Davenport Edges Bloomquist in a Photo Finish

GREENWOOD, NEBR. (July 19, 2018) – In one of the closest finishes in series history, Jonathan Davenport edged out Scott Bloomquist by just 15 milliseconds to win his seventh Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event of the season on Thursday night at I-80 Speedway.

Davenport took the lead from Bloomquist on lap 37 and stayed in front, with Bloomquist lurking closer and closer as the laps wound down. Davenport held off the final surge by Bloomquist at the line to win the Malvern Bank Go 50, and the five thousand $2 Dollar Bills that comes with the victory. Trailing Davenport and Bloomquist at the finish line were Brandon Sheppard, Chris Simpson, and Darrell Lanigan.

“Man, what a race! Scott had the best car tonight. I thought while me or Brandon were leading that [Bloomquist] was far gone. Before that caution came out my right rear started vibrating real bad. I was hoping that Brandon would pick the bottom and that meant I would be up top. I was just going to drive it up around that cushion. Sometimes you don’t have the best car, but we were able to get it done.”

“I could hear him under me on that final lap. I had a little issue in turn two and I had to get it straightened back out going into three. I have already given one away and I didn’t want to again. I just tried to ease into there a little more than I wanted to, and I got to far off of that corner. He has a pretty good car right now and for me to beat him really says a lot about my crew and how hard they have worked to get us back here [in Victory Lane].”

Bloomquist entered the event with two Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series wins in his last three starts. He congratulated Davenport in Victory Lane. “We were just lacking a little bit. We tried to move up and then we started to run him back down. Then on that last lap we went down low and almost got him at the finish.”

“We didn’t really need that caution. The car was so good before that. He [Davenport] fired off really good and again we made a run back at him. I thought we had him there for a moment.”

Sheppard led the first 16 laps of the race but came home in third. “We were good up top for a while and then I went down low a few times and then back up. We had a pretty good rhythm going. To get third against these guys is great, they are really tough to beat. We put it in the right position for a while, but we will come back to tomorrow and see what we can do to get a good-starting spot for Saturday night.”

The winner’s Lance Landers Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is sponsored by: Crop Production Services, Spartan Mowers, Valvoline, ASC Warranty, Penske Shocks, Mega Plumbing of the Carolinas, Midwest Sheet Metal, Sunoco Race Fuels, and Hawkeye Trucks.

Completing the top ten were Hudson O’Neal, Jimmy Owens, Gregg Satterlee, Josh Richards, and Don O’Neal.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Malvern Bank Go 50
I-80 Speedway – Greenwood, Nebr.

Miller Welders Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Scott Bloomquist / 17.402 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Josh Richards / 17.433 seconds

Eibach Springs Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Brandon Sheppard, Scott Bloomquist, Shane Clanton, Chris Simpson, Earl Pearson, Jr., Kent Robinson, Chase Junghans, Darrell Lanigan, Justin Duty, Junior Coover, Justin Zeitner

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Kyle Bronson, Ricky Weiss, Dennis Erb, Jr., Jimmy Mars, Don O’Neal, Billy Moyer, Gregg Satterlee, Tim McCreadie, Chris Spieker, Robbie Andersen, Jeremy Grady-DNS

Simpson Performance Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Jimmy Owens, Mason Zeigler, Andrew Kosiski, Bobby Pierce, Allan Hopp, Al Humphrey, Jake Neal, Josh Richards, Jared Landers, Terry Phillips, Matt Buller

QA1 Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Jonathan Davenport, Hudson O’Neal, Chad Simpson, Ben Schaller, Shannon Babb, JC Wyman, Scott Ward, Tad Pospisil, Dave Eckrich, Charlie McKenna

Penske Racing Shocks B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): Don O’Neal, Gregg Satterlee, Billy Moyer, Earl Pearson, Jr., Chase Junghans, Darrell Lanigan, Tim McCreadie, Kent Robinson, Justin Duty, Chris Spieker, Robbie Andersen, Justin Zeitner, Junior Coover, Jeremy Grady

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): Josh Richards, Shannon Babb, Jared Landers, Tad Pospisil, Scott Ward, Jake Neal, Allan Hopp, Al Humphrey, Charlie McKenna, Terry Phillips, JC Wyman, Dave Eckrich, Matt Buller-DNS

Lucas Oil Feature Finish (50 Laps):

Race Statistics
Entrants: 43
Lap Leaders: Brandon Sheppard (Laps 1 – 16); Scott Bloomquist (Laps 17 – 33); Jonathan Davenport (Laps 34 – 35); Scott Bloomquist (Lap 36); Jonathan Davenport (Laps 37 – 50)
Wrisco Feature Winner: Jonathan Davenport
Margin of Victory: 0.015 seconds
Cautions: Earl Pearson Jr. (Lap 4); Jared Landers (Lap 6); Tim McCreadie (Lap 33)
Series Provisionals: Earl Pearson Jr, Tim McCreadie
Series Emergency Provisionals: Darrell Lanigan
Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Darrel Lanigan (Advanced 11 Positions)
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Jonathan Davenport
Allstar Performance Power Move of the Race: Darrell Lanigan
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Jonathan Davenport
Hot Rod Processing Rookie of the Race: Kyle Bronson
COMP Cams Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing Engines
Ohlins Shocks Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn Chassis
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Jason Durham (Jonathan Davenport)
Fastest Lap of the Race: Scott Bloomquist (Lap #27 – 17.9199 seconds)
STEEL-IT Most Laps Led: Scott Bloomquist (18 Laps)
Dirty Girl Racewear Farthest Traveler: Kyle Bronson
PFC Brakes Pole Award: Brandon Sheppard
Time of Race: 25 minutes 47 seconds