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Kevin Kovac
CONCORD, N.C. (November 6) - A shrewd tire-compound choice propelled Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., to a convincing victory in Saturday afternoon's postponed 40-lap World of Outlaws Late Model Series A-Main during the Lowes Foods World of Outlaws World Finals Presented by Bimbo Bakeries and Tom's Snacks at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
With a hard 70-compound Hoosier tire bolted on the right-rear corner of his Barry Wright Race Cars house car, Davenport was able to master the four-tenths-mile oval's sun-baked afternoon surface. He surged forward from the sixth starting spot to pass Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., for the lead on lap 11 and never looked back en route to his first career WoO LMS triumph.
Davenport, who turned 27 on Oct. 31, also presented veteran car builder Barry Wright a first-ever triumph on the national tour.
"This is real exciting," said Davenport, who earned $10,500 for bagging a checkered flag in the first half of a Lowes Foods World Finals doubleheader that attracted more than 14,000 fans. "You can't get no bigger crowd than this, and I've always loved this place."
Rick Eckert of York, Pa., who started from the outside pole, crossed the finish line 3.140 seconds behind Davenport after inheriting the runner-up spot on lap 37 when McCreadie slowed with a flat right-rear tire. McCreadie started from the pole position and led laps 1-10.
Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., advanced from the fifth starting spot to finish third, also behind the wheel of a car built by Wright. Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., started 12th but charged forward to place fourth and fourth-starter Dan Schlieper of Sullivan, Wis., completed the top five.
Lanigan's run pulled him within just six points of WoO LMS points leader Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., who struggled to a 12th-place finish. The two friendly rivals will conclude their dramatic battle for the tour's $100,000 championship in Saturday night's regularly-scheduled second half of the Lowes Foods World Finals.
"We've gone at it the same way all year and we're gonna go out there tonight to try and win the race and see what we can come up with (in the points)," said Lanigan, who bolted softer-compound tires on his car for the afternoon event in an attempt to pick up spots during the early stages. "It's unbelievable that we've run all season and the points are going to come down to just a couple positions."
While Lanigan and Richards chase the WoO LMS crown in Saturday's nightcap, Davenport will bid for an unprecedented clean sweep of the full-fender portion of the Lowes Foods World Finals. He set fast time in both rounds of qualifying on Thursday night and won a heat race during Saturday afternoon's program, which was postponed by rain on Friday night.
Davenport expects the road to victory in the evening show to be a bit more difficult, however.
"Today we just put on the right tires," said Davenport, who was briefly threatened by McCreadie late in the race before clearing lapped traffic and pulling away to a comfortable edge. "I thought it was a no-brainer (to go with a hard tire). Me and Barry looked at each other and we thought the exact same thing - we didn't even say what tires we were gonna put on.
"Then we got up to the (starting) grid and nobody had them on, and we started thinking maybe we were wrong. But as soon as we took off, we knew we were right. Hoosier has great tires - this new 70 just fired right up."
Three caution flags slowed the event, including one on lap nine for Shane Clanton of Fayetteville, Ga., who stopped with a broken rearend. Clanton, who used a provisional to start the A-Main after spinning during his heat, finished 25th and lost fifth place in the WoO LMS points standings to Eckert.
Finishing in positions 6-10 was Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill.; Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., who overtook early retiree Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., for ninth in the WoO LMS points standings; Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn.; John Blankenship of Williamson, W.Va.; and Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., who had won all three previous Lowes Foods World Finals openers.
Heat winners were Davenport, McCreadie, Erb, Eckert, Francis and Schlieper. The B-Mains were captured by Jared Landers of Batesville, Ark., Gregg Satterlee of Rochester Mills, Pa., and Dale McDowell of Chickamagua, Ga.
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
Results of WoO Late Model Series Lowes Foods World of Outlaws World Finals Race No. 1 (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):
1. (6) Jonathan Davenport/40 $10,500
2. (2) Rick Eckert/40 $5,575
3. (5) Steve Francis/40 $3,600
4. (12) Darrell Lanigan/40 $3,100
5. (4) Dan Schlieper/40 $2,000
6. (3) Dennis Erb Jr./40 $1,700
7. (10) Clint Smith/40 $1,900
8. (8) Jimmy Owens/40 $1,300
9. (11) John Blankenship/40 $1,200
10. (17) Scott Bloomquist/40 $1,150
11. (27) Chris Madden/40 $1,050
12. (15) Josh Richards/40 $1,600
13. (19) Jared Landers/40 $950
14. (9) Vic Coffey/40 $900
15. (14) Tim Fuller/40 $1,350
16. (22) Jeep VanWormer/39 $800
17. (26) Russell King/39 $1,270
18. (23) Austin Hubbard/39 $1,550
19. (16) Zack Dohm/39 $730
20. (24) Johnny Pursley/39 $700
21. (20) Gregg Satterlee/39 $700
22. (18) Chris Brown/39 $700
23. (1) Tim McCreadie/36 $1,300
24. (7) Steve Shaver/17 $700
25. (13) Chub Frank/16 $1,200
26. (25) Shane Clanton/8 $1,225
27. (21) Dale McDowell/8 $700
28. (28) Jeff Rine/6 $700
* Earnings include Winners Circle program and cash contingency award bonuses
Margin of Victory: 3.140 Secs.
Yellow Flags: 3 (Laps 9, 18, 37)
Lap Leaders: McCreadie (1-10); Davenport (11-40)
Provisional Starters: Clanton, King (WoO); Madden, Rine (track)
Rookie of the Race: Austin Hubbard ($250)
WoO LMS 'Bonus Bucks' Winner: Davenport ($500)
Heat No. 1 (10 laps - Top 3 Transfer): 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Steve Shaver, 3. Chub Frank, 4. Jason Feger, 5. Earl Pearson Jr., 6. Russell King, 7. Eric Jacobsen, 8. Shane Clanton, 9. Chad Hollenbeck, 10. Ken Schrader, 11. Chuck Smith, 12. Ricky Thornton (DQ - light) Billy Decker
Heat No. 2 (10 laps - Top 3 Transfer): 1. Tim McCreadie, 2. Jimmy Owens, 3. Tim Fuller, 4. Jeep VanWormer, 5. John Henderson, 6. Jared Landers, 7. Jason Montgomery, 8. Tim Allen, 9. Kerry King, 10. James O'Hara, 11. Eric Wells, 12. Mike Marlar, 13. Jay Sessoms
Heat No. 3 (10 laps - Top 3 Transfer): 1. Dennis Erb Jr., 2. Vic Coffey, 3. Josh Richards, 4. Chris Ferguson, 5. Austin Hubbard, 6. Brad Neat, 7. Ricky Weeks, 8. April Farmer, 9. Dennis Franklin, 10. Larry Wight, 11. Mark Byram (DNS) Rick Delong, Dane Burns
Heat No. 4 (10 laps - Top 3 Transfer): 1. Rick Eckert, 2. Clint Smith, 3. Zack Dohm, 4. Gregg Satterlee, 5. Ron Davies, 6. Jared Hawkins, 7. Tyler Reddick, 8. Justin Labonte, 9. Tim Dohm, 10. Kyle Pierce, 11. Tommy Kerr, 12. Chuck Harper
Heat No. 5 (10 laps - Top 3 Transfer): 1. Steve Francis, 2. John Blankenship, 3. Scott Bloomquist, 4. Dale McDowell, 5. Johnny Pursley, 6. Ricky Elliott, 7. Eddie Carrier Jr., 8. Jacob Hawkins, 9. Bob Gordon, 10. Kevin Scott, 11. Brian Ledbetter, 12. Doug Drown
Heat No. 6 (10 laps - Top 3 Transfer): 1. Dan Schlieper, 2. Darrell Lanigan, 3. Chris Brown, 4. Will Vaught, 5. Shannon Babb, 6. Chris Madden, 7. Jeff Rine, 8. John Lobb, 9. Jill George, 10. Phillip Pittman, 11. Jon Gunther, 12. Brian Nuttal Jr.
B-Main No. 1 (10 laps - Top 2 Transfer): 1. Jared Landers, 2. Jeep VanWormer, 3. Russell King, 4. Shane Clanton, 5. Jason Feger, 6. Jason Montgomery, 7. Ken Schrader, 8. Tim Allen, 9. John Henderson, 10. Eric Jacobsen, 11. Billy Decker, 12. Chad Hollenbeck, 13. Kerry King, 14. James O'Hara, 15. Chuck Smith, 16. Ricky Thornton, 17. Jay Sessoms (DNS) Earl Pearson Jr., Eric Wells, Mike Marlar
B-Main No. 2 (10 laps - Top 2 Transfer): 1. Gregg Satterlee, 2. Austin Hubbard, 3. Jared Hawkins, 4. Tim Dohm, 5. Tyler Reddick, 6. Ricky Weeks, 7. Dennis Franklin, 8. Justin Labonte, 9. April Farmer, 10. Tommy Kerr, 11. Chris Ferguson, 12. Larry Wight, 13. Mark Byram, 14. Kyle Pierce, 15. Ron Davies, 16. Brad Neat (DNS) Chuck Harper
B-Main No. 3 (10 laps - Top 2 Transfer): 1. Dale McDowell, 2. Johnny Pursley, 3. Chris Madden, 4. Ricky Elliott, 5. Eddie Carrier Jr., 6. Jacob Hawkins, 7. Jeff Rine, 8. John Lobb, 9. Jill George, 10. Jon Gunther, 11. Doug Drown, 12. Brian Nuttal Jr., 13. Kevin Scott, 14. Bob Gordon, 15. Shannon Babb, 16. Will Vaught, 17. Brian Ledbetter (DNS) Phillip Pittman
2010 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings as of Nov. 6 (afternoon) - 43 A-Mains completed (rank/driver/points/deficit to leader):
1. Josh Richards 5766
2. Darrell Lanigan 5760 (-6)
3. Tim McCreadie 5650 (-116)
4. Steve Francis 5550 (-216)
5. Rick Eckert 5452 (-314)
6. Shane Clanton 5406 (-360)
7. Austin Hubbard 5342 (-424)
8. Tim Fuller 5266 (-500)
9. Clint Smith 5198 (-568)
10. Chub Frank 5196 (-570)
11. Russell King 4794 (-972)
12. Jill George 3518 (-2248)
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