Davenport Continues Hot Streak with Batesville Preliminary Win

8/19/2022

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series

Davenport Continues Hot Streak with Batesville Preliminary Win

LOCUST GROVE, AR (August 19, 2022) – Jonathan Davenport continues to show why he the #1 ranked dirt late model driver in the country - leading all 30 laps in Friday’s preliminary feature to earn the pole position for Saturday’s 30th Annual COMP Cams Topless 100 Presented by Nutrien Ag Solutions. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and COMP Cams Super Dirt Series co-sanctioned race will pay $50,000 to win, a record for the event.

Spencer Hughes will start alongside Davenport on the front row of the crown jewel event by virtue of finishing second to the three-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Champion in Friday’s preliminary feature. Hughes was just 0.178 seconds behind the winner at the checkers, earning his best career finish with the series. Neither Davenport nor Hughes have ever won the race which began in 1993.

Jimmy Owens, a 2-time Topless 100 champion finished in third followed by Tyler Erb. The current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points leader and 2008 winner Tim McCreadie roundedd out the top five.

Davenport took the lead at the start of the race and looked to be in total control for the first five laps until he started to encounter traffic in front of him. That would allow Hughes to close the gap and draw within two car lengths of Davenport just before the only caution of the race flew with eight laps scored.

On the restart, Davenport again pulled out to a healthy lead. Hughes was able to get within striking distance in the waning laps, but Davenport was able to hold his line and never wavered as he went on to pick the win.

“It was a very good view from where I was sitting at tonight,” said Davenport. “Who knows if it is going to be a tire game tomorrow night. This race kind of surprised us last year with how slick it got. We will have to conserve a little bit tomorrow night. Tonight, I just backed the pace way, way up. I knew I couldn’t get by Daulton [Wilson] right there unless he made a big mistake. I was hoping that Spencer and Jimmy couldn’t get by me unless I did.”

Hughes gave it his best shot at Davenport and came home in second. “I didn’t want to see that caution. I got back to him there when he first caught lapped traffic and I felt like we might have had a shot to at least show him our nose a little bit. He did a great job tonight and we put ourselves in a good position for tomorrow night. We have been pretty good here the last couple of weeks, but we haven’t been able to put a whole night together, maybe tomorrow night we can do it.”

Owens earned the third starting position for Saturday’s finale. “This is one of our better race tracks here. We were able to qualify good and win our heat race and come home with a strong third-place finish tonight. Maybe we can get this Ramirez Motorsports car further up- front tomorrow night. We were in the Rocket tonight, we have won races this year in both the Rocket and the Longhorn, it’s just been finding something to beat that 49 bunch. It’s been pretty tough to do.”

The winner’s Lance and Darla Landers-owned, Double L Motorsports Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Nutrien Ag Solutions, Spartan Mowers, ASC Warranty, Bilstein Shocks, VP Race Fuels, Midwest Sheet Metal, Mark Martin Automotive, and Mega Plumbing of the Carolinas.

Completing the top ten were Earl Pearson Jr., Dale McDowell, Brandon Overton, Ricky Thornton Jr., and Garrett Alberson.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
COMP Cams Topless 100 Presented by Nutrien Ag Solutions – Night 1
Friday, August 19th, 2022
Batesville Motor Speedway – Batesville, AR

Allstar Performance Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Jonathan Davenport / 14.280 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Spencer Hughes / 14.569 seconds

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[2]; 3. 93-Mason Oberkramer[4]; 4. 1ST-Johnny Scott[3]; 5. 45-Kylan Garner[5]; 6. 32P-Preston Farmer[6]; 7. 53-Eckie Harrison[7]; 8. 37-Joseph Long[8]

Summit Racing Equipment Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 3. 1-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 4. 1G-Bryan Glaze[5]; 5. 66-Hayden Ross[4]; 6. 24H-Dustin Holmes[8]; 7. (DNF) 65H-Dewaine Hottinger[6]; 8. (DNF) 7P-David Payne[7]

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 1T-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 777-Jared Landers[2]; 3. 18D-Daulton Wilson[3]; 4. 10G-Garrett Smith[8]; 5. 7-Ross Robinson[4]; 6. 26R-Cole Farmer[7]; 7. 19M-Colby Moore[5]; 8. 16-Geoff Aitken[6]

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 11-Spencer Hughes[1]; 2. 97-Cade Dillard[2]; 3. 2-Tyler Stevens[3]; 4. 12-Scott Crigler[5]; 5. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[4]; 6. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[6]; 7. 11K-Jon Kirby[7]; 8. 15-Blake McClain[8]

Wrisco Industries Heat Race #5 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 2S-Stormy Scott[2]; 2. 17M-Dale McDowell[3]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 4. 14M-Morgan Bagley[6]; 5. 1R-BJ Robinson[4]; 6. 90-Brian Rickman[5]; 7. 995-Manny Falcon[7]; 8. L51-Travis Ashley[8]

Lucas Oil Heat Race #6 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 3. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[2]; 4. 71-Hudson O'Neal[5]; 5. 86B-Kyle Beard[4]; 6. 86-Rick Rickman[6]; 7. 17-Jeremy Tharp[7]; 8. 7S-Jeff Sloan[8]

FAST Shafts B-Main #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 1ST-Johnny Scott[1]; 2. 10G-Garrett Smith[3]; 3. 45-Kylan Garner[4]; 4. 66-Hayden Ross[5]; 5. 32P-Preston Farmer[7]; 6. 26R-Cole Farmer[9]; 7. 19M-Colby Moore[12]; 8. 37-Joseph Long[13]; 9. 7P-David Payne[14]; 10. 53-Eckie Harrison[10]; 11. 1G-Bryan Glaze[2]; 12. (DNS) 24H-Dustin Holmes; 13. (DNS) 65H-Dewaine Hottinger; 14. (DNS) 16-Geoff Aitken; 15. (DQ) 7-Ross Robinson[6]

UNOH B-Main #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 12-Scott Crigler[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O'Neal[3]; 3. 14M-Morgan Bagley[2]; 4. 1R-BJ Robinson[5]; 5. 90-Brian Rickman[8]; 6. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[4]; 7. 86B-Kyle Beard[6]; 8. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[7]; 9. 11K-Jon Kirby[10]; 10. 86-Rick Rickman[9]; 11. 995-Manny Falcon[11]; 12. 15-Blake McClain[13]; 13. 17-Jeremy Tharp[12]; 14. 7S-Jeff Sloan[15]; 15. (DNS) L51-Travis Ashley

COMP Cams Topless 100 Presented by Nutrien Ag Solutions Night 1 Finish (30 Laps):

Entrants: 48
Lap Leaders: Jonathan Davenport (30 Laps)
Wrisco Feature Winner: Jonathan Davenport
Arizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Feature Winner: n/a
Brandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: n/a
Margin of Victory: 0.719 seconds
Stop-Tech Cautions: Daulton Wilson (Lap 8)
Series Provisionals: n/a
Fast Time Provisional: n/a
Series Emergency Provisionals: n/a
Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Jonathan Davenport, Spencer Hughes, Jimmy Owens
Penske Shocks Top 5: Jonathan Davenport, Spencer Hughes, Jimmy Owens, Tyler Erb, Tim McCreadie
Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Garrett Alberson (Advanced 6 Positions)
Hot Rod Processing Most Laps Led: Jonathan Davenport (30 Laps)
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Tim McCreadie
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Jimmy Owens
O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: Spencer Hughes
Dirty Girl Racewear Fastest Lap of the Race: Jonathan Davenport (Lap 1 – 15.074 seconds)
DirtonDirt.com Tough Break of the Race: Ross Robinson
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Jason Durham (Jonathan Davenport)
ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing Engines
Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn Chassis
Dirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Tyler Erb (14.0915 seconds)
Time of Race: 10 minutes 41 seconds