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Ebert finishes just outside the top 10 in 12th, while Davenport delivers for the LM win at Ocala

From Series Reports

OCALA, FL (February 5) - Jonathan Davenport secured his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory of the season on Wednesday at Ocala Speedway. The Blairsville, Georgia native earned $7,000 for his 84th career series win.

Last year’s Rookie of the Year, Drake Troutman, started in ninth place and traded positions with defending series champion Ricky Thornton Jr. for second in the final two laps, securing the runner-up spot at the finish line. Thornton finished third, while Tim McCreadie and Brandon Overton rounded out the top five drivers.

Davenport started from the pole position and took the lead as soon as the green flag dropped. In the first five laps, there were two caution flags while Overton maintained second place behind the three-time series champion. The final 24 laps ran without caution as Thornton, driving a brand-new car, moved into second place, passing Overton on lap 18.

With heavy traffic in front of the leader, Thornton was able to close the gap between himself and Davenport with 10 laps to go. Meanwhile, Troutman had reached third by using the top line around the track, moving Troutman to third on lap 21.

As Davenport navigated through traffic, the battle for second place was heating up between Thornton and Troutman. The two swapped second a couple of times in the last two laps, with Troutman managing to edge out Thornton at the finish.

In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the first time this season, Davenport also became the first driver in six races this year to lead every lap in the main event, winning for the fourth time in his career at Ocala.

“The pace is so slow in turn four, and you feel like you're crawling around the bottom. You feel like you're spinning your wheels going around the top. We really didn’t know what to do. I saw Brandon (Overton) starting to run the top down here (in three and four) and start passing some cars. I got around a couple of lapped cars, and I kind of died a little bit because the outside of turn one is wider. I don’t know we still have a little bit of work to do. Man, we have been really consistent. I am just proud of my guys they have done a good job for me.”

Daulton Wilson, Hudson O’Neal, Ross Robinson, Mark Whitener, and Max Blair completed the top 10.

For those on hand from the WISSOTA region, results were improved for two drivers from earlier during Speedweeks. Lake Shore, Minnesota’s Dan Ebert was 12th in the feature, while Renner, South Dakota’s Blair Nothdurft was 15th.

Wisconsin’s Chad Mahder and Montana’s Michael Leach did not qualify through their B feature.

SUMMARY

Lucas Oil Late Models:

LOLMDS A-Main (30 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 22*-Drake Troutman[9]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 4. 9-Tim McCreadie[5]; 5. 76-Brandon Overton[3]; 6. 18D-Daulton Wilson[8]; 7. 71-Hudson O'Neal[10]; 8. 7-Ross Robinson[7]; 9. 5-Mark Whitener[13]; 10. 111-Max Blair[11]; 11. 1T-Tyler Erb[16]; 12. 60-Dan Ebert[14]; 13. 40B-Kyle Bronson[24]; 14. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[12]; 15. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[17]; 16. 1-Brandon Sheppard[6]; 17. 17SS-Brenden Smith[19]; 18. 58-Garrett Alberson[23]; 19. 8-Dillon McCowan[21]; 20. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 21. 93L-Cory Lawler[22]; 22. 93-Carson Ferguson[20]; 23. 81J-Jack Riggs[15]; 24. 15K-Wil Herrington[18]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 9-Tim McCreadie[3]; 3. 22*-Drake Troutman[2]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[9]; 5. 1T-Tyler Erb[5]; 6. 15K-Wil Herrington[4]; 7. C4-Freddie Carpenter[7]; 8. 43-Derrick Stewart[6]; 9. 79-Donald McIntosh[8]; 10. 57-Matt Tifft[10]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 7-Ross Robinson[3]; 3. 71-Hudson O'Neal[5]; 4. 60-Dan Ebert[4]; 5. 81-Jason Riggs[8]; 6. 20-Jimmy Owens[6]; 7. 93-Carson Ferguson[2]; 8. 93L-Cory Lawler[7]; 9. 17Z-Seth Zacharias[9]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[3]; 4. 5-Mark Whitener[4]; 5. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[6]; 6. 17SS-Brenden Smith[5]; 7. 28B-Carson Brown[7]; 8. 6-Clay Harris[8]; 9. 19M-Spencer Hughes[9]; 10. 55C-Chad Mahder[10]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson[3]; 3. 111-Max Blair[4]; 4. 81J-Jack Riggs[7]; 5. 8-Dillon McCowan[5]; 6. 40B-Kyle Bronson[6]; 7. 58-Garrett Alberson[2]; 8. 09-Michael Leach[9]; 9. 99B-Boom Briggs[8]; 10. 24-Tyler Wyant[10]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 1T-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 15K-Wil Herrington[3]; 3. 93-Carson Ferguson[6]; 4. 93L-Cory Lawler[8]; 5. C4-Freddie Carpenter[5]; 6. 17Z-Seth Zacharias[10]; 7. 81-Jason Riggs[2]; 8. 20-Jimmy Owens[4]; 9. (DNS) 43-Derrick Stewart; 10. (DNS) 79-Donald McIntosh; 11. (DNS) 57-Matt Tifft

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[1]; 2. 17SS-Brenden Smith[3]; 3. 8-Dillon McCowan[2]; 4. 58-Garrett Alberson[6]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 6. 28B-Carson Brown[5]; 7. 6-Clay Harris[7]; 8. 09-Michael Leach[8]; 9. 24-Tyler Wyant[12]; 10. 55C-Chad Mahder[11]; 11. 19M-Spencer Hughes[9]; 12. (DNS) 99B-Boom Briggs