2-27 Page 16

Owens returns to victory lane Thursday at East Bay in dominating performance

From DirtOnDirt.com Staff Reports

GIBSONTON, FL (Feb. 8) – Jimmy Owens of Newport, TN, wrestled the early lead away from Garrett Smith and led 30 of 40 laps to claim Thursday's fourth round of the 48th annual Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park, his first win at the third-mile oval since 2013. Owens edged Jonathan Davenport by 0.314 seconds for the $10,000 payday.

Owens took control from the pole-starting Smith with 13 laps to go to position himself for his first full-field Lucas Oil Series win since March 20 at Atomic Speedway in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Runner-up Jonathan Davenport mounted a momentous run to the outside of Owens in the closing laps, sizing up the would-be move for the lead until Boom Briggs's machine slowed right in front of the lead battle to bring out the yellow. He settled for second ahead of Garrett Alberson, Ricky Thornton, Jr., and Hudson O’Neal in the top five.

Blair Nothdurft, of South Dakota, was 26th in the feature.

SUMMARY

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series:

Feature (40 Laps): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[2]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[6]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[5]; 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[11]; 5. 1-Hudson O'Neal[14]; 6. B5-Brandon Sheppard[13]; 7. 157-Mike Marlar[19]; 8. 99-Devin Moran[8]; 9. 10-Garrett Smith[1]; 10. 39-Tim McCreadie[15]; 11. 6-Clay Harris[4]; 12. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[17]; 13. 3S-Brian Shirley[26]; 14. 1T-Tyler Erb[20]; 15. 7-Ross Robinson[25]; 16. 18D-Daulton Wilson[21]; 17. 99B-Boom Briggs[24]; 18. 7T-Drake Troutman[27]; 19. 111-Max Blair[22]; 20. 93-Cory Lawler[29]; 21. 14X-Wil Herrington[7]; 22. 96V-Tanner English[23]; 23. 19M-Spencer Hughes[12]; 24. 40B-Kyle Bronson[16]; 25. 4G-Bob Gardner[30]; 26. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[10]; 27. 174-Ethan Dotson[28]; 28. 71C-RJ Conley[9]; 29. 5-Mark Whitener[3]; 30. 33X-Brandon Overton[18]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Garrett Smith[1]; 2. 14X-Wil Herrington[4]; 3. B5-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar[6]; 5. 111-Max Blair[7]; 6. 174-Ethan Dotson[10]; 7. 20B-Todd Brennan[8]; 8. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[13]; 9. 3-Brennon Willard[11]; 10. 12-Ashton Winger[5]; 11. 6JR-Parker Martin[2]; 12. 21-Kenny Howell[12]; 13. (DNS) 15-Blake McClain

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Mark Whitener[1]; 2. 71C-RJ Conley[5]; 3. 39-Tim McCreadie[7]; 4. 1Z-Logan Zarin[2]; 5. 4G-Bob Gardner[10]; 6. 82B-Jason Milam[11]; 7. 81L-Jake Little[12]; 8. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[4]; 9. 15K-Jensen Ford[3]; 10. 81-Jason Riggs[6]; 11. 29-Larry Grube[8]; 12. 32-Jason Jack[9]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 58-Garrett Alberson[3]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 3. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[4]; 4. 1T-Tyler Erb[1]; 5. 7T-Drake Troutman[5]; 6. 6T-Tim Dohm[8]; 7. 31-Tyler Millwood[10]; 8. 27-Michael Lake[9]; 9. 51-Dean Carpenter[12]; 10. 33-Jeff Mathews[11]; 11. 81J-Jack Riggs[6]; 12. 69-Brandon Thirlby[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[2]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[3]; 3. 1-Hudson O'Neal[1]; 4. 96V-Tanner English[5]; 5. 66C-Matt Cosner[7]; 6. 6H-Ross Bailes[12]; 7. 30-Ryan Gustin[6]; 8. 11C-Trevor Collins[11]; 9. 12R-Ryan Payne[10]; 10. 75-Daniel Adam[8]; 11. S21-Seth Daniels[4]; 12. 21M-Tre Martin[13]; 13. 42-Terry Casey[9]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Clay Harris[2]; 2. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[1]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[6]; 4. 18-Chase Junghans[3]; 5. 3S-Brian Shirley[5]; 6. 99B-Boom Briggs[7]; 7. 7-Ross Robinson[4]; 8. 8-Dillon McCowan[12]; 9. 187-David McCoy[8]; 10. 25B-Mike Benedum[10]; 11. 93-Cory Lawler[9]; 12. 71R-Rod Conley[11]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 19M-Spencer Hughes[4]; 3. 33X-Brandon Overton[2]; 4. 18D-Daulton Wilson[3]; 5. 2*-Logan Hitt[7]; 6. 97-Cody Overton[9]; 7. 47W-Brandon Weigle[6]; 8. 9-Levi Yetter[5]; 9. 17SS-Brenden Smith[10]; 10. 00-Carson Ferguson[8]; 11. 4S-Danny Snyder[12]; 12. 48-Tim Lance[11]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 2. 111-Max Blair[3]; 3. 20B-Todd Brennan[7]; 4. 4G-Bob Gardner[4]; 5. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[10]; 6. 174-Ethan Dotson[5]; 7. 82B-Jason Milam[6]; 8. 3-Brennon Willard[11]; 9. 21-Kenny Howell[17]; 10. 32-Jason Jack[18]; 11. 81-Jason Riggs[14]; 12. 15K-Jensen Ford[12]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1T-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 96V-Tanner English[2]; 3. 7T-Drake Troutman[3]; 4. 66C-Matt Cosner[4]; 5. 6H-Ross Bailes[6]; 6. 6T-Tim Dohm[5]; 7. 30-Ryan Gustin[8]; 8. 31-Tyler Millwood[7]; 9. 27-Michael Lake[9]; 10. 51-Dean Carpenter[11]; 11. 11C-Trevor Collins[10]; 12. 75-Daniel Adam[13]; 13. 69-Brandon Thirlby[16]; 14. S21-Seth Daniels[15]; 15. 21M-Tre Martin[17];

B Feature 3 (10 Laps): 1. 18D-Daulton Wilson[2]; 2. 99B-Boom Briggs[5]; 3. 18-Chase Junghans[1]; 4. 7-Ross Robinson[7]; 5. 3S-Brian Shirley[3]; 6. 97-Cody Overton[6]; 7. 187-David McCoy[11]; 8. 8-Dillon McCowan[9]; 9. 17SS-Brenden Smith[12]; 10. 71R-Rod Conley[17]; 11. 47W-Brandon Weigle[8]; 12. 9-Levi Yetter[10]; 13. 93-Cory Lawler[15]; 14. 4S-Danny Snyder[16]; 15. 33-Jeff Mathews[19]; 16. 00-Carson Ferguson[14]; 17. 2*-Logan Hitt[4]; 18. 48-Tim Lance[18]