Jonathan Davenport takes Atomic Buckeye Spring 50 win

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - Jonathan Davenport successfully defended his Buckeye Spring 50 at Atomic Speedway in Chillicothe, Ohio on Friday night.

Davenport, from Blairsville, Ga., withstood an early race battle with Brian Shirley to take his fifth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season, in front of a packed house.

Davenport and Shirley battled for the first 18 laps of the 50 lap race until Davenport pulled ahead. Shirley then held off Jimmy Owens to finish second. Owens came home third, followed by Mike Marlar, and Darrell Lanigan.

“We had a great car tonight. We had some trouble in traffic, but overall we did well tonight. I can’t thank Kevin and Lee Roy Rumley enough for this opportunity to drive their car. Brian (Shirley) and I had a really good race for a long time. I threw that slider on him on the opening lap, but I give him credit, he fought back and got the lead back.

“We haven’t raced since Speedweeks last month, so it feels good to be back behind the wheel of this car. Brian and I were running side-by-side there when we got up to traffic. I knew that I needed to get by him before traffic got too heavy. This is a new motor Lee Roy had in the car and I can’t say enough about how well it ran.”

Shirley kept a slight advantage over Davenport until lap 18 when Davenport forged ahead for good. Shirley tried to stay with Davenport through heavy lap traffic for the rest of the caution-free main event.

Shirley could not get close enough to challenge Davenport in the final ten laps as he was being pressured by Owens for third.

“We are really happy to run second against these guys,” Shirley said. “Davenport is the best in the business right now. He slid by me on that first lap, but I came right back and got back around him. Not too many people in the last couple of years can say they’ve passed him lately.”

Driving with a new team this season, Owens, in the R&W Racing machine was extremely happy with his third place finish.

“When we won that heat race it was like winning the World 100,” he said. “The guys at R&W Racing have really stepped up. We had nothing right before we went to Georgia and Florida. We just announced this partnership before the new year.”

Completing the top ten were Dustin Linville, Jeep Van Wormer, Duane Chamberlain, Scott Bloomquist and Devin Moran.

In preliminary action, Jared Landers set the overall Miller Welders Fast Time (Group A) among the 50 entrants, with a lap of 13.786 seconds. Mike Marlar set the fastest time in Group B with a time of 14.040 seconds. Brian Shirley, Jimmy Owens, Darrell Lanigan, Mike Marlar, Jared Landers and Devin Moran won their respective heat races. Nick Latham and Jackie Boggs won their respective B-Mains.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Atomic Speedway – Chillicothe, OH
Buckeye Spring 50 – March 18, 2016

Race Statistics
Entrants: 50
Lap Leaders: Brian Shirley (Laps 1 – 17); Jonathan Davenport (Laps 18 – 50)
Cautions: None
Fastest Lap of the Race: Jonathan Davenport (Lap #3 – 15.8612 seconds)
Most Laps Led: Jonathan Davenport (33 Laps)
Time of Race: 13 minutes 40 seconds