TAMPA, Fla. - Jonathan Davenport passed Josh Richards on lap 47 and then held him off for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win on Friday night at East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa, Florida.
The Blairsville, Georgia driver picked up his 29th career series win and his fourth ever at East Bay. Davenport started sixth in the field, and never ran outside the top three during the 50-lap main event.
Richards stayed glued to the bottom of the track for most of the latter half of the race as Davenport swept to the outside of the 1/3-mile oval. Davenport dove down low for a few laps but eventually came back to the top soon enough so that he was able to get around Richards.
“It’s going to be a hard battle all year long on this series,” said Davenport, who was congratulated by Richards in victory lane after the race. “I knew I was going to be in tire conservation mode the entire race. He (Richards) ran down on the bottom for most of the race. There was some traction from the middle to the top that I noticed during the caution flag. My car just wouldn’t handle on the bottom. I thought I was hurting my tires for most of the race, but fortunately they held up.
“I told myself I needed to man up out there and go to the top. The car went real good coming into and off the corners and then I got that run on him near the end and took the lead. Man, I am out of breath. I hoped the fans enjoyed that one. I got a feeling its is going to be like this all year.”
Gregg Satterlee came home in third, followed by Billy Moyer, Jr. in fourth, and Mason Zeigler in fifth.
Brandon Sheppard, Jimmy Owens, Brandon Overton, Don O’Neal, and Earl Pearson, Jr. rounded out the top ten.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
East Bay Raceway Park – Tampa, FL
East Bay Winternationals – February 9, 2018
| FINISH | START | CAR # | DRIVER NAME | HOMETOWN | EARNINGS |
| 1 | 6 | 49 | Jonathan Davenport | Blairsville, GA | $10,000 |
| 2 | 2 | 1R | Josh Richards | Shinnston, WV | $5,600 |
| 3 | 10 | 22 | Gregg Satterlee | Indiana, PA | $3,500 |
| 4 | 1 | 21JR | Billy Moyer, Jr. | Batesville, AR | $2,750 |
| 5 | 14 | 25Z | Mason Zeigler | Chalk Hill, PA | $2,250 |
| 6 | 21 | 1s | Brandon Sheppard | New Berlin, IL | $1,800 |
| 7 | 23 | 20 | Jimmy Owens | Newport, TN | $1,500 |
| 8 | 20 | 116 | Brandon Overton | Evans, GA | $1,300 |
| 9 | 18 | 5 | Don O’Neal | Martinsville, IN | $1,200 |
| 10 | 3 | 1 | Earl Pearson, Jr. | Jacksonville, FL | $1,100 |
| 11 | 5 | 32 | Bobby Pierce | Oakwood, IL | $1,075 |
| 12 | 11 | 39 | Tim McCreadie | Watertown, NY | $1,050 |
| 13 | 7 | 9 | Devin Moran | Dresden, OH | $1,025 |
| 14 | 9 | 91 | Tyler Erb | New Waverly, TX | $1,000 |
| 15 | 24 | 71 | Hudson O’Neal | Martinsville, IN | $950 |
| 16 | 16 | 0 | Scott Bloomquist | Mooresburg, TN | $925 |
| 17 | 8 | 28 | Dennis Erb, Jr. | Carpentersville, IL | $900 |
| 18 | 19 | 1* | Chub Frank | Bear Lake, PA | $875 |
| 19 | 15 | 99B | Boom Briggs | Bear Lake, PA | $850 |
| 20 | 4 | 40B | Kyle Bronson | Brandon, FL | $825 |
| 21 | 13 | 2M | Allen Murray | San Antonio, TX | $800 |
| 22 | 26 | 18J | Chase Junghans | Manhattan, KS | $800 |
| 23 | 22 | 12J | Jason Jameson | Lawrenceburg, IN | $800 |
| 24 | 17 | d8 | Dustin Mitchell | Selma, NC | $800 |
| 25 | 12 | 14 | Darrell Lanigan | Union, KY | $800 |
| 26 | 25 | 66c | Matt Cosner | Ridgeley, WV | $800 |
http://accesswdun.com/article/2018/2/635513/davenport-bests-richards-for-friday-east-bay-victory