Davenport Runs Wild in Tucson

Another Wild West Victory For Davenport

Story and Photo By: LONNIE WHEATLEY 

TUCSON, AZ- January 18, 2016- Jonathan Davenport put an exclamation point on his Keyser Manufacturing Wild West Shootout presented by Black Diamond-Club 29 Race Cars Super Late Model championship by topping Sunday night’s $11,000-to-win series finale at USA Raceway.

Davenport raced into the lead just past the midway point of the 50-lapper en route to picking up the winner’s share that was boosted by AR Bodies.  It was his third win of the six-race series aboard the TS Crane Service/Sundance Services No. 6 Longhorn-chassis.

While Davenport battled .500 atop the Tucson clay, another pair of drivers picked off their first Wild West Shootout wins with Jake Gallardo earning modified accolades and Donovan Flores taking the X Mod win.

Joining Davenport as Wild West Shootout champions were Todd Shute in Modifieds and Grant Southworth in X Mods.

With Davenport gridding seventh, pole-starter Darrell Lanigan gunned into the early lead and set the pace until contact with a lapped car exiting turn four sent him spinning into the infield after eight laps. Lanigan was done with left front suspension woes.

California’s Jason Papich assumed command and set sail with Billy Moyer Jr., and Terry Phillips battling for second in his wake.

Meanwhile, Davenport was on the move forward, racing by both Moyer and Phillips on the 13th round to take over second.

Davenport reeled in Papich over the ensuing round, even scraping the turn-three wall at one point as he ran the extreme high side of the track.

“That’s about as close to the wall as you can run, the cushion was just a couple of inches off the fence,” Davenport said. “I got a piece of it that one time, the car wasn’t quite as good after that.”

It was good enough though, as Davenport battled past Papich for the point on the 26th lap and led the rest of the way to take the win.

Ricky Thornton Jr., took over second on the 31st lap and tried to chase down Davenport, but to no avail.

Thornton settled for second with Ryan Gustin charging from 18th to take over third in the closing rounds.  Papich was fourth with Steve Francis rounding out the top five.

The finish:

Jonathan Davenport, Ricky Thornton Jr., Ryan Gustin, Jason Papich, Steve Francis, Chris Simpson, Kyle Beard, Terry Phillips, Austin Sievert, Billy Moyer Jr., Morgan Bagley, Robert Odegard, Jake O’Neil, Justin Duty, R.C. Whitwell, Garrett Alberson, Chase Junghans, Don O’Neal, Billy Moyer, Rodney Sanders, Ricky Weiss, Brandon Sheppard, Darrell Lanigan, Jimmy Mars.

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