By Brian Liskai
ATTICA, Ohio – Blairsville, Georgia’s Jonathan Davenport put recent misfortunes aside and drove to his ninth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win Friday at Attica Raceway Park.Davenport, the defending Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Champion, used lapped traffic to wrestle the lead away from defending Attica track champion Doug Drown on lap 14 and scored the $10,000 win on Morgan Stanley Night to open the Attica Ambush weekend.
It was the first ever win at Attica for the driver known as “Superman.”
Dennis Erb Jr. charged from his 12 starting spot to finish second, Drown, who has seven wins on the year at Attica, had the huge crowd on its feet, storming into the lead at the drop of the green from his fourth starting spot. He led the first 13 circuits and finished third. New track record holder Darrell Lanigan was fourth and Jimmy Owens, who won the first time the series raced at Attica three years ago, finished fifth.
Davenport, who is currently second in the series’ point standings and had not finished the last three Lucas Oil events, was relieved to be back in victory lane.
“I about forgot what this feels like. This is awesome. This win goes to Kevin (Rumley) and my guys, Jerome and Heath…they have worked their tails off the last two weeks. Everybody knows we haven’t been running good. We ain’t dead and we are not done yet. We are just going to keep on working and trying to find stuff to get that little bit of an edge,” said Davenport, thanking his sponsors, Troy Baird of Baird Transport, Elite Concrete, Mega Plumbing of the Carolinas, the Labontes, who were back at the shop building a new car for the World 100, and Lee Roy Rumley who is at the shop building a new engine.
Davenport praised third place finisher and early leader Drown for his run.
“I don’t know if I could have ever gotten by him without that lapped traffic. He went a little softer (tire) than I did. Me and him are good buddies and we talked before the race about tires and what we were going to do. He pulled a fast one on me. He told me he was going to go with one thing and he went with something else. That’s what you have to do,” jokedDavenport. “He was actually telling me about a line he runs here sometimes and I seen him do it a couple of times when I was behind him and I couldn’t get around the top so good. So once he got behind me I knew where he was going to be so I tried to do the same thing to him and it worked out for us.”
Erb in the Vomac Truck Sales/J.R. McBride Leasing/Black Diamond Chassis was happy with his performance with his second place run.
“It was a good run. We started pretty far back and the race track came to me. We kept plugging away and ended up second. The car was working very well on the bottom,” Erb said.
Drown had the car that nearly pulled off the upset.
“I felt like if I was going to keep up with these guys I better go softer on the tires. The way the moisture was coming back through the track…I thought I would be a little bit smarter than those guys….I wasn’t It was cool as hell to get the lead like we did. I’m very happy. We wanted a top five tonight and we accomplished that. To race with these guys…you have a World 100 winner and a Dream winner sitting up here. To be in that mix…I’m very happy,” said the driver of the Halls Auto Sales; Malcuit Racing Engines; Nationwide Vehicle Protection; Wooster Glass; Kar Konnections machine
In the O’Reilly Auto Parts 410 sprints, recently crowned track champion Byron Reed would grab the lead at the white flag just before a red flag, and held on the final one lap shoot out to score his fourth win of the year at Attica. It was the 35th career win at the track for the eight time champion. And, it pads his point lead in the $10,000-to-win Kistler Racing Products FAST Championship Series presented by KS Sales and Service with just one point night left, that at Fremont Speedway in a couple of weeks.
“The slower you enter on the bottom, the better you come off. It was good racing…good guys to race with. It’s tough to be the leader in lapped traffic (Craig Mintz) and I was able to go where they weren’t,” said Reed beside his Crown Battery, Ken Gill Construction backed machine.
In the 50 lap late model feature, Drown bolted from his fourth starting spot to take the lead on the very first lap much to the approval of the large crowd on hand for the event. The first few laps of the feature were married with cautions and even a red. After a red for a Timothy Culp flip on the third lap, the race laps would begin to tick away with Drown blasting away on the cushion to pull away.
Drown raced into heavy lapped traffic by the 10th circuit and that allowed Davenport and Darrell Lanigan to close. Davenport would use the lapped cars to drive under Drown into the lead on lap 14. Drown would stay close for a while and even had a shot at Davenport when the caution flew on lap 20. But, when the green flew again so did Davenport as he began pulling away. With 15 laps to go Davenport held a commanding lead over Drown, Lanigan, Jimmy Owens, Don O’Neal, and Erb. With 10 laps to go all eyes were on Erb who had charged into third. Drown and Erb waged a terrific battle over the next five laps before Erb took the runner-up position with five to go.
Davenport drove to the win over Erb, Drown, Lannigan, Owens, O’Neal, 23rd starting Brandon Sheppard, Earl Pearson Jr., Attica track champion, Matt Irey and Devin Moran.
The sprint feature got off to a rough start with a multi-car crash involving Shawn Valenti, Duane Zablocki, Brandon Spithaler, Dan McCarron and Stuart Brubaker on the opening lap. Former Attica track champion Dean Jacobs would lead the first six laps though Broc Martin challenged continuously. Martin would take the lead when Jacobs bobbled on the cushion in turn two on lap seven. That also allowed Parker Price-Miller to race into second.
With 12 laps scored it was a tremendous three car battle for the lead with Martin, Price-Miller and Craig Mintz. Reed would join the fracas by lap 15. Mintz drove into the lead on lap 16 with Martin and Reed challenging. The four car battle up front got very interesting as they raced into heavy lapped traffic by lap 17. That allowed Travis Philo to close. A caution would halt the tremendous action on lap 20 with Mintz leading Reed, Price-Miller, Philo and Tim Shaffer.
Back to green and Mintz was holding off Reed with Philo blasting into third, bringing Shaffer to fourth. Following a caution on lap 23, Mintz would find his groove and pulled away slightly as Reed was left to try and fend off Philo with Shaffer, Price-Miller and D.J. Foos giving chase.
With four laps to go, Mintz was racing through lapped traffic, making a fantastic move to split two in the middle of turns three and four. That allowed Reed, who found the extreme bottom groove to his liking, to close quickly. Coming to the white flag Reed rocketed off the bottom to take the lead over Mintz and Philo just as the red flew for a small engine fire on Spithaler’s machine. For the one-lap sprint to the checkers the running order was Reed, Mintz, Philo, Shaffer, Price-Miller, Foos, Randy Hanagan and Jacobs.
Reed got an excellent restart and drove to the win over Mintz, Philo, Shaffer and Price-Miller.
The 2016 season wraps up at Attica Raceway Park on Saturday, Sept. 3 with the first ever Dirt Classic Ohio paying $10,000 to the winner and featuring the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions Sprints with the Attica late models and 305 sprints in competition.
For more information go to www.atticaracewaypark.com
Attica Raceway Park
Morgan Stanley Night
Friday, Sept. 2, 2016
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Miller Welders Fast Time Group A: Jonathan Davenport / 14.209 seconds
Miller Welders Fast Time Group B: Darrell Lanigan / 14.187 seconds ***NEW TRACK RECORD***
Eibach Springs Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Jonathan Davenport, Don O’Neal, Steve Francis, Dave Hornikel, Craig Vosbergen, Mike Bores, Paul Stubber
FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Devin Moran, Jon Henry, Kyle Hardy, Casey Noonan, Scott Smith, Mathew Chapman, Matt Irey
Simpson Performance Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Darrell Lanigan, Jimmy Owens, Tim McCreadie, Ryan Markham, Timothy Culp, Cody Scott, Devin Shiels-DNS
QA1 Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Doug Drown, Earl Pearson, Jr., Dennis Erb, Jr., Scott Bloomquist, Brad Malcuit, Colton Flinner, Brandon Sheppard
Fast Shafts B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 6 Transfer): Craig Vosbergen, Mike Bores, Matt Irey, Timothy Culp, Brad Malcuit, Mathew Chapman, Scott Smith, Colton Flinner, Paul Stubber-DNS, Cody Scott-DNS, Devin Shiels-DNS, Brandon Sheppard-DNS
Feature Finish (50 Laps):
| FINISH | START | CAR # | DRIVER NAME | HOMETOWN | EARNINGS |
| 1 | 1 | 6 | Jonathan Davenport | Mount Airy, NC | $11,000 |
| 2 | 12 | 28E | Dennis Erb, Jr. | Carpentersville, IL | $6,200 |
| 3 | 4 | 240 | Doug Drown | Wooster, OH | $3,500 |
| 4 | 2 | 15L | Darrell Lanigan | Union, KY | $3,550 |
| 5 | 6 | 20 | Jimmy Owens | Newport, TN | $3,050 |
| 6 | 5 | 5 | Don O’Neal | Martinsville, IN | $2,600 |
| 7 | 23 | B5 | Brandon Sheppard | New Berlin, IL | $2,200 |
| 8 | 8 | 1 | Earl Pearson, Jr. | Jacksonville, FL | $2,100 |
| 9 | 19 | 36 | Matt Irey | Mansfield, OH | $1,200 |
| 10 | 3 | 99m | Devin Moran | Dresden, OH | $1,100 |
| 11 | 18 | 15b | Mike Bores | Bellevue, OH | $1,075 |
| 12 | 14 | 5m | Ryan Markham | Ashland, OH | $1,050 |
| 13 | 9 | 15F | Steve Francis | Bowling Green, KY | $1,725 |
| 14 | 15 | 1N | Casey Noonan | Sylvania, OH | $1,000 |
| 15 | 17 | 8 | Craig Vosbergen | Perth, W. Australia | $950 |
| 16 | 24 | 75 | Colton Flinner | Allison Park, PA | $1,025 |
| 17 | 16 | 0 | Scott Bloomquist | Mooresburg, TN | $1,800 |
| 18 | 11 | 21* | Kyle Hardy | Stephens City, VA | $875 |
| 19 | 10 | 39 | Tim McCreadie | Watertown, NY | $1,550 |
| 20 | 21 | 79 | Brad Malcuit | Strasburg, OH | $825 |
| 21 | 22 | 0 | Mathew Chapman | Tecumseh, MI | $800 |
| 22 | 13 | 71 | Dave Hornikel | Mansfield, OH | $800 |
| 23 | 20 | C8 | Timothy Culp | Prattsville, AR | $800 |
| 24 | 7 | 15H | Jon Henry | Ada, OH | $800 |
Hard Charger: B5-Brandon Sheppard +16
410 Sprints – O’Reilly Auto Parts
Starting Position – [*]
Qualifying
1.2-Parker Price-Miller, 12.344; 2.09-Craig Mintz, 12.492; 3.49-Tim Shaffer, 12.528; 4.5R-Byron Reed, 12.559; 5.33M-Max Stambaugh, 12.691; 6.38-Dean Jacobs, 12.724; 7.83M-Broc Martin, 12.730; 8.97-Gary Taylor, 12.741; 9.5T-Travis Philo, 12.749; 10.9X-Cole Duncan, 12.780; 11.68G-Tyler Gunn, 12.790; 12.11N-Randy Hannagan, 12.871; 13.23-DJ Foos, 12.877; 14.5J-Jarrod DeLong, 12.906; 15.16-Stuart Brubaker, 12.915; 16.60-Jody Keegan, 12.924; 17.22M-Dan McCarron, 13.156; 18.19-Brandon Spithaler, 13.170; 19.9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.199; 20.45L-Brian Lay, 13.216; 21.8J-Jess Stiger, 13.242; 22.7-Shawn Valenti, 13.313; 23.9-Jordan Ryan, 13.463; 24.33K-Kyle Patrick, 13.535; 25.73-Chris Andrews, 14.303; 26.6-Sean Hosey, 99.990;
Heat 1, Group A – (8 Laps, top 6 to A)
- 38-Dean Jacobs[1] ; 2. 49-Tim Shaffer[3] ; 3. 5R-Byron Reed[2] ; 4. 2-Parker Price-Miller[4] ; 5. 97-Gary Taylor[5] ; 6. 68G-Tyler Gunn[7] ; 7. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[8] ; 8. 8J-Jess Stiger[9] ; 9. 9X-Cole Duncan[6]
Heat 2, Group B – (8 Laps, top 6 to A)
- 83M-Broc Martin[2] ; 2. 09-Craig Mintz[4] ; 3. 23-DJ Foos[5] ; 4. 11N-Randy Hannagan[1] ; 5. 33M-Max Stambaugh[3] ; 6. 9-Jordan Ryan[8] ; 7. 60-Jody Keegan[7] ; 8. 5J-Jarrod DeLong[6] ; 9. 73-Chris Andrews[9]
Heat 3, Group C – (8 Laps, top 6 to A)
- 16-Stuart Brubaker[3] ; 2. 19-Brandon Spithaler[1] ; 3. 5T-Travis Philo[4] ; 4. 22M-Dan McCarron[2] ; 5. 33K-Kyle Patrick[7] ; 6. 45L-Brian Lay[5] ; 7. 7-Shawn Valenti[6] ; 8. 6-Sean Hosey[8]
B-Main 1 – (12 Laps, top 6 to A)
- 60-Jody Keegan[2] ; 2. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[1] ; 3. 73-Chris Andrews[8] ; 4. 7-Shawn Valenti[3] ; 5. 9X-Cole Duncan[7] ; 6. 5J-Jarrod DeLong[5] ; 7. 8J-Jess Stiger[4]
A-Main 1 – (35 Laps)
- 5R-Byron Reed[10] ; 2. 09-Craig Mintz[3] ; 3. 5T-Travis Philo[6] ; 4. 49-Tim Shaffer[8] ; 5. 2-Parker Price-Miller[4] ; 6. 23-DJ Foos[5] ; 7. 11N-Randy Hannagan[12] ; 8. 38-Dean Jacobs[1] ; 9. 33M-Max Stambaugh[15] ; 10. 73-Chris Andrews[21] ; 11. 97-Gary Taylor[11] ; 12. 45L-Brian Lay[18] ; 13. 83M-Broc Martin[2] ; 14. 16-Stuart Brubaker[9] ; 15. 33K-Kyle Patrick[16] ; 16. 60-Jody Keegan[19] ; 17. 9-Jordan Ryan[17] ; 18. 68G-Tyler Gunn[14] ; 19. 22M-Dan McCarron[13] ; 20. 5J-Jarrod DeLong[24] ; 21. 19-Brandon Spithaler[7] ; 22. 9X-Cole Duncan[23] ; 23. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[20] ; 24. 7-Shawn Valenti[22]
Hard Charger: 73-Chris Andrews +11