(courtesy Joshua Joiner, DIRTcar.com)

ROSSBURG, OH (Sept. 5) – Just beating Mother Nature to her game, Jonathan Davenport and Matt Miller pulled off wins in Friday’s twin 25-lap main events that served as the final tune-up to tonight’s famed World 100 for dirt Late Models at Eldora Speedway.

Looking for his first Late Model victory at Eldora Speedway, things didn’t start off too well for Davenport on Thursday’s opening night; however he turned things around in Friday’s opening feature. Blitzing front-row starters by going from third to first on the opening lap, Davenport then led all 25 laps for a $5,000 payday.

“We really worked hard trying to get us a win here,” Davenport said. “Me and Kevin (Rumley) made a big swing at it here. We did last night and it was the wrong way, but tonight I think was the right direction.”

Davenport built a straightway lead after seven laps and turned back a mid-race challenge from sixth-starting Scott Bloomquist, then survived a late restart before taking the checkers of victory.

Bloomquist drew within several lengths as the frontrunners entered traffic by lap 13, but over the next few laps, Davenport stepped up his aggressiveness to put a cushion of four lapped cars between himself and Bloomquist, drawing away before a lap-19 caution for Brian Shirley, who stopped at the end of the front stretch.

With the field bunched for the six-to-go restart, Bloomquist started alongside Davenport, who immediately returned to the high side of the track to a high groove that was too much for everyone else, as he pulled away to win by more than a half-straightaway.

Bloomquist was second, followed by fellow multiple World 100 winners and fourth-row starters Brian Birkhofer and Billy Moyer, while Chris Madden was fifth.

With strong storms in the vicinity and rapidly approaching, the evening’s finale rolled to the track.

Matt Miller was battling more than a fellow front-row started; he was battling a cancer-surviving driver on an emotional quest for a victory in his final visit to the historic one-half mile oval.

Randy Korte, his car carrying a special graphics scheme tanking fans who donated to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, led the first half of the race from the outside of the front-row, but the pole sitting Miller went under him on the 13th lap and held off Korte the rest of the way for a $5,000 victory.

As the rains came in and began falling during victory lane ceremonies and fans scurried for shelter, Miller knew what it meant to beat Korte, a two-time UMP DIRTcar champion.

“My buddy Randy, I know it’s his last time and I hate to take it from him, but it’s a race and we need it as bad as he does,” said Miller.

Korte settled for second in a race with a four-car breakaway. Tim McCreadie was third, followed by R.J. Conley, while Darrell Lanigan rounded out the top five.

Korte, who entered the World 100 weekend excited to help cap his successful career, gave it his best shot against Miller.

“When we got in traffic, you never know what’s going to happen,” Korte said. “It got close there. I think he found a better groove than me when he passed me. The middle started getting really good and he figured it out before me.”

Joining Dale McDowell and Jimmy Owens (Thursday night) as World 100 preliminary feature winners, they join the balance of the 120-car World 100 field in another full program tonight (Saturday) that will conclude with the proclaimed ‘granddaddy of them all’ among dirt Late Model racing – the World 100, and the 44th annual chase for the coveted globed trophy.

Fans can purchase remaining race tickets and campsites for the World 100 — or any other exciting Eldora event — by going online to www.EldoraSpeedway.com. Tickets and campsites may also be purchased through the Eldora offices during normal business hours by calling (937) 338-3815. With the broadcast simulcast on both www.EldoraSpeedway.com or www.DirtonDirt.com, fans can visit either website to purchase a pay-per-view package and stream the racing through their favorite device.
Additionally, race fans and race teams can get behind-the-scenes access by following @EldoraSpeedway on Twitter, hitting ‘Like’ at Facebook.com/EldoraSpeedway and viewing video highlights at YouTube.com/EldoraSpeedwayInc. Mobile device users can access the Eldora Speedway app for the iPhone, iPad and Android, which are available for download via iTunes and Google Play.

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Date: September 5, 2014

UMP DIRTcar Late Models

TIME TRIALS – 1. 1B-Jeff Babcock [5]; 2. 5E-Brandon Overton [74]; 3. 116-Randy Weaver [4]; 4. 29-Darrell Lanigan [35]; 5. 28M-Jimmy Mars [68]; 6. 39-Tim Mccreadie [96]; 7. 41-Brad Neat [114]; 8. 7R-Kent Robinson [70]; 9. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr [19]; 10. 15-Steve Francis [12]; 11. 20C-Duane Chamberlain [3]; 12. 4B-Jackie Boggs [61]; 13. 1E-Rick Eckert [6]; 14. 11-Tyler Reddick [58]; 15. 32P-Bobby Pierce [13]; 16. 1W-Wendall Wallace [33]; 17. 28-Dennis Erb Jr [98]; 18. 32H-Austin Hubbard [26]; 19. 18-Shannon Babb [22]; 20. 71C-R J Conley [73]; 21. 17M-Dale Mcdowell [100]; 22. 23B-John Blankenship [34]; 23. 81S-Brian Shirley [95]; 24. 14M-Morgan Bagley [77]; 25. 15B-Brian Birkhofer [67]; 26. 22S-Gregg Satterlee [86]; 27. 44M-Chris Madden [119]; 28. 17-Shannon Thornsberry [7]; 29. 12-Jason Hughes [40]; 30. 25C-Shane Clanton [46]; 31. 6D-Jonathan Davenport [62]; 32. 44-Earl Pearson, Jr [84]; 33. 1N-Casey Noonan [38]; 34. 00-Randy Korte [15]; 35. 28C-Eddie Carrier Jr [112]; 36. B5-Brandon Sheppard [92]; 37. 0-Scott Bloomquist [101]; 38. 21B-Chris Brown [28]; 39. 21-Billy Moyer [17]; 40. 18W-Eric Wells [16]; 41. 71R-Rod Conley [30]; 42. 20D-Doug Drown [65]; 43. 201-Billy Ogle Jr [23]; 44. 89-Mike Spatola [25]; 45. 19R-Ryan Gustin [49]; 46. 49C-Chad Ruhlman [1]; 47. 15H-Jon Henry [8]; 48. 3-Matt Miller [31]; 49. 18K-Brandon Kinzer [10]; 50. 33A-Aaron Scott [79]; 51. 5-Don Oneal [50]; 52. 93-Jay Johnson [57]; 53. 32-Chris Simpson [21]; 54. 48L-Tim Lance [75]; 55. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr [109]; 56. 11S-Rusty Schlenk [43]; 57. 777-Jared Landers [115]; 58. 1WC-Wayne Chinn [80]; 59. 3N-Ross Nicastri [83]; 60. 85D-Mark Dotson [55]; 61. 55-Jeep Vanwormer [111]; 62. 31-Nick Latham [20]; 63. 20-Jimmy Owens [48]; 64. 71-Delmas Conley [116]; 65. 157-Mike Marlar [39]; 66. 19M-Josh Adkins [82]; 67. 4-Cody Mahoney [105]; 68. 51M-Mack Mccarter [66]; 69. 99M-Devin Moran [56]; 70. 7M-Donald Mcintosh [11]; 71. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [63]; 72. 25F-Jason Feger [91]; 73. 87A-Walker Arthur [104]; 74. 81JR-Jason Riggs [118]; 75. 25L-Steve Lance Jr [97]; 76. 80-Greg Johnson [93]; 77. 8L-Dustin Linville [88]; 78. 360-Brett Wyatt [60]; 79. 57J-Bub Mccool [113]; 80. C9-Steve Casebolt [85]; 81. 18J-Chase Junghans [51]; 82. 61-George Lee [53]; 83. 11R-James Rice [110]; 84. 17S-Jim Shereck [99]; 85. 42M-Mckay Wenger [71]; 86. 49-Brian Ruhlman [117]; 87. 29W-Jason Welshan [108]; 88. 75P-Terry Phillips [24]; 89. 3C-Charlie Laplant [94]; 90. 14-Terry Wolfenbarger [102]; 91. 11D-Brian Diveley [52]; 92. 9R-Curtis Roberts [78]; 93. 10D-Curtis Deisenroth [36]; 94. 95J-Jerry Bowersock [64]; 95. 15S-Dan Schlieper [87]; 96. 22-Cecil Eunice [103]; 97. 11AS-Austin Smith [18]; 98. 18G-Andrew Gordon [44]; 99. 71J-Jt Conley [72]; 100. 45H-Don Hammer [42]; 101. 1V-Vic Hill [29]; 102. 96-Tanner English [81]; 103. 69-Jon Hodgkiss [2]; 104. 27-Rodney Melvin [69]; 105. 35-Tommy Bailey [14]; 106. C8-Timothy Culp [47]; 107. 25Z-Mason Zeigler [27]; 108. 3G-Brian Gray [106]; 109. 33-Don Gordon [37]; 110. 16S-Tim Sabo [41]; 111. 26-Bill Lewis [59]; 112. 24HR-Ron Mcquerry [107]; 113. 5*-Bryant Dickinson [45]; 114. 14H-Rodney Hamblin [90]; 115. 30K-Scott Knepley [9]; 116. 4C-Ernie Cordier [76]; 117. 54-David Breazeale [89]; 118. 54N-Chris Nash [32]; 119. 76-Butch Kruckeberg [54];

HEAT 1 – 1. 0-Scott Bloomquist [1]; 2. 15B-Brian Birkhofer [2]; 3. 1B-Jeff Babcock [4]; 4. 1E-Rick Eckert [3]; 5. 55-Jeep Vanwormer [6]; 6. 18K-Brandon Kinzer [5]; 7. 11AS-Austin Smith [9]; 8. 87A-Walker Arthur [7]; 9. 42M-Mckay Wenger [8]; 10. 33-Don Gordon [10];

HEAT 2 – 1. 5E-Brandon Overton [4]; 2. 22S-Gregg Satterlee [2]; 3. 11-Tyler Reddick [3]; 4. 21B-Chris Brown [1]; 5. 31-Nick Latham [6]; 6. 18G-Andrew Gordon [9]; 7. 81JR-Jason Riggs [7]; 8. 33A-Aaron Scott [5]; 9. 49-Brian Ruhlman [8]; 10. 16S-Tim Sabo [10];

HEAT 3 – 1. 44M-Chris Madden [2]; 2. 21-Billy Moyer [1]; 3. 116-Randy Weaver [4]; 4. 32P-Bobby Pierce [3]; 5. 20-Jimmy Owens [6]; 6. 5-Don Oneal [5]; 7. 29W-Jason Welshan [8]; 8. 25L-Steve Lance Jr [7]; 9. 26-Bill Lewis [DNF]; 10. 71J-Jt Conley [DNF];

HEAT 4 – 1. 29-Darrell Lanigan [4]; 2. 18W-Eric Wells [1]; 3. 1W-Wendall Wallace [3]; 4. 75P-Terry Phillips [8]; 5. 71-Delmas Conley [6]; 6. 17-Shannon Thornsberry [2]; 7. 45H-Don Hammer [9]; 8. 80-Greg Johnson [7]; 9. 24HR-Ron Mcquerry [10]; 10. 93-Jay Johnson [DNF];

HEAT 5 – 1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr [3]; 2. 32-Chris Simpson [5]; 3. 28M-Jimmy Mars [4]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar [6]; 5. 8L-Dustin Linville [7]; 6. 71R-Rod Conley [1]; 7. 1V-Vic Hill [9]; 8. 12-Jason Hughes [2]; 9. 3C-Charlie Laplant [8]; 10. 5*-Bryant Dickinson [DNF];

HEAT 6 – 1. 39-Tim Mccreadie [4]; 2. 20D-Doug Drown [1]; 3. 25C-Shane Clanton [2]; 4. 19M-Josh Adkins [6]; 5. 96-Tanner English [9]; 6. 14-Terry Wolfenbarger [8]; 7. 48L-Tim Lance [5]; 8. 32H-Austin Hubbard [3]; 9. 14H-Rodney Hamblin [10]; 10. 360-Brett Wyatt [DNS];

HEAT 7 – 1. 6D-Jonathan Davenport [2]; 2. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr [5]; 3. 41-Brad Neat [4]; 4. 18-Shannon Babb [3]; 5. 201-Billy Ogle Jr [1]; 6. 4-Cody Mahoney [6]; 7. 57J-Bub Mccool [7]; 8. 11D-Brian Diveley [8]; 9. 69-Jon Hodgkiss [9]; 10. 30K-Scott Knepley [DNF];

HEAT 8 – 1. 71C-R J Conley [3]; 2. 44-Earl Pearson, Jr [2]; 3. 7R-Kent Robinson [4]; 4. 89-Mike Spatola [1]; 5. 27-Rodney Melvin [9]; 6. 51M-Mack Mccarter [6]; 7. 11S-Rusty Schlenk [5]; 8. C9-Steve Casebolt [DNF]; 9. 9R-Curtis Roberts [DNF]; 10. 4C-Ernie Cordier [DNS];

HEAT 9 – 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin [1]; 2. 17M-Dale Mcdowell [3]; 3. 99M-Devin Moran [6]; 4. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr [4]; 5. 777-Jared Landers [5]; 6. 1N-Casey Noonan [2]; 7. 18J-Chase Junghans [7]; 8. 10D-Curtis Deisenroth [8]; 9. 35-Tommy Bailey [9]; 10. 54-David Breazeale [DNS];

HEAT 10 – 1. 00-Randy Korte [2]; 2. 23B-John Blankenship [3]; 3. 49C-Chad Ruhlman [1]; 4. C8-Timothy Culp [9]; 5. 61-George Lee [7]; 6. 1WC-Wayne Chinn [5]; 7. 7M-Donald Mcintosh [DNF]; 8. 15-Steve Francis [DNF]; 9. 95J-Jerry Bowersock [DNF]; 10. 54N-Chris Nash [DNS];

HEAT 11 – 1. 28C-Eddie Carrier Jr [2]; 2. 25Z-Mason Zeigler [9]; 3. 81S-Brian Shirley [3]; 4. 20C-Duane Chamberlain [4]; 5. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [6]; 6. 15H-Jon Henry [1]; 7. 15S-Dan Schlieper [8]; 8. 11R-James Rice [7]; 9. 3N-Ross Nicastri [5]; 10. 76-Butch Kruckeberg [DNS];

HEAT 12 – 1. 3-Matt Miller [1]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard [2]; 3. 25F-Jason Feger [6]; 4. 14M-Morgan Bagley [3]; 5. 85D-Mark Dotson [5]; 6. 17S-Jim Shereck [7]; 7. 3G-Brian Gray [9]; 8. 22-Cecil Eunice [8]; 9. 4B-Jackie Boggs [DNS];

B-FEATURE 1 – 1. 32P-Bobby Pierce [2]; 2. 55-Jeep Vanwormer [4]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens [5]; 4. 8L-Dustin Linville [6]; 5. 1E-Rick Eckert [1]; 6. 5-Don Oneal [8]; 7. 157-Mike Marlar [3]; 8. 71R-Rod Conley [9]; 9. 18K-Brandon Kinzer [7]; 10. 1V-Vic Hill [12]; 11. 12-Jason Hughes [15]; 12. 25L-Steve Lance Jr [14]; 13. 11AS-Austin Smith [10]; 14. 42M-Mckay Wenger [16]; 15. 87A-Walker Arthur [13]; 16. 71J-Jt Conley [19]; 17. 3C-Charlie Laplant [18]; 18. 29W-Jason Welshan [DNF]; 19. 26-Bill Lewis [DNS];

B-FEATURE 2 – 1. 18-Shannon Babb [1]; 2. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr [2]; 3. 20C-Duane Chamberlain [3]; 4. 201-Billy Ogle Jr [4]; 5. 57J-Bub Mccool [10]; 6. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [6]; 7. 777-Jared Landers [5]; 8. 18J-Chase Junghans [11]; 9. 15H-Jon Henry [9]; 10. 1N-Casey Noonan [8]; 11. 11R-James Rice [15]; 12. 15S-Dan Schlieper [12]; 13. 69-Jon Hodgkiss [16]; 14. 11D-Brian Diveley [13]; 15. 4-Cody Mahoney [7]; 16. 10D-Curtis Deisenroth [14]; 17. 35-Tommy Bailey [DNF]; 18. 3N-Ross Nicastri [DNS];

B-FEATURE 3 – 1. 75P-Terry Phillips [2]; 2. 21B-Chris Brown [1]; 3. 31-Nick Latham [4]; 4. 19M-Josh Adkins [3]; 5. 45H-Don Hammer [11]; 6. 32H-Austin Hubbard [15]; 7. 96-Tanner English [6]; 8. 71-Delmas Conley [5]; 9. 49-Brian Ruhlman [16]; 10. 14-Terry Wolfenbarger [9]; 11. 17-Shannon Thornsberry [8]; 12. 48L-Tim Lance [12]; 13. 33A-Aaron Scott [13]; 14. 80-Greg Johnson [14]; 15. 81JR-Jason Riggs [10]; 16. 16S-Tim Sabo [19]; 17. 24HR-Ron Mcquerry [DNF]; 18. 18G-Andrew Gordon [DNF]; 19. 14H-Rodney Hamblin [DNS];

B-FEATURE 4 – 1. 89-Mike Spatola [1]; 2. 51M-Mack Mccarter [7]; 3. 27-Rodney Melvin [4]; 4. 85D-Mark Dotson [6]; 5. 17S-Jim Shereck [9]; 6. C8-Timothy Culp [2]; 7. 11S-Rusty Schlenk [10]; 8. 9R-Curtis Roberts [16]; 9. 1WC-Wayne Chinn [8]; 10. 14M-Morgan Bagley [3]; 11. 95J-Jerry Bowersock [17]; 12. 3G-Brian Gray [12]; 13. 61-George Lee [5]; 14. 22-Cecil Eunice [15]; 15. 7M-Donald Mcintosh [DNS]; 16. C9-Steve Casebolt [DNS]; 17. 15-Steve Francis [DNS]; 18. 4B-Jackie Boggs [DNS];

A FEATURE 1 – 1. 6D-Jonathan Davenport [3]; 2. 0-Scott Bloomquist [6]; 3. 15B-Brian Birkhofer [7]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer [8]; 5. 44M-Chris Madden [5]; 6. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr [10]; 7. 28-Dennis Erb Jr [4]; 8. 28C-Eddie Carrier Jr [1]; 9. 32-Chris Simpson [9]; 10. 17M-Dale Mcdowell [11]; 11. 99M-Devin Moran [17]; 12. 20-Jimmy Owens [23]; 13. 25Z-Mason Zeigler [12]; 14. 116-Randy Weaver [14]; 15. 28M-Jimmy Mars [15]; 16. 41-Brad Neat [16]; 17. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr [22]; 18. 19R-Ryan Gustin [2]; 19. 18-Shannon Babb [20]; 20. 32P-Bobby Pierce [19]; 21. 20C-Duane Chamberlain [24]; 22. 1B-Jeff Babcock [13]; 23. 55-Jeep Vanwormer [21]; 24. 81S-Brian Shirley [DNF];

A FEATURE 2 – 1. 3-Matt Miller [1]; 2. 00-Randy Korte [2]; 3. 39-Tim Mccreadie [4]; 4. 71C-R J Conley [3]; 5. 29-Darrell Lanigan [5]; 6. 23B-John Blankenship [11]; 7. B5-Brandon Sheppard [12]; 8. 5E-Brandon Overton [6]; 9. 11-Tyler Reddick [13]; 10. 18W-Eric Wells [8]; 11. 22S-Gregg Satterlee [7]; 12. 21B-Chris Brown [21]; 13. 75P-Terry Phillips [19]; 14. 20D-Doug Drown [9]; 15. 7R-Kent Robinson [16]; 16. 25F-Jason Feger [18]; 17. 25C-Shane Clanton [15]; 18. 49C-Chad Ruhlman [17]; 19. 89-Mike Spatola [20]; 20. 27-Rodney Melvin [DNF]; 21. 31-Nick Latham [DNF]; 22. 51M-Mack Mccarter [DNF]; 23. 1W-Wendall Wallace [DNF]; 24. 44-Earl Pearson, Jr [DNF];