(courtesy DIRTcar PR) Two drivers took their first step toward conquering “The World” Thursday night at Eldora Speedway.
After 107 cars entered night one of the 52nd World 100, Jonathan Davenport and Hudson O’Neal stood tall earning $12,000 preliminary Feature victories and gained valuable momentum toward Saturday’s main event.
GROUP A Preliminary Feature- Jonathan Davenport
One night after finishing fourth in the Dirt Late Model Dream, Jonathan Davenport wasted no time returning to Eldora Speedway’s iconic Victory Lane.
The Blairsville, GA driver stormed past Jimmy Owens on Lap 6 of Thursday’s Group A Feature to claim the $12,000 prize on night one of the 52nd World 100.
The four-time World 100 winner said his team made changes throughout the day, helping his car return to its winning form.
“I think we’re one adjustment away from being perfect,” Davenport said. “We changed quite a few things today. We just couldn’t get a good balance on it.
“I wish the racetrack was like that last night. We might have been right back up here. It’s a phenomenal job, by my guys, Jason, Vinny, and Tyler. We all put our heads together and constantly changed on this thing. We changed things on the car, and it messed the balance up a bit, and I think we got it back there pretty good.”
Owens, a two-time World 100 winner, finished second after leading the race’s first five laps.
The Newport, TN driver stated he was happy with his car but needed to make a few more adjustments to stay with Davenport.
“I was just discussing with my guys about how we can get a little more stable in the corners,” Owens said. “I felt like we were good, but the 49 has been phenomenal all year. Another great year for those guys. Hats off to them.
“We got some work to do, and maybe we can make some improvements for the big race.”
Defending World 100 winner Brandon Overton finished third, while Chris Madden and Johnny Scott rounded out the top five.
Group B Preliminary Feature- Hudson O’Neal
Hudson O’Neal had one goal in his World 100 preliminary Feature—get in clean air quick.
The Martinsville, IN driver, accomplished that goal immediately, thundering around Shane Clanton in Turn 2 to take the lead.
O’Neal dominated the Group B Feature at Eldora to earn the $12,000 triumph.
“I got a really good start there, and I knew I just needed to get the lead there and get to clean air as fast as I could,” O’Neal said. “The first [Feature] went caution-free, so I figured the second one would, too.
“The air plays such a big factor here. I swear it felt like I slowed down two seconds when I caught lap traffic.”
Clanton, from Zebulon, GA, crossed the line second after winning a Heat Race earlier in the night.
The “Georgia Bulldog” stated he’s optimistic about the rest of the weekend.
“Our car was good, we had a good starting spot, and I hope we can do it again tomorrow,” Clanton said. “This Capital Race Car is pretty good right now. Hopefully, we can just keep it up.”
Chris Ferguson rounded out the podium one night after making an early exit in the Dirt Late Model Dream.
The Mount Holly, NC driver was forced to switch to a backup car and stated he was thrilled with how well the car ran.
“I just want to give a special thanks to my crew for all the hard work,” Ferguson said. “The car was really good. I could just kind of hang with Shane and Hudson but couldn’t get momentum going like we needed to.
“I’m tickled to death; this is the first time I’ve raced this car here since 2018.”
Tim McCreadie finished fourth, and Garrett Smith rounded out the top five.
Thursday Group A – Qualifying 1. 44-Chris Madden, 15.412; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard, 15.448; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport, 15.570; 4. 22R-Will Roland, 15.582; 5. 83F-Jensen Ford, 15.590; 6. 20-Jimmy Owens, 15.592; 7. 157-Mike Marlar, 15.609; 8. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 15.637; 9. 11H-Spencer Hughes, 15.664; 10. 7R-Kent Robinson, 15.683; 11. 21K-Dakotah Knuckles, 15.719; 12. 1ST-Johnny Scott, 15.729; 13. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 15.757; 14. 1T-Tyler Erb, 15.758; 15. 88-Trent Ivey, 15.761; 16. 23-John Blankenship, 15.768; 17. 17M-Dale McDowell, 15.824; 18. 58-Garrett Alberson, 15.848; 19. 22S-Gregg Satterlee, 15.881; 20. 25F-Jason Feger, 15.888; 21. 81-Jason Riggs, 15.901; 22. 18D-Daulton Wilson, 15.936; 23. 3-Jon Henry, 15.944; 24. 25B-Mike Benedum, 15.974; 25. 31K-Kye Blight, 15.988; 26. 5-Mark Whitener, 16.025; 27. 111-Steven Roberts, 16.030; 28. 76-Brandon Overton, 16.030; 29. 6JR-Parker Martin, 16.055; 30. 8-Kyle Strickler, 16.064; 31. 99-Camaron Marlar, 16.076; 32. K-Freddie Carpenter, 16.081; 33. 71C-RJ Conley, 16.109; 34. 12-Jason Jameson, 16.112; 35. 42-Tyler Carpenter, 16.115; 36. 15K-Rick Eckert, 16.129; 37. 995-Manny Falcon, 16.214; 38. 29-Darrell Lanigan, 16.341; 39. 8A-Rob Anderzack, 16.361; 40. 11J-Jon Kirby, 16.373; 41. 10-Joseph Joiner, 16.401; 42. 95-Jerry Bowersock, 16.418; 43. 51-Dean Carpenter, 16.470; 44. 5N-Dustin Nobbe, 16.514; 45. 93-Carson Ferguson, 16.549; 46. 130-Chase Osterhoff, 16.595; 47. 20W-Justin White, 16.691; 48. 9R-Curtis Roberts, 16.786; 49. 23C-Keegan Cox, 16.943; 50. 17C-Jeremy Creech, 16.957; 51. 39M-Brandon Moore, 17.365; 52. PO-Jeff Robertson, 17.431; 53. 16S-Steven Sabo, 17.905; 54. 2X-John Henderson, 99.991
Heat #1 – (10)Laps – Top 5 Transfer 1. 44-Chris Madden[4]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 3. 11H-Spencer Hughes[2]; 4. 31K-Kye Blight[7]; 5. 83F-Jensen Ford[3]; 6. 81-Jason Riggs[6]; 7. 10-Joseph Joiner[11]; 8. 71C-RJ Conley[9]; 9. 93-Carson Ferguson[12]; 10. 995-Manny Falcon[10]; 11. 6JR-Parker Martin[8]; 12. 23C-Keegan Cox[13]; 13. 17M-Dale McDowell[5]; 14. 16S-Steven Sabo[14]
Heat #2 – (10)Laps – Top 5 Transfer 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[3]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard[4]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[1]; 4. 58-Garrett Alberson[5]; 5. 5-Mark Whitener[7]; 6. 7R-Kent Robinson[2]; 7. 8-Kyle Strickler[8]; 8. 12-Jason Jameson[9]; 9. 18D-Daulton Wilson[6]; 10. 29-Darrell Lanigan[10]; 11. 2X-John Henderson[14]; 12. 95-Jerry Bowersock[11]; 13. 130-Chase Osterhoff[12]; 14. 17C-Jeremy Creech[13]
Heat #3 – (10)Laps – Top 5 Transfer 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[3]; 3. 88-Trent Ivey[1]; 4. 22S-Gregg Satterlee[5]; 5. 42-Tyler Carpenter[9]; 6. 99-Camaron Marlar[8]; 7. 21K-Dakotah Knuckles[2]; 8. 111-Steven Roberts[7]; 9. 3-Jon Henry[6]; 10. 51-Dean Carpenter[11]; 11. 20W-Justin White[12]; 12. 8A-Rob Anderzack[10]; 13. 39M-Brandon Moore[13]
Heat #4 – (10)Laps – Top 5 Transfer 1. 1ST-Johnny Scott[2]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[7]; 3. 23-John Blankenship[1]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 5. 25F-Jason Feger[5]; 6. 25B-Mike Benedum[6]; 7. K-Freddie Carpenter[8]; 8. 15K-Rick Eckert[9]; 9. 5N-Dustin Nobbe[11]; 10. 22R-Will Roland[4]; 11. 11J-Jon Kirby[10]; 12. 9R-Curtis Roberts[12]; 13. PO-Jeff Robertson[13]
B-Feature #1 – (12)Laps – Top 2 Transfer 1. 10-Joseph Joiner[3]; 2. 8-Kyle Strickler[4]; 3. 7R-Kent Robinson[2]; 4. 17M-Dale McDowell[15]; 5. 18D-Daulton Wilson[8]; 6. 93-Carson Ferguson[7]; 7. 29-Darrell Lanigan[10]; 8. 71C-RJ Conley[5]; 9. 12-Jason Jameson[6]; 10. 81-Jason Riggs[1]; 11. 995-Manny Falcon[9]; 12. 95-Jerry Bowersock[14]; 13. 2X-John Henderson[12]; 14. 130-Chase Osterhoff[16]; 15. 23C-Keegan Cox[13]; 16. 17C-Jeremy Creech[18]; 17. 6JR-Parker Martin[11]; 18. 16S-Steven Sabo[17]
B-Feature #2 – (12)Laps – Top 2 Transfer 1. 99-Camaron Marlar[1]; 2. 21K-Dakotah Knuckles[3]; 3. 15K-Rick Eckert[6]; 4. K-Freddie Carpenter[4]; 5. 3-Jon Henry[7]; 6. 25B-Mike Benedum[2]; 7. 5N-Dustin Nobbe[8]; 8. 111-Steven Roberts[5]; 9. 22R-Will Roland[10]; 10. 51-Dean Carpenter[9]; 11. 8A-Rob Anderzack[13]; 12. 9R-Curtis Roberts[14]; 13. 20W-Justin White[11]; 14. 11J-Jon Kirby[12]; 15. PO-Jeff Robertson[16]; 16. 39M-Brandon Moore[15]
A-Feature – (25)Laps 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[3]; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens[2]; 3. 76-Brandon Overton[5]; 4. 44-Chris Madden[4]; 5. 1ST-Johnny Scott[1]; 6. 1-Brandon Sheppard[8]; 7. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]; 8. 157-Mike Marlar[7]; 9. 11H-Spencer Hughes[9]; 10. 8-Kyle Strickler[23]; 11. 1T-Tyler Erb[10]; 12. 19R-Ryan Gustin[16]; 13. 58-Garrett Alberson[14]; 14. 23-John Blankenship[12]; 15. 22S-Gregg Satterlee[15]; 16. 88-Trent Ivey[11]; 17. 42-Tyler Carpenter[19]; 18. 83F-Jensen Ford[17]; 19. 25F-Jason Feger[20]; 20. 5-Mark Whitener[18]; 21. 31K-Kye Blight[13]; 22. 21K-Dakotah Knuckles[24]; 23. 99-Camaron Marlar[22]; 24. 10-Joseph Joiner[21]
=====================
Thursday Group B – Qualifying 1. 22-Chris Ferguson, 15.434; 2. 18-Shannon Babb, 15.603; 3. 7-Ricky Weiss, 15.628; 4. 19M-Wil Herrington, 15.628; 5. 10S-Garrett Smith, 15.633; 6. 32-Bobby Pierce, 15.673; 7. 11R-Josh Rice, 15.714; 8. 39-Tim McCreadie, 15.735; 9. 17-Zack Dohm, 15.742; 10. 71-Hudson O’Neal, 15.762; 11. 2S-Stormy Scott, 15.764; 12. 58W-Ashton Winger, 15.777; 13. 18C-Chase Junghans, 15.802; 14. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 15.813; 15. 25-Shane Clanton, 15.819; 16. 23H-Cory Hedgecock, 15.846; 17. 15-James Rice, 15.856; 18. 46-Earl Pearson Jr, 15.863; 19. C9-Steve Casebolt, 15.881; 20. 11K-Austin Kirkpatrick, 15.886; 21. 9-Devin Moran, 15.888; 22. 21-Billy Moyer, 15.915; 23. 9Z-Mason Zeigler, 15.922; 24. 57-Zack Mitchell, 15.929; 25. 145-Chase Frohnapfel, 15.933; 26. 3S-Brian Shirley, 15.939; 27. 1N-Casey Noonan, 15.961; 28. 21H-Robby Hensley, 15.970; 29. 16-Tyler Bruening, 15.983; 30. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 16.009; 31. 88R-Andrew Reaume, 16.033; 32. J8-Jadon Frame, 16.070; 33. 55-Jeep Van Wormer, 16.089; 34. 11-Gordy Gundaker, 16.140; 35. 1C-Kenny Collins, 16.176; 36. 97-Michael Chilton, 16.248; 37. 101-Forrest Trent, 16.250; 38. 6-Victor Lee, 16.262; 39. 1G-Devin Gilpin, 16.282; 40. 4BG-Bob Gardner, 16.372; 41. 69-Jon Hodgkiss, 16.388; 42. O-Scott Bloomquist, 16.412; 43. M27-Mike Provenzano, 16.418; 44. 29K-Clint Keenan, 16.596; 45. 17SS-Brenden Smith, 16.632; 46. 20C-Duane Chamberlain, 16.692; 47. 63-Terry Rushlow, 16.744; 48. 5X-Bryant Dickinson, 17.250; 49. P33-Josh Robertson, 17.502; 50. 22F-Nick Fenner, 17.959; 51. 354-Chris Nash, 18.139; 52. 4G-Kody Evans, 99.991; 53. 71DS-Drew Smith, 99.992
Heat #1 – (10)Laps – Top 5 Transfer 1. 22-Chris Ferguson[4]; 2. 10S-Garrett Smith[3]; 3. 9-Devin Moran[6]; 4. 17-Zack Dohm[2]; 5. 18C-Chase Junghans[1]; 6. 16-Tyler Bruening[8]; 7. 15-James Rice[5]; 8. 55-Jeep Van Wormer[9]; 9. 69-Jon Hodgkiss[11]; 10. 101-Forrest Trent[10]; 11. 17SS-Brenden Smith[12]; 12. P33-Josh Robertson[13]; 13. 145-Chase Frohnapfel[7]; 14. 71DS-Drew Smith[14]
Heat #2 – (10)Laps – Top 5 Transfer 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[2]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[1]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 4. 18-Shannon Babb[4]; 5. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[5]; 6. 21-Billy Moyer[6]; 7. 3S-Brian Shirley[7]; 8. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[8]; 9. 11-Gordy Gundaker[9]; 10. O-Scott Bloomquist[11]; 11. 6-Victor Lee[10]; 12. 20C-Duane Chamberlain[12]; 13. 22F-Nick Fenner[13]
Heat #3 – (10)Laps – Top 5 Transfer 1. 25-Shane Clanton[1]; 2. 7-Ricky Weiss[4]; 3. 2S-Stormy Scott[2]; 4. 11R-Josh Rice[3]; 5. 9Z-Mason Zeigler[6]; 6. C9-Steve Casebolt[5]; 7. M27-Mike Provenzano[11]; 8. 88R-Andrew Reaume[8]; 9. 1N-Casey Noonan[7]; 10. 1C-Kenny Collins[9]; 11. 1G-Devin Gilpin[10]; 12. 63-Terry Rushlow[12]; 13. 354-Chris Nash[13]
Heat #4 – (10)Laps – Top 5 Transfer 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[3]; 2. 19M-Wil Herrington[4]; 3. 97-Michael Chilton[9]; 4. 23H-Cory Hedgecock[1]; 5. 57-Zack Mitchell[6]; 6. 11K-Austin Kirkpatrick[5]; 7. J8-Jadon Frame[8]; 8. 21H-Robby Hensley[7]; 9. 4BG-Bob Gardner[10]; 10. 29K-Clint Keenan[11]; 11. 58W-Ashton Winger[2]; 12. 5X-Bryant Dickinson[12]; 13. 4G-Kody Evans[13]
B-Feature #1 – (12)Laps – Top 2 Transfer 1. 21-Billy Moyer[2]; 2. 16-Tyler Bruening[1]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 4. 55-Jeep Van Wormer[5]; 5. 15-James Rice[3]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 7. O-Scott Bloomquist[10]; 8. 11-Gordy Gundaker[8]; 9. 101-Forrest Trent[9]; 10. 6-Victor Lee[12]; 11. 145-Chase Frohnapfel[15]; 12. 20C-Duane Chamberlain[14]; 13. 17SS-Brenden Smith[11]; 14. P33-Josh Robertson[13]; 15. 22F-Nick Fenner[16]; 16. 69-Jon Hodgkiss[7]; 17. 71DS-Drew Smith[17]
B-Feature #2 – (12)Laps – Top 2 Transfer 1. C9-Steve Casebolt[1]; 2. 11K-Austin Kirkpatrick[2]; 3. 88R-Andrew Reaume[5]; 4. J8-Jadon Frame[4]; 5. 21H-Robby Hensley[6]; 6. M27-Mike Provenzano[3]; 7. 4BG-Bob Gardner[8]; 8. 1G-Devin Gilpin[11]; 9. 1C-Kenny Collins[9]; 10. 1N-Casey Noonan[7]; 11. 29K-Clint Keenan[10]; 12. 5X-Bryant Dickinson[14]; 13. 63-Terry Rushlow[13]; 14. 354-Chris Nash[15]; 15. 58W-Ashton Winger[12]; 16. 4G-Kody Evans[16]
A-Feature – (25)Laps 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[2]; 2. 25-Shane Clanton[1]; 3. 22-Chris Ferguson[4]; 4. 39-Tim McCreadie[3]; 5. 10S-Garrett Smith[8]; 6. 9-Devin Moran[9]; 7. 7-Ricky Weiss[6]; 8. 32-Bobby Pierce[10]; 9. 9Z-Mason Zeigler[19]; 10. 19M-Wil Herrington[7]; 11. 11R-Josh Rice[15]; 12. 2S-Stormy Scott[11]; 13. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[18]; 14. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 15. 18-Shannon Babb[14]; 16. 97-Michael Chilton[12]; 17. 17-Zack Dohm[13]; 18. 16-Tyler Bruening[23]; 19. 18C-Chase Junghans[17]; 20. 21-Billy Moyer[21]; 21. 23H-Cory Hedgecock[16]; 22. 11K-Austin Kirkpatrick[24]; 23. C9-Steve Casebolt[22]; 24. 57-Zack Mitchell[20]
Photos by Joshua Carpenter & Tyler Carr