The second night of preliminary action in the 54th edition of the World 100 featured a 21st career Eldora Speedway Feature win for Jonathan Davenport and a second-straight Twin 25 Feature win for defending event winner Hudson O’Neal.
Davenport, the five-time World 100 globe trophy winner from Blairsville, GA, drove his DIRTcar Late Model from ninth on the starting grid and took the lead on Lap 21 to win the Group A Twin 25 main event. O’Neal, who also won his Feature on Thursday night, made it back-to-back wins at the historic half-mile oval by leading every lap of the Group B Twin 25.
High-points driver Tim McCreadie — the 2018 World 100 winner from Watertown, NY — finished fourth in the Group A Feature, earning him the high-points driver honors. As the top event points getter over the two-day stretch, McCreadie earned the right to spin the inversion wheel to determine the invert for Saturday’s Heat Races, which landed on a ‘3.’ This means the top-three starters in each Heat Race will be inverted, giving McCreadie an inside Row 2 starting spot in Heat 1.
Group A Feature
Starting ninth on the grid following a third-place run in the third Shootout Race, Jonathan Davenport was not going to let the lack of a top starting spot slow his pursuit of victory.
The Georgia racer worked his way through the top-10, and by the halfway point, trailed only leader Devin Moran. As Moran entered lapped traffic, Davenport was able to reel him in. With the slower cars working in his favor, Davenport threw a slide-job on Moran in Turns 1-2 to take the lead, and then used the caution flag the following lap to get in clean air and drive away with his 21st career Feature win of any kind at Eldora.
Tyler Carr Photo
Behind Davenport and Moran was multi-time DIRTcar Late Model national points champion, Bobby Pierce. The 27-year-old World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series champion from Oakwood, IL, started 12th on the grid and by the halfway point had reached the top-five.
When a caution flag forced another restart on Lap 21, Pierce advanced from fourth into a battle with Moran for the runner-up spot. After trading slide-jobs back-and-forth multiple times, Moran made the final pass on Pierce on Lap 24 to seal his place in second while Pierce settled for third.
Though the 2016 World 100 winner was shut out of Victory Lane for the second-straight night, Pierce gained valuable points with his runner-up effort Thursday and third-place finish Friday, which will set him up front in a Heat Race on Saturday.
“We got a good spot for tomorrow; that’s what it’s all about with these prelim nights is getting you a good (spot) hopefully,” Pierce said. “[Tim McCreadie] spun the three, so we start third in our heat, which is great. We’ll go tomorrow and try to pick out which setup we wanna go with for the Feature and see if any of us can beat [Davenport].”
Pierce — a five-time DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion — knows the great endurance test the 100-lap races are at Eldora and has learned how valuable a good start to the finale is on Saturday, which transfers the top-three finishers from the Heats to the main event.
Pierce (32) racing Moran (99) for second (Tyler Carr Photo)
“I really want to have a good Heat Race, because if you can start in the first couple rows in the 100-lapper, it makes things way easier,” Pierce said. “Because [burning] your stuff up to get [to the front] is bad. So, if you’ve got to start mid-pack or back, that’s what you don’t want to happen here. Track position is so key.”
Fellow World of Outlaws championship contender Nick Hoffman, of Mooresville, NC, was running in the top-10 when, during the Lap 11 caution, he was forced to come to pit road to change a flat tire after reportedly running over an object on the track. He restarted at the tail of the field but was able to drive back to 20th place before the checkered.
Feature | Group A (25 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[9]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[12]; 4. 1-Tim McCreadie[7]; 5. 30-Ryan Gustin[1]; 6. 93-Carson Ferguson[3]; 7. 14H-Wil Herrington[11]; 8. 8S-Brian Shirley[4]; 9. 57-Zack Mitchell[17]; 10. 87-Ross Bailes[5]; 11. 10S-Garrett Smith[6]; 12. 96-Tanner English[8]; 13. 8-Kyle Strickler[25]; 14. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[26]; 15. 79-Donald McIntosh[24]; 16. 7-Ricky Weiss[14]; 17. 25F-Jason Feger[15]; 18. 114-Jordan Koehler[16]; 19. 7B-Jeff Babcock[19]; 20. 9-Nick Hoffman[13]; 21. 18-Shannon Babb[23]; 22. 2S-Stormy Scott[10]; 23. 6H-Clay Harris[21]; 24. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[22]; 25. 28C-Tyler Carpenter[20]; 26. 44-Chris Madden[18]
Group B Feature
Hudson O’Neal has shown his high-banked, half-mile prowess over the past several years, winning three preliminary Features and a World 100 from 2022 through 2023. Now, he’s won back-to-back World 100 prelim Features and will be among the favorites to repeat as event champion.
Tyler Carr Photo
One night after cashing in for $12,000 in the Group B prelim Thursday, Indiana racer dominated again Friday, leading all 25 laps of the Group B Twin 25 nearly unchallenged.
Completing the top-five in the event was 2015 World of Outlaws champion Shane Clanton, who drove up from 10th on the starting grid to finish fifth and said he was pleased with the run.
“Our car was pretty good there,” Clanton said. “We got up to fifth, fell back to seventh and then got back to fifth; we needed more laps. I think our car was really good on long runs, where they started abusing their tires and I still had tires.
“If you look at lap times at the end there, we were right with the leader, so I feel pretty good.”
Clanton, the 2008 World 100 winner from Zebulon, GA, has scaled back his own time as a driver in the seat this year in favor of helping out his new customer base as co-owner of Capital Race Cars. He said it’s a valuable element to his new venture in Late Model racing that allows him to see his cars differently.
Clanton (25) is also a Dirt Late Model Dream winner at Eldora in 2012 (Tyler Carr Photo)
“Just being able to work with new drivers and focusing on what they’re doing and what they need,” Clanton said. “It’s hard to not be in the racecar and feel what I changed, so I get in the seat sometimes and feel what I see and make sure that it’s good.”
Feature | Group B (25 Laps): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 2. 23V-Cory Hedgecock[3]; 3. 11R-Josh Rice[2]; 4. 20-Jimmy Owens[4]; 5. 25-Shane Clanton[10]; 6. 12-Jason Jameson[7]; 7. 58-Garrett Alberson[13]; 8. 17M-Dale McDowell[16]; 9. 17D-Zack Dohm[15]; 10. 11-Brandon Overton[22]; 11. 22S-Gregg Satterlee[9]; 12. 72-Michael Norris[5]; 13. 40B-Kyle Bronson[19]; 14. C8-Timothy Culp[11]; 15. 74X-Ethan Dotson[14]; 16. 777-Jared Landers[6]; 17. 18D-Daulton Wilson[17]; 18. 31-Tyler Millwood[8]; 19. 10-Joseph Joiner[21]; 20. 83-Jensen Ford[18]; 21. 219-Gavin Cowan[26]; 22. 68-Adam Stricker[24]; 23. 1B-Rusty Ballenger[23]; 24. 91-Steven Roberts[25]; 25. 15-Clayton Stuckey[20]; 26. 6W-Ben Watkins[12]
