There was a five-car battle for second place going on at Boone Speedway Monday night, but Jonathan Davenport had no idea.
The Eldora Million winner that has captured numerous big-money races in recent months took home another trophy at the Hawkeye 50, leading 48 laps and banking $20,000 to his already stuffed pocket.
“I knew we had the potential (to be this succesful),” Davenport said. “The way this thing works, you can have the fastest car and have bad racing luck. Like tonight, everything just worked out in our favor. We started out on top, got by Devin (Moran) on the inside, then we got by Marlar because he was on the inside. Then Bruening almost spun out and that gave us the lead.”
The win was the latest in this string of W’s and victor’s checks that Davenport is piling up, but it came with a car that hasn’t seen the track in nearly a month.
Davenport took out what he calls his superspeedway car for Boone to see how well it would run ahead of this weekend’s Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury American Legion Speedway.
“Yeah, this car is really good,” Davenport said after the race. “We haven’t run this car since Belleville (High Bank Nationals RaceXR event). Previous to that, it was at West Virginia Motor (Speedway, with the Lucas Dirt tour). It’s pretty much a superspeedway car. We just wanted to break it out tonight, because we’re thinking of running it at Fairbury (for the Prairie Dirt Classic – a World of Outlaws Late Model event – this week). We just wanted to see how it worked out because it has a lot bigger motor in it.”
Davenport credits his team owner, Lance Landers, as well as Longhorn Chassis – as the national late model scene is riddled in a chassis war as things stand at the moment.
With guys like Davenport and Marlar, who both finished on the podium tonight, running Longhorn’s, it goes a long way. It goes further with the consistency they’ve had.
“That just goes out to having a great owner like Lance Landers is,” Davenport said. “(He’s) given me the tools to work with. He’s given me the right goes to work on the tools with. Longhorn (Chassis) builds great cars – we don’t just have one favorite. I just have one I keep for Eldora and then the others are probably just about as good.”
Some drivers liked the surface of the track for the most part, but Boone still has a way to go.
It doesn’t host super late models regularly, and that was evident to Bobby Pierce, who drove into a top 5 finish late in the race.
“The bottom came in there good, the middle was kind of there, the top was never there – once again,” Pierce said. “That’s my opinion. The bottom was good… It’s frustrating when there’s not a cushion. They pack down the lip that was there, what do they expect? This isn’t IMCA modifieds. It’s late models – super late models. You need something to get ahold of them.”
Shane Clanton echoed Pierce’s thoughts, after he and teammate Tyler Bruening each recorded top 10 finishes in what was a constructive night for the Capital Race Cars pairing.
“We just wanted to win, starting on the pole, but this is a World 100 field here,” Clanton said. “When they bring a $20K after we just left the $50K, to come back before another big race… we did pretty good. I wish the top had a little bit bigger of a cushion, just so we could keep up just a little bit. It needs a little different track prep.”
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series returns to the track Friday for the first of a two-night event that is the Prairie Dirt Classic. Catch all of the action live on DirtVision.
World of Outlaws Late Model Series results
Hawkeye 50
Boone Speedway
Mon. July 25, 2022
1. Jonathan Davenport
2. Dennis Erb Jr.
3. Mike Marlar
4. Tyler Bruening
5. Bobby Pierce
6. Devin Moran
7. Tanner English
8. Ryan Gustin
9. Shane Clanton
10. Max Blair
11. Jimmy Owens
12. Brent Larson
13. Josh Richards
14. Gordy Gundaker
15. Brian Shirley
16. Ricky Thornton Jr.
17. Trevor Gundaker
18. Daniel Hilsabeck
19. Kyle Bronson
20. Jason Feger
21. Boom Briggs
22. Frank Heckenast Jr.
23. Kyle Strickler
