ROSSBURG, Ohio (June 8) — Fourth-starting Jonathan Davenport knew the initial start of Friday’s first 25-lap preliminary feature would be critical. He didn’t expect front-row starter Josh Richards to open the door for him, however. When the second-starting Richards decided to stay low as the field rolled toward the green flag, Davenport, of Blairsville, Ga., saw his opportunity and pounced.
Blasting into the lead before the starters reached the end of the front straightaway, Davenport, of Blairsville, Ga., led Friday’s Dream XXIV opener flag-to-flag. He earned $5,000 for his fourth career Dream preliminary feature victory since the three-day format was introduced in 2014 and first since 2016.
Don O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., started third, grabbed the runner-up spot early and chased Davenport throughout, eventually settling for second, 2.184 seconds behind the winner. Richards, of Shinnston, W.Va., finished third, while polesitter Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., finished fourth. Eighth-starting Hudson O’Neal completed the top five.
“The key to it was that start,” said Davenport. “I couldn’t believe Josh (Richards) pulled off the little bit of the brown right there around the cushion. I knew it was going to be really good. I was hoping they weren’t going to penalize it because I did get such a run. I guess they seen he just pulled off of it in the slick there.
“This is for my crew. I tore this thing up in the heat race and they got it back together.”
Davenport was one of a handful of drivers who wasn’t necessarily upset when Thursday’s action was washed out. After a subpar qualifying effort on Thursday, his Lance Landers-owned team went back to the drawing board.
“Luckily last night we did get that rain because we just were no good when we qualified,” he said. “We put our heads together and I think we were going to be OK for the second round last night. But then we had more time to sleep on it and do some more stuff.”
Davenport received only token pressure from Don O’Neal as they diced through traffic midway through the 25-lap feature. The elder O’Neal closed in on Davenport on lap nine, but only managed to toss a half-hearted slider at the leader as they raced off of turn two. A lap later, Don O’Neal slid up to the leader’s door again, but still couldn’t complete the pass. Davenport easily defended O’Neal’s challenge and pulled away to lead by 1.539 seconds as they completed lap 14.
The lone caution flew on lap 15, giving Don O’Neal and Richards a clear shot at Davenport. But with traffic out of the way, the 2015 Dream winner slipped his white No. 49 back up to the cushion and set sail again.
“Everybody knows I love being up on the wall,” added Davenport. “That’s my cup of tea right there.”
Davenport pulled out to a comfortable lead in the waning laps, continuing a dominating start to the weekend that began with a 2-second victory over Hudson O’Neal in his heat race.
Hudson O’Neal, who rallied from seventh to second in his heat, completed a similar rally in the feature. Running eighth on the lap 15 restart, the 17-year-old O’Neal, charged forward over the final 10 circuits to pass Devin Gilpin, Gregg Satterlee and Bobby Pierce to crack the top five.
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ROSSBURG, Ohio (June 8) — Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., was the first to admit his 2018 season hasn’t gotten off to the greatest start. But a win in Friday afternoon’s Dream XXIV even preliminary feature at Eldora Speedway is certainly a step in the right direction.
Inheriting the lead on lap 21 of 25 when race leader Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C., retired with damage to his No. 44, Lanigan led the final four circuits, holding off Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., to earn a $5,000 payday in his first victory of the season.
“We’ve been terrible this year,” Lanigan said. “We went back this week and built a new piece. At the Show-Me we were terrible. So we built a new piece, went and tested at Florence and we had a really good hot rod this weekend. We were a little tight and got rained out for the qualifying and it worked in our favor.”
Pulling ahead of fellow front row starter Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., down the backstretch, it was Madden charging out to an early lead. Holding a half straightaway lead at the halfway mark, Madden worked his way through lapped traffic, looking to be well on his way to his first Eldora victory. And that’s when disaster struck.
Slipping over the berm, Madden got into the turn-one wall on lap 21, sustaining damage to the right-front of his car. With the Barry Wright driver forced to retire, Lanigan assumed the point, scoring a Dream preliminary victory for the second straight season.
“I thought he was going there and all of a sudden he checked up hard,” Lanigan said. “I got my right-front on him and I was like, ‘Man, I done tore the right-front up.’ But it didn’t hurt it too bad. We had a pretty good hot rod tonight.”
Closing in on Lanigan on the final lap, Owens finished runner-up, with Bloomquist running third. Jared Landers of Batesville, Ark., finished fourth, with Dale McDowell of Chickamauga, Ga., rounding out the top five.
Notes: Fourth-place finisher Jared Landers was scored a lap down in his heat race after pitting early. He was actually on the lead lap to finish third and was a late addition to the feature lineup. … The race was slowed by three cautions. … A yellow flag waved on lap three when Jackie Boggs slowed in turn four with damage to his car. … A caution fell on lap eight for debris on the racetrack. … A yellow flag flew on lap 10 when Duane Chamberlain and Adam Bowman tangled in turns one and two.
LATE MODELS – Qualifying 1. 39-Tim McCreadie, 15.958; 2. 7-Ricky Weiss, 16.031; 3. 9-Devin Moran, 16.062; 4. O-Scott Bloomquist, 16.148; 5. 21JR-Billy Jr. Moyer, 16.195; 6. 20-Jimmy Owens, 16.204; 7. 1P-Earl Pearson Jr., 16.241; 8. 21-Billy Moyer, 16.268; 9. 3-Matt Miller, 16.275; 10. 17M-Dale McDowell, 16.283; 11. 1R-Josh Richards, 16.300; 12. 44-Chris Madden, 16.308; 13. 25Z-Mason Zeigler, 16.312; 14. 33M-Tim Manville, 16.327; 15. 32P-Bobby Pierce, 16.339; 16. 14-Darrell Lanigan, 16.349; 17. 22S-Gregg Satterlee, 16.365; 18. 1S-Brandon Sheppard, 16.380; 19. 12-Jason Jameson, 16.388; 20. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 16.391; 21. 49-Jonathan Davenport, 16.410; 22. 4F-Alex Ferree, 16.414; 23. 84-Austin Smith, 16.443; 24. 116-Brandon Overton, 16.498; 25. 18B-Shannon Babb, 16.499; 26. 15H-Jon Henry, 16.511; 27. 5-Don O’Neal, 16.512; 28. B1-Brent Larson, 16.528; 29. 1V-Vic Hill, 16.591; 30. 4B-Jackie Boggs, 16.639; 31. 1G-Devin Gilpin, 16.656; 32. 1L-Jared Landers, 16.667; 33. 55-Jeep VanWormer, 16.667; 34. 28-Dennis Jr Erb, 16.692; 35. 95J-Jerry Bowersock, 16.694; 36. 18X-Michael Page, 16.711; 37. 71R-Rod Conley, 16.722; 38. 99jr-Frank Heckenast jr, 16.726; 39. 25-Jason Feger, 16.732; 40. 50-Shanon Buckingham, 16.781; 41. 5N-Dustin Nobbe, 16.805; 42. 7R-Kent Robinson, 16.828; 43. 76-Andy Haus, 16.880; 44. C8-Timmy Culp, 16.886; 45. 1N-Casey Noonan, 16.888; 46. 56-Jonathan Rowan, 16.890; 47. 4G-Kody Evans, 16.899; 48. 75F-Colton Flinner, 16.927; 49. C9-Steve Casebolt, 16.933; 50. 173-Shad Badder, 16.960; 51. 1GK-Ryan King, 16.963; 52. 25C-Shane Clanton, 16.965; 53. 71-Hudson O’Neal, 16.971; 54. 111-Steven Roberts, 16.975; 55. 16B-Tyler Bruening, 17.005; 56. 97-Michael Chilton, 17.007; 57. 32S-Chris Simpson, 17.018; 58. 77B-Adam Bowman, 17.177; 59. 33-Jesse James Lay, 17.246; 60. 18J-Chase Junghans, 17.254; 61. 99-Ben Nicastri, 17.256; 62. 81-Aaron Ridley, 17.274; 63. 6S-Blake Spencer, 17.279; 64. 6F-Ryan Fenech, 17.336; 65. 8-Rob Anderzack, 17.338; 66. 31AUS-Paul Stubber, 17.428; 67. 14R-Jeff Roth, 17.479; 68. 17E-Lance Elson, 17.525; 69. 51-Joey Moriarty, 17.566; 70. 28M-Jimmy Mars, 17.586; 71. 157-Mike Marlar, 17.601; 72. 20C-Duane Chamberlain, 17.637; 73. 14G-Joe Godsey, 17.667; 74. 31-Nick Latham, 17.907; 75. 5D-Bryant Dickinson, 18.000; 76. 4C-Ernie Cordier, 18.753; 77. 2H-Nick Hoffman, 18.787; 78. OK-Freddie Carpenter, 99.991
Heat #1 – (10)Laps – Top 5 Transfer 1. 18B-Shannon Babb[1]; 2. 22S-Gregg Satterlee[2]; 3. 39-Tim McCreadie[4]; 4. 3-Matt Miller[3]; 5. 32S-Chris Simpson[8]; 6. 55-Jeep VanWormer[5]; 7. C9-Steve Casebolt[7]; 8. 14G-Joe Godsey[10]; 9. 5N-Dustin Nobbe[6]; 10. 8-Rob Anderzack[9]
Heat #2 – (10)Laps – Top 5 Transfer 1. 15H-Jon Henry[1]; 2. 17M-Dale McDowell[3]; 3. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 4. 7-Ricky Weiss[4]; 5. 77B-Adam Bowman[8]; 6. 7R-Kent Robinson[6]; 7. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[5]; 8. 31-Nick Latham[10]; 9. 173-Shad Badder[7]; 10. 31AUS-Paul Stubber[9]
Heat #3 – (10)Laps – Top 5 Transfer 1. 5-Don O’Neal[1]; 2. 1R-Josh Richards[3]; 3. 1GK-Ryan King[7]; 4. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[5]; 5. 12-Jason Jameson[2]; 6. 76-Andy Haus[6]; 7. 33-Jesse James Lay[8]; 8. 14R-Jeff Roth[9]; 9. 9-Devin Moran[4]; 10. 5D-Bryant Dickinson[10]
Heat #4 – (10)Laps – Top 5 Transfer 1. 44-Chris Madden[3]; 2. O-Scott Bloomquist[4]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]; 4. C8-Timmy Culp[6]; 5. 25C-Shane Clanton[7]; 6. 18J-Chase Junghans[8]; 7. B1-Brent Larson[1]; 8. 18X-Michael Page[5]; 9. 4C-Ernie Cordier[10]; 10. 17E-Lance Elson[9]
Heat #5 – (10)Laps – Top 5 Transfer 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 2. 71-Hudson O’Neal[7]; 3. 21JR-Billy Jr. Moyer[4]; 4. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[3]; 5. 2H-Nick Hoffman[10]; 6. 1V-Vic Hill[1]; 7. 71R-Rod Conley[5]; 8. 1N-Casey Noonan[6]; 9. 51-Joey Moriarty[9]; 10. 99-Ben Nicastri[8]
Heat #6 – (10)Laps – Top 5 Transfer 1. 4B-Jackie Boggs[1]; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens[4]; 3. 33M-Tim Manville[3]; 4. 28M-Jimmy Mars[9]; 5. OK-Freddie Carpenter[10]; 6. 99jr-Frank Heckenast jr[5]; 7. 111-Steven Roberts[7]; 8. 4F-Alex Ferree[2]; 9. 81-Aaron Ridley[8]; 10. 56-Jonathan Rowan[6]
Heat #7 – (10)Laps – Top 5 Transfer 1. 1G-Devin Gilpin[1]; 2. 32P-Bobby Pierce[3]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar[9]; 4. 1P-Earl Pearson Jr.[4]; 5. 25-Jason Feger[5]; 6. 84-Austin Smith[2]; 7. 16B-Tyler Bruening[7]; 8. 6S-Blake Spencer[8]; 9. 4G-Kody Evans[6]
Heat #8 – (10)Laps – Top 5 Transfer 1. 21-Billy Moyer[4]; 2. 14-Darrell Lanigan[3]; 3. 1L-Jared Landers[1]; 4. 50-Shanon Buckingham[5]; 5. 20C-Duane Chamberlain[9]; 6. 6F-Ryan Fenech[8]; 7. 75F-Colton Flinner[6]; 8. 116-Brandon Overton[2]; 9. 97-Michael Chilton[7]
B-Feature 1 – (12)Laps – Top 4 Transfer 1. 55-Jeep VanWormer[1]; 2. 71R-Rod Conley[7]; 3. C9-Steve Casebolt[5]; 4. 16B-Tyler Bruening[8]; 5. 33-Jesse James Lay[6]; 6. 1V-Vic Hill[3]; 7. 84-Austin Smith[4]; 8. 1N-Casey Noonan[11]; 9. 76-Andy Haus[2]; 10. 14G-Joe Godsey[9]; 11. 99-Ben Nicastri[19]; 12. 14R-Jeff Roth[10]; 13. 51-Joey Moriarty[15]; 14. 5D-Bryant Dickinson[18]; 15. 8-Rob Anderzack[17]; 16. 6S-Blake Spencer[12]; 17. 5N-Dustin Nobbe[13]; 18. 9-Devin Moran[14]; 19. 4G-Kody Evans[16]
B-Feature 2 – (12)Laps – Top 4 Transfer 1. 18J-Chase Junghans[2]; 2. 7R-Kent Robinson[1]; 3. 99jr-Frank Heckenast jr[3]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[5]; 5. 18X-Michael Page[10]; 6. 111-Steven Roberts[7]; 7. B1-Brent Larson[6]; 8. 31-Nick Latham[9]; 9. 81-Aaron Ridley[15]; 10. 173-Shad Badder[13]; 11. 4C-Ernie Cordier[14]; 12. 31AUS-Paul Stubber[17]; 13. 4F-Alex Ferree[11]; 14. 75F-Colton Flinner[8]; 15. 97-Michael Chilton[16]; 16. 17E-Lance Elson[18]; 17. 56-Jonathan Rowan[19]; 18. 116-Brandon Overton[12]
A-Feature 1 – (25)Laps 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 2. 5-Don O’Neal[3]; 3. 1R-Josh Richards[2]; 4. 18B-Shannon Babb[1]; 5. 71-Hudson O’Neal[8]; 6. 22S-Gregg Satterlee[7]; 7. 39-Tim McCreadie[9]; 8. 1G-Devin Gilpin[6]; 9. 1P-Earl Pearson Jr.[16]; 10. 157-Mike Marlar[12]; 11. 21JR-Billy Jr. Moyer[11]; 12. 32S-Chris Simpson[17]; 13. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[15]; 14. 3-Matt Miller[13]; 15. 12-Jason Jameson[18]; 16. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[14]; 17. 25-Jason Feger[20]; 18. 55-Jeep VanWormer[21]; 19. 71R-Rod Conley[22]; 20. 2H-Nick Hoffman[19]; 21. 16B-Tyler Bruening[24]; 22. 1GK-Ryan King[10]; 23. C9-Steve Casebolt[23]; DQ. 32P-Bobby Pierce[5]
A-Feature 2 – (25)Laps 1. 14-Darrell Lanigan[4]; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens[3]; 3. O-Scott Bloomquist[1]; 4. 1L-Jared Landers[12]; 5. 17M-Dale McDowell[7]; 6. 25C-Shane Clanton[18]; 7. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[9]; 8. 7-Ricky Weiss[13]; 9. 7R-Kent Robinson[22]; 10. 21-Billy Moyer[5]; 11. 28M-Jimmy Mars[15]; 12. 18J-Chase Junghans[21]; 13. 40B-Kyle Bronson[10]; 14. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[24]; 15. 15H-Jon Henry[6]; 16. C8-Timmy Culp[14]; 17. OK-Freddie Carpenter[19]; 18. 50-Shanon Buckingham[16]; 19. 6F-Ryan Fenech[25]; 20. 33M-Tim Manville[11]; 21. 44-Chris Madden[2]; 22. 99jr-Frank Heckenast jr[23]; 23. 20C-Duane Chamberlain[20]; 24. 77B-Adam Bowman[17]; 25. 4B-Jackie Boggs[8]
Courtesy Heath Lawson
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