Jonathan Davenport and Dennis Erb Jr., won the two A-Main feature races on the second night of Eldora Speedway’s Dirt Late Model Dream XXI presented by Ferris Commercial Mowers. Davenport won the first 25-lap DIRTcar-sanctioned race, while Erb Jr., captured the second event at the historic half-mile oval.
It was the second night in a row that Georgia’s Davenport won an A-Main and the $5,000-to-win race put him as the favorite for Saturday night’s $100,000 to win the 100-lap Dream.
“This thing was excellent,” Davenport said. “It’s a pleasure to drive. It’s actually kind of easy to drive. I think 90 percent of these guys could win in this thing.”
His race was not without incident as at the halfway point Wendall Wallace and Jared Landers, both of Arkansas, made contact on the backstretch and Davenport clipped them as he drove by.
“I was kind of worried after we got in that wreck,” Davenport said. “It bent my hood up a bit and I couldn’t turn quite as good. I had to back my corner up a bit more.”
It didn’t seem to matter as he won by 2.620 seconds. Steve Casebolt, from Richmond, Indiana, led the first seven laps, but Davenport when low in turn one and took the lead as the two hit the backstretch. Casebolt finished second, while Michigan’s Jeep VanWormer was third. Jimmy Mars and Chad Simpson rounded out the top five.
Scott Bloomquist, who won the first A-Main Friday night had an issue with his right front suspension and had to pit late in the race under caution. He finished 17th.
In the second A-Main, Illinois veteran Erb Jr., started fourth, but moved up quickly and passed early leader Tim McCreadie of New York with 12 laps to go.
“This car has been working pretty good,” Erb Jr., said. “I think we made the right choice on tires and hopefully we can keep working on it a little more and be good here tomorrow night.”
McCreadie finished 4.656 seconds behind him while pole sitter Jason Feger finished third. Don O’Neal was fourth while 2014 Dream winner Dale McDowell finished fifth.
After the races were complete, Eldora officials brought up Davenport to play the Eldora version of plinko. He had one chip to play with and he could have hit three, four, five or six for the heat race inversion Saturday night. He was quite happy that he hit the low number of three.
On Saturday night, there will be six heat races of 15 laps in distance. Pre-invert lineups established by average finish from preliminary nights in staggered order with ties broken by
1) Best finish from Thursday or Friday races
2) Fastest qualifying time
3) Postmark of entry blank
The inversion will be three cars, meaning the driver with the top average finishes of each heat will start will start third.
Cars finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the heat races advance to the Dirt Late Model Dream presented by Ferris Mowers. Those drivers finishing fourth through 11th advance to a B-Feature, in order of finishing position.
Heats one, two and three will determine the first B-Feature and heats four, five and six will determine the second B-Feature. There will be two B-Features of 20 laps in distance. Cars finishing first through fourth will advance to the Dirt Late Model Dream presented by Ferris Commercial Mowers. The remaining cars may choose to restart in their current running order for a B-Scramble of five laps in distance.
The two fastest qualifiers not advancing through the Heat Races will start 19th and 20th in the Dirt Late Model Dream presented by Ferris Commercial Mowers (if they finished in a B-Feature qualifying position, they will be removed and the finish of that Heat Race adjusted accordingly).
The 21st annual Dirt Late Model Dream Weekend Presented Ferris Commercial Mowers concludes Saturday night with Dream heat races, B-Mains and the 100-lap, $100,000-to-win main event. Fans can obtain tickets information for the Dirt Late Model Dream by going online to www.EldoraSpeedway.com or contacting the Eldora offices at 937-338-3815.
Fans who can’t make it to Eldora in person this weekend can still watch all the action live by purchasing the live Pay-Per-View video broadcast of all three nights of action that is available at http://live.eldoraspeedway.com
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