Davenport Edges Bloomquist In Photo Finish In Lucas Oil LM Dirt Series Event At I-80

Story By: JAMES ESSEX / LUCAS OIL LATE MODEL DIRT SERIES – GREENWOOD, NE – 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):

FINISH	START	CAR #	DRIVER NAME	HOMETOWN	EARNINGS
1	4	49	Jonathan Davenport	Blairsville, GA	$10,100
2	5	0	Scott Bloomquist	Mooresburg, TN	$5,600
3	1	1S	Brandon Sheppard	New Berlin, IL	$3,500
4	13	32S	Chris Simpson	Oxford, IA	$2,750
6	8	71	Hudson O’Neal	Martinsville, IN	$2,250
5	25	14	Darrell Lanigan	Union, KY	$1,100
7	2	20	Jimmy Owens	Newport, TN	$1,500
8	19	22	Gregg Satterlee	Indiana, PA	$1,300
9	18	1R	Josh Richards	Shinnston, WV	$1,200
10	17	5	Don O’Neal	Martinsville, IN	$1,100
11	9	25x	Shane Clanton	Zebulon, GA	$1,075
12	3	40B	Kyle Bronson ®	Brandon, FL	$1,150
13	11	28	Dennis Erb, Jr.	Carpentersville, IL	$1,025
14	12	25	Chad Simpson	Mt. Vernon, IA	$1,000
15	24	39	Tim McCreadie	Watertown, NY	$950
16	23	1	Earl Pearson, Jr.	Jacksonville, FL	$925
17	15	28m	Jimmy Mars	Menomonie, WI	$900
18	16	98	Ben Schaller	Omaha, NE	$875
19	21	21	Billy Moyer	Batesville, AR	$850
20	7	7w	Ricky Weiss	Headingley, MB	$825
24	20	18	Shannon Babb	Mowequa, IL	$800
23	22	1777	Jared Landers	Batesville, AR	$800
21	10	53	Andrew Kosiski	Omaha, NE	$800
22	14	32	Bobby Pierce	Oakwood, IL	$800
25	6	25Z	Mason Zeigler ®	Chalk Hill, PA	$800