Friday’s preliminary action at Eldora Speedway was the tale of two winners.
In the regularly-scheduled Friday portion of the program, three-time Dirt Late Model Dream winner Jonathan Davenport got one step closer to a fourth with yet another dominant showing at “The Big E.”
Half an hour later, Verona, KY’s Josh Rice pulled off the upset in Thursday’s makeup Feature to win for the first time at Eldora in the biggest score of his Late Model career.
FRIDAY FEATURE
Davenport started his march to the front in the first 50-lapper from the sixth spot, while COMP Cams Super Dirt Series regular Timothy Culp led the field to green alongside four-time Eldora crown jewel winner Brandon Overton. Culp fended off Overton’s early challenges for the lead while Davenport fought his way up to second, but surrendered the top spot when Davenport threw a slider in Turn 3 eight laps in.
A flat tire on Dan Ebert’s machine slowed the pace immediately after the Blairsville, GA native took command, but Davenport used a solid restart to get into clean air and build his advantage over the field. Behind him, Overton squeezed by Culp for second moments before the second caution of the race flew for a slowing Donald McIntosh, putting the winners of the last five Dreams together on the front row.
Davenport was once again no match for the field on the restart, continuing a trend that would become the theme of the race. Nine yellow flags plagued the event, but time and time again the No. 49 kept the challengers at bay.
Right when it looked like Davenport had the win in the bag, Mark Whitener went around in Turn 1 on the white-flag lap to set up a green-white-checkered, but Davenport powered away from Thornton and Overton once more to pick up his seventh prelim-night win at the Dream.
The victory marked a major turnaround from Davenport’s showing on Wednesday night, when he pounded the wall in Hot Laps, unloaded a backup car and came home 14th in the Feature.
“Hats off to my guys,” Davenport said. “They have worked their tails off the past three days. Yesterday we didn’t race obviously, but they still tore that thing apart, went all through it and changed a bunch of stuff. Obviously we found something. We still wasn’t exactly right after Qualifying and the Heat Race, and we found a few other little small things, but when you start changing parts that’s the way it goes.”
Overton got the best of Thornton in the two-lap dash to the finish, while Garrett Alberson and Culp rounded out the top five.
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[6]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 4. 58-Garrett Alberson[7]; 5. C8-Timothy Culp[1]; 6. 9M-Tim McCreadie[17]; 7. 1-Brandon Sheppard[4]; 8. 44-Chris Madden[22]; 9. 25-Shane Clanton[16]; 10. 97-Cade Dillard[26]; 11. 96-Tanner English[18]; 12. 19M-Spencer Hughes[15]; 13. 15-Justin Duty[19]; 14. 25F-Jason Feger[25]; 15. 114-Jordan Koehler[24]; 16. 19-Dustin Sorensen[5]; 17. 16-Tyler Bruening[21]; 18. 13-Dylan Thornton[9]; 19. 5-Mark Whitener[14]; 20. 60-Dan Ebert[10]; 21. 74X-Ethan Dotson[8]; 22. 157-Mike Marlar[11]; 23. 14JR-Trey Mills[13]; 24. 19R-Ryan Gustin[12]; 25. 79-Donald McIntosh[23]; 26. 29-Clinton Keenan[20]
THURSDAY FEATURE
The front row of the second Feature of the night featured a pair of drivers seeking their first Eldora triumph in Carson Ferguson and Wil Herrington. Ferguson’s race lasted less than half a lap, as he got into the wall in Turns 1 and 2, flipped over and got pounded by Chris Simpson. Both drivers emerged unhurt.
Herrington jumped out to the lead on the restart, while Max Blair, Tyler Erb and Bobby Pierce raced three-wide down the backstretch for the runner-up position. Erb emerged from that battle on top, putting himself in position to chase down Herrington.
The Hawkinsville, GA pilot led the first nine circuits, but one misstep in Turn 4 was all it took to send Herrington up and over the cushion and Erb into the lead. Before Herrington could get back up to speed, Rice slipped by for second and instantly set his sights on the General Lee throwback out front.
Ten laps later, Erb had company as Rice was ripping the low lane to get alongside the reigning DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion. Rice was unable to capitalize on his first bid for the lead, and before he knew it, third-place runner Bobby Pierce was on his back bumper.
The battle for second suddenly turned into the battle for the win when Erb got over the cushion and into the wall in Turn 3 with 20 to go. The World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision points leader slid Rice for the lead in Turn 2 but had to check up to avoid a pair of lap cars, opening the door for Rice to pull the crossover.
At that point, one of the most thrilling battles for the lead in the seven-decade history of Eldora Speedway was on. Pierce repeated the same move into Turn 3 one lap later, and this time he made it stick. Rice didn’t let Pierce go far though, as he kept the margin under a second until retaking the lead on the bottom in Turns 1 and 2 with 11 to go. Pierce immediately tried to take it back in the next set of corners, but couldn’t clear Rice with the slider and had to back out.
A pair of cautions for Hudson O’Neal and Wil Herrington put the action on pause, but a perfect final restart by Rice allowed him to set sail towards the $30,000 top prize. Ten perfect laps later, one of the most talented regional racers in the country became a winner at the mecca of dirt racing.
“I thought Brownstown was hard to win at, this place is damn near impossible to win at. Especially to do it over the 32, he wins every damn weekend,” Rice said in Victory Lane. “We’ve been good here recently. Good thing we Hot Lapped again, I’m glad it rained out because I probably would have never won this deal. We Hot Lapped there and wasn’t very good, threw what we knew was going to be close. Honestly, we didn’t know if it was going to be close or not, but it worked.”
Pierce beat Erb in a drag race to the flag stand for second with Nick Hoffman and Daulton Wilson competing the top five.
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 11R-Josh Rice[5]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[6]; 3. O1-Tyler Erb[4]; 4. 9-Nick Hoffman[16]; 5. 18D-Daulton Wilson[8]; 6. 17M-Dale McDowell[9]; 7. 111-Max Blair[3]; 8. 10S-Garrett Smith[17]; 9. 40B-Kyle Bronson[22]; 10. 22-Chris Ferguson[10]; 11. 10-Joseph Joiner[11]; 12. 20-Jimmy Owens[14]; 13. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[24]; 14. 101-Forrest Trent[25]; 15. 89-Mike Spatola[20]; 16. 11-Austin Smith[12]; 17. O9-Michael Leach[7]; 18. 4-Kale Green[13]; 19. 93L-Cory Lawler[19]; 20. 15K-Wil Herrington[1]; 21. 71-Hudson O’Neal[23]; 22. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[26]; 23. 22X-Drake Troutman[21]; 24. 99-Devin Moran[15]; 25. 93-Carson Ferguson[2]; 26. 32S-Chris Simpson[18]
The weekend concludes on Saturday with the 100-lap, $100,000-to-win conclusion of the 31st running of the Dirt Late Model Dream. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.
