Davenport Collects First Series Win of the Year

LAKE CITY, FL (February 9, 2020)– Jonathan Davenport, the three-time and defending, Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Champion, closed out the 2020 Georgia-Florida Speedweeks with his first win of the season on Sunday Night at All-Tech Raceway.  Davenport collected his 48th career series win, at the first-ever Series race held at the Lake City, Florida facility. 

Moran jumped to the early lead ahead of Gregg Satterlee, who was making his first start with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series this year. Fourth place starter, Davenport, took the lead from early pacesetter, Devin Moran on lap 20. He sprinted away to win by over three seconds over runner-up finisher, Mike Marlar, in the Rocket Fuels/Rocket. Marlar started in eighth and recorded his best finish of the week.

Brandon Sheppard, a three-time winner at the East Bay Raceway Park Winternationals this week, moved from his 10th starting spot to clear Clanton with two laps to go to finish in third, after a hard-fought battle in the closing laps. Sheppard maintains the Midwest Sheet Metal Point Leader Spoiler Challenge, heading to the series’ next events at Atomic Speedway in Ohio on March 20 and Brownstown Speedway in Indiana on March 21.

Jimmy Owens went to a backup car and took a series provisional to start 24th. Owens moved through the field to finish in fifth, earning Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the race honors.

Davenport, the reigning series champion, was relieved to get his first win of 2020. “You have no idea. My team has worked so hard and we have so much bad racing luck, it’s been unbelievable. Thanks to Lance and Darla Landers, I know they are watching back home. Thanks to Steve Martin, from Nutrien Ag Solutions, for supporting us again this year. This was a brand-new car that we never got to test, and then we had to run it at East Bay. We needed this win.”

Marlar was pleased his runner-up finish in the series’ first appearance at All-Tech Raceway. “This track is so racy. We had a pretty rough week at East Bay, but this track fits me much better. I felt like we had a good run and there was plenty of good racing out there.”

Sheppard, whose worst finish during the eight nights of racing was a tenth, replaced that finish with his third-place finish tonight. “We had a really good car, especially there early in the race. We passed some guys there on the top, but I could run the bottom well too. I should have picked the top on that last restart.  I chose the bottom on Devin because I thought the bottom would be better, but I had my momentum broke there. We had a good race between myself and Clanton, we were fortunate to get by him on the white flag lap. Thanks to all of my crew, we’ve had a great start to this month.”

The winner’s Lance Landers/Double L Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Nutrien Ag Solutions, Spartan Mowers, Lucas Oil Products, Penske Racing Shocks, VP Fuels, and ASC Warranty.

Completing the top ten were Devin Moran, Tim McCreadie, Josh Richards, Billy Moyer Jr., and Gregg Satterlee.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 
Race Summary 
Lucas Oil Winter Nationals – presented by GEICO
Sunday, February 9th, 2020
All-Tech Raceway – Lake City, FL

Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Tim McCreadie / 17.892 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Devin Moran / 17.965 seconds 

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[3]; 3. 18X-Michael Page[7]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 5. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[6]; 6. 2S-Stormy Scott[9]; 7. 20-Jimmy Owens[4]; 8. 16-Tyler Bruening[2]; 9. 14-Josh Richards[8]

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 5W-Mark Whitener[1]; 2. 48-Colton Flinner[2]; 3. 25-Shane Clanton[3]; 4. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[4]; 5. 15B-Brian Birkhofer[5]; 6. 89-GR Smith[7]; 7. 27-Joe Denby[8]; 8. 94-Charles Powell[6]

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 9-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 22-Gregg Satterlee[2]; 3. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[4]; 4. 17-Logan Roberson[5]; 5. 28E-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 6. 81E-Tanner English[3]; 7. 50-Shanon Buckingham[7]; 8. 31-Tyler Millwood[9]; 9. 1ST-Johnny Scott[8]

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[3]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 3. 00-Jesse Stovall[5]; 4. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]; 5. 33J-Jeff Mathews[8]; 6. 2D-Dan Stone[6]; 7. 20B-Todd Brennan[7]; 8. 26JR-Jimmy Sharpe[1]

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[1]; 2. 89-GR Smith[4]; 3. 2S-Stormy Scott[3]; 4. 15B-Brian Birkhofer[2]; 5. 14-Josh Richards[9]; 6. 94-Charles Powell[8]; 7. 27-Joe Denby[6]; 8. (DNS) 20-Jimmy Owens; 9. (DNS) 16-Tyler Bruening

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer):  1. 28E-Dennis Erb Jr[1]; 2. 81E-Tanner English[3]; 3. 33J-Jeff Mathews[2]; 4. 2D-Dan Stone[4]; 5. 31-Tyler Millwood[7]; 6. 50-Shanon Buckingham[5]; 7. 1ST-Johnny Scott[9]; 8. 20B-Todd Brennan[6]; 9. (DNS) 26JR-Jimmy Sharpe

Lucas Oil Feature Finish (50 Laps):

Race Statistics
Entrants: 34
Lap Leaders: Devin Moran (Laps 1 – 19); Jonathan Davenport (Laps 20 – 50)
Wrisco Feature Winner: Jonathan Davenport
Margin of Victory: 3.633 seconds
Cautions: Jeff Mathews, Jimmy Owens (Lap 1); Stormy Scott (Lap 2); Colton Flinner (Lap 18); Shanon Buckingham (Lap 23); Michael Page, Tanner English (Lap 29)
Series Provisionals: Josh Richards; Jimmy Owens
Series Emergency Provisionals: Shanon Buckingham; Charles Powell
Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Jonathan Davenport; Mike Marlar; Brandon Sheppard
Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Jimmy Owens (Advanced 19 Positions) 
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Brandon Sheppard
Allstar Performance Most Laps Led: Jonathan Davenport (31 Laps)
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Brandon Sheppard
Eibach Springs Rookie of the Race: n/a
Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing Engines
Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn Chassis
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Jason Durham (Jonathan Davenport)
Dirty Girl Racewear Fastest Lap of the Race: Jonathan Davenport (Lap #24 – 19.565 seconds)
Hot Rod Processing Tough Break of the Race: Earl Pearson Jr.
PFC Brakes Pole Award: Tim McCreadie
Time of Race: 37 minutes 33 seconds

Lucas Oil Championship Point Standings: