Jonathan Davenport picked up his third career CMH Diamond Nationals win on Saturday Night at Lucas Oil Speedway. The race was co-sanctioned with the Lucas Oil MLRA. Davenport held off late-race charges from both Josh Richards and Kyle Bronson to pick up his sixth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of 2021.
Davenport had just passed race leader Jimmy Owens coming of off turn two, moments before Owens got into the back of a slowing lapped car when he had nowhere to go. Third place driver, Shane Clanton also had nowhere to go in a chain reaction, got into Owens. Both Owens and Clanton had to pit due to damage, to return on the tail of the lineup.
Advancing 14 positions, Richards finished second with Bronson coming home in third. Stormy Scott and Earl Pearson Jr. completed the top five.
In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 56th time in his career, Davenport closed the gap on points leader Tim McCreadie, who finished 12th in the final rundown after being involved in a lap 42 caution.
“I kind of figured those guys were close to me, this place never did slow down at all. I was figuring it might get a little black streak or something, but it never did so you had to search around. It was getting a little choppy there past the halfway point, so I had to move around a little bit, from off the bottom. I was a little better through three and four but would come back and hug the bottom off of turn two. I don’t know what happened to Jimmy [Owens] there, he’s had the worst luck in the world this year.”
Richards was not only the Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the race, but he also turned the fastest lap in the 50-lap event. “Yeah, we will take it. We were just a little off, I didn’t get a very good qualifying lap in, and it put us behind all night long. We have been off, what seems like a month, with all of these rainouts. It’s good to be back in the seat. There was a lot of attrition there. Hudson [O’Neal] and I were racing hard into three and I was down low while he was stuck in the middle. I hate it for him.”
Bronson entered the race with two runner-up finishes in his last two series events and came home in third tonight. “I wanted to get my guys a win tonight. We were just riding around there at the beginning because I didn’t want to blister my tires. We were running well, running Jonathan [Davenport] down with about ten laps to go. That caution killed us.”
The winner’s Lance Landers Double L Motorsports Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and is sponsored by Nutrien Ag Solutions, ASC Warranty, Bilstein Shocks, VP Fuels, Lucas Oil Products, Midwest Sheet Metal, Fatheadz Eyewear, and Spartan Mowers.
Completing the top ten were Justin Duty, Jimmy Owens, Aaron Marrant, Shane Clanton, and Tyler Erb.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary 15th Annual CMH Diamond NationalsSaturday, July 17th, 2021Lucas Oil Speedway – Wheatland, MO
Allstar Performance Time TrialsFast Time Group A: Stormy Scott / 14.759 seconds Fast Time Group B: Jimmy Owens / 14.738 seconds (overall)
Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 2S-Stormy Scott[1]; 2. 91P-Jason Papich[2]; 3. 39-Tim McCreadie[3]; 4. 41-Jeremiah Hurst[4]; 5. 3S-Brian Shirley[6]; 6. 12C-Scott Crigler[5]; 7. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[7]; 8. 50-Kaeden Cornell[9]; 9. 36-Logan Martin[8]
Summit Racing Equipment Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 40B-Kyle Bronson[1]; 2. 25-Shane Clanton[2]; 3. 1X-Aaron Marrant[3]; 4. 25S-Chad Simpson[4]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]; 6. 1T-Tyler Erb[5]; 7. 00S-Jesse Stovall[7]; 8. L88-Larry Clawson[8]
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 2. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[2]; 3. 15D-Justin Duty[3]; 4. 11H-Spencer Hughes[4]; 5. 93-Mason Oberkramer[5]; 6. 14M-Reid Millard[6]; 7. 157-Mike Marlar[7]; 8. 45-Kylan Garner[9]; 9. 3W-Brennon Willard[8]
Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 2. 71-Hudson O’Neal[4]; 3. 22H-Daniel Hilsabeck[1]; 4. 14-Josh Richards[5]; 5. 59-Garrett Alberson[3]; 6. 22F-Chris Ferguson[6]; 7. 56-Jonathan Rowan[7]; 8. 96-Dalton Imhoff[8]
LINE-X B-Main #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]; 4. 00S-Jesse Stovall[6]; 5. 36-Logan Martin[9]; 6. 50-Kaeden Cornell[7]; 7. (DNF) 12C-Scott Crigler[3]; 8. (DNF) L88-Larry Clawson[8]; 9. (DNS) 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr
UNOH B-Main #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 59-Garrett Alberson[2]; 2. 93-Mason Oberkramer[1]; 3. 14M-Reid Millard[3]; 4. 56-Jonathan Rowan[6]; 5. 22F-Chris Ferguson[4]; 6. 3W-Brennon Willard[9]; 7. 96-Dalton Imhoff[8]; 8. 45-Kylan Garner[7]; 9. 157-Mike Marlar[5]
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series PR
