DNF) 32S-Chris Simpson[20]
