Davenport Captures First East Bay Winternationals Win

Jonathan Davenport waves to the crowd from victory lane after winning Wednesday night’s Winternationals Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series feature at East Bay Raceway Park. Photo: EBRP Media

Jonathan Davenport returned to Lucas Oil Victory Lane on Wednesday night at East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa, FL during the 40th Annual East Bay Winternationals.

The Blairsville, GA speedster led 34 of the 35 laps, but had to withstand a late race challenge from both Tim McCreadie and Don O’Neal to get his first career win at East Bay.

McCreadie was going for the lead and the win heading to the checkers, but he hooked the cushion and ended up headlong into the wall. McCreadie was uninjured but his night was ended. On the final restart with one lap to go, O’Neal fell just short after trying to mount a final charge.

O’Neal finished in second, followed by Josh Richards, who saw his Lucas Oil win streak come to an end. Darrell Lanigan was fourth and Brandon Sheppard came home in fifth after starting in 18th.

Davenport was pleased with finally getting to victory lane at “The Clay by the Bay.”

“We have tried a bunch of times to win here,” he said. “This is a brand new car. We brought it out last night, and made some adjustments today. This place is just one of those that I have never been able to figure out. I learned a lot by following Marlar for the first lap and then lapped traffic.

“The car actually died once in turn three. I thought I had killed our chances for the win. It got to the point that it was getting hard to turn the car when we were up top on the track. Overall it was a good run. I could hear someone’s motor there at the end. I didn’t know who it was, but it turned out to be Timmy and I knew he was going to give a Hail Mary there on the last lap.”

O’Neal started tenth and came into the race looking for his 17th career win at East Bay. He was pleased with his second place finish.

“We are going in the right direction now,” he said. “Hopefully we can start up closer to the front tomorrow night. I am glad my teammate (Lanigan) had a good run as well. We went with same set-up for both cars and it paid off. It was a pretty wild race. Whoever got the breaks on the restart was going to get to the front.

“It was slick tonight, and it didn’t rubber up like last night. It wasn’t nearly as tough on tires as last night. We really want to win badly. We did well in Arizona back in January and hopefully we can get some wins before we are done here this week.”

Richards was looking to win for the third straight night at East Bay, but he salvaged a third-place finish.

“It was old East Bay tonight,” Richards said. “It was kind of ‘rough and tumble’. I think everyone has damage on their car. It was a very competitive race. We got off to a good start, but in the middle of race we got all jumbled up and it cost us. All-in-all we have had a super good week.”

Completing the top ten were Eddie Carrier, Jr., Steve Francis, Billy Moyer, Jr., Scott Bloomquist and Bobby Pierce.

In preliminary action, Mike Marlar set the overall fast time (Group A) amongst the 40 entrants, with a lap of 14.730 seconds. Davenport set the fastest time in Group B with a time of 14.789 seconds. Marlar, Richards, Davenport and Brian Shirley won their respective heat races. Devin Moran and Tim Dohm won their respective B-Mains.

For more information on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, visit LucasDirt.com.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
East Bay Raceway Park – Tampa, FL
East Bay Winternationals – Feb. 10, 2016

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Race Statistics
Entrants: 40
Lap Leaders: Mike Marlar (Lap 1); Jonathan Davenport (Laps 2 – 35)
Cautions: Tim Dohm (Lap 15); Brian Shirley (Lap 17); Jared Landers, Bobby Pierce (Lap 20); Debris (Lap 32); Tim McCreadie (Lap 34)
Fastest Lap of the Race: Jonathan Davenport (Lap #6 – 15.980 seconds)
Most Laps Led: Jonathan Davenport (34 Laps)
Time of Race: 26 minutes 37 seconds