BROWNSTOWN, Ind. (Sept. 23) — Barnburner is the only term fit to describe Sunday’s 39th annual Jackson 100 at Brownstown Speedway.

Charging from the 19th starting spot, Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., regained the lead from sixth-starting Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., on lap 99, edging ahead of the former race winner at the checkered flag to earn a $20,000 payday in his third Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory of the season.

“Of all the places to win a big race at this year, I didn’t think it’d come here,” Pierce said in victory lane. “The focus it takes to run here … it’s so slick here. Even if (Davenport) won, I think I’d still be pretty pumped. That was so fun. He ran a heck of a race and so did (Tim McCreadie). We all raced each other clean.

“It’s a lot of feelings right now. It’s been a long year. Getting these wins, we’ve been so close so many times. To finally get it … this is our third win of the year but our first big one. We’ve been so close.”

Rolling around the inside groove, Pierce worked his way through the field, overtaking Davenport for the first time on lap 73. Falling back to second just four laps later, Pierce fought back challenges from third-running Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., to stay within striking distance of race leader. As the frontrunners worked their way through late-race lapped traffic, Pierce closed in on Davenport, pulling ahead on the final lap to score his first career Jackson 100 victory.

“I’ve got to give most of the credit for this race to my dad and (crewman) Danny (Myers) making a call,” Pierce said. “I didn’t think it’d work but it did. … I didn’t think we’d be able to stick with them. But the long runs, I was almost better. So it worked out.”

Davenport finished a narrow runner-up, with McCreadie notching a third-place finish after leading laps 18-59. Rallying from the 21st starting spot, Knoxville Nationals winner Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., ran fourth, with Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., advancing from the 14th starting position to round out the top five.

“They always say things come back around,” Davenport said. “(Pierce) gave me $53,000 back earlier this year. He did a hell of a job. I didn’t give it to him. I knew I was in trouble on that last take-off because I went down the front straightaway and I just didn’t feel any grip in my rear tire. I think I let them cool off a little too much. But from where we started the weekend … we started seventh in our heat, so we came to the front. Hats off to my crew. They’ve been working hard.”

It was outside polesitter Mason Zeigler of Chalk Hill, Pa., charging to the front of the field at the drop of the green flag, relinquishing his lead to fourth-starting McCreadie on lap 18 as the pair worked their way through lapped traffic. McCreadie maintained his lead at the halfway mark but a strong of late-race cautions eventually slowed his momentum.

Using a lap-59 restart to his advantage, Davenport rolled around the outside in turns one and two, shooting ahead down the backstretch to assume the point on lap 60. Fighting back challenges from Pierce, Davenport lost the lead to the the Dunn-Benson Motorsports pilot briefly on laps 73-76, powering back to the front of the field on lap 77. But as the pair raced door-to-door in the final laps, it was Pierce nosing ahead at the checkers.

“What a Sunday race,” Davenport said. “McCreadie might have won it if he hadn’t tried to block (Pierce) on that one restart. We got the run around the outside. But I don’t know. Pierce was awful good. They’ve had a lot of bad luck this year, so it was definitely their time.”

McCreadie admitted that his move to the bottom groove opened the door for Davenport and Pierce to get around him. But after a couple of off weeks, he was pleased with a solid Sunday performance.

“It was a lot of fun,” McCreadie said. “I should have probably stayed where I was at. You see 30 laps and somebody pointing you down, pointing you down every lap, it screws with your mind a little bit. I doubt I could have held either of them off but I probably should have stayed where I was at instead of trying to get in the infield.

“But congrats to Bobby and Jonathan. We’re happy to be competitive. It’s hard. We’re doing it harder than anybody that travels in the pit area. At least we’re up here having fun.”

Notes: Pierce scored his third Lucas Oil Series victory of 2018, his first the tour stop at Macon (Ill.) Speedway on April 28. … Mason Zeigler led the first 17 laps before retiring his smoking car to the pits under a mid-race caution. … Tim McCreadie led laps 18-59; Jonathan Davenport led laps 60-72 and 77-98; Pierce led 73-76 and 99-100. … The race was slowed by eight cautions. … The first yellow flag waved on lap 21 when Dennis Erb Jr. slipped off the track in turn four. A second caution fell on the following circuit for debris on the racetrack. … Jason Jameson slid over the berm in turns one and two to draw a caution on lap 43. … A yellow flag flew on lap 52 when Devin Gilpin spun in turns three and four. … Josh Richards stopped in turn four to draw a lap-59 caution. … A yellow flag waved on lap 65 when Scott Bloomquist slowed off the pace. … Don O’Neal spun in turn two to draw a caution on lap 70. … The final yellow flag flew on lap 81 when Gregg Satterlee spun in turns three and four. … O’Neal was the winner of Friday’s $2,000-to-win Bowman 50 for Crate Late Models.

Preliminary reports:

Jackson 100 lineup

Row 1: Josh Richards, Mason Zeigler
Row 2: Ricky Thornton Jr., Tim McCreadie
Row 3: Jason Jameson, Jonathan Davenport
Row 4: Kyle Bronson, Don O’Neal
Row 5: Duane Chamberlain, Scott James
Row 6: Nick Hoffman, Colten Burdette
Row 7: Frank Heckenast Jr., Darrell Lanigan
Row 8: Scott Bloomquist, Kent Robinson
Row 9: Victor Lee, Earl Pearson Jr.
Row 10: Bobby Pierce, Dennis Erb Jr.
Row 11: Jimmy Owens, Michael Chilton
Row 12: Gregg Satterlee, Devin Gilpin
Row 13: Alan Magner

Consolation results

First consolation finish (top three transfer): Victor Lee, Bobby Pierce, Jimmy Owens, Chad Stapleton, Devin Gilpin, Jeff Roth, Joe Godsey, Kody Evans, Karlie Holt, Brayton Laster, Jared Bailey, Zak Blackwood.

Second consolation finish (top three transfer): Earl Pearson Jr., Dennis Erb Jr., Michael Chilton, Eddie Carrier Jr., Adam Bowman, Gregg Satterlee, Steve Godsey, Zach McMillan, Alan Magner.

Post-heat notes

Greg Johnson of Bedford, Ind., has scratched from the remainder of the afternoon’s program after rolling his car in turns three and four in the fourth heat race. … Adam Bowman of Seymour, Ind., suffered front suspension problems in his heat race, shooting off the track and coming to a stop outside the turn three berm. … Zak Blackwood of Columbus, Ind., was running in a transfer spot in his heat race when he spun in turns three and four, spewing water after overheating. … Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., and Colton Burdette of Parkersburg, W.Va., are among drivers making their first-ever Jackson 100 start. Thornton is filling in for the injured Hudson O'Neal of Martinsville, Ind., who is pit reporting for DirtonDirt.com's live pay-per-view broadcast. ... Burdette was the winner of last Saturday's $5,000-to-win Gibby's King Championship at Ohio Valley Speedway in Lubeck, W.Va. … Among former Jackson 100 winners transferring to Sunday's feature through heat races are Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., Don O'Neal of Martinsville, Ind., Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., and Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga.

Consolation lineups

(12 laps; top three transfer)
First consolation
Row 1: Bobby Pierce, Chad Stapleton
Row 2: Jimmy Owens, Victor Lee
Row 3: Devin Gilpin, Jared Bailey
Row 4: Kody Evans, Joe Godsey
Row 5: Karlie Holt, Jeff Roth
Row 6: Zak Blackwood, Brayton Laster
Second consolation
Row 1: Dennis Erb Jr., Earl Pearson Jr.
Row 2: Alan Magner, Zach McMillan
Row 3: Gregg Satterlee, Michael Chilton
Row 4: Eddie Carrier Jr., Greg Johnson
Row 5: Steve Godsey, Adam Bowman
Row 6: Steve Casebolt, Brad Barrow

Heat race results

First heat finish (top four transfer): Josh Richards, Jason Jameson, Duane Chamberlain, Frank Heckenast Jr.., Bobby Pierce, Jimmy Owens, Devin Gilpin, Kody Evans, Karlie Holt, Zak Blackwood.


Second heat finish (top four transfer): Ricky Thornton Jr., Kyle Bronson, Nick Hoffman, Scott Bloomquist, Chad Stapleton, Victor Lee, Jared Bailey, Joe Godsey, Jeff Roth, Brayton Laster.


Third heat finish (top four transfer): Mason Zeigler, Jonathan Davenport, Scott James, Darrell Lanigan, Dennis Erb Jr., Alan Magner, Gregg Satterlee, Eddie Carrier Jr., Steve Godsey, Steve Casebolt.

Fourth heat finish (top four transfer): Tim McCreadie, Don O’Neal, Colton Burdette, Kent Robinson, Earl Pearson Jr., Zach McMillan, Michael Chilton, Greg Johnson, Adam Bowman, Brad Barrow.

Sunday’s heat lineups

(10 laps; top four transfer)
First heat
Row 1: Jason Jameson, Josh Richards
Row 2: Frank Heckenast Jr., Devin Gilpin
Row 3: Duane Chamberlain, Bobby Pierce
Row 4: Zak Blackwood, Jimmy Owens
Row 5: Kody Evans, Karlie Holt
Second heat
Row 1: Ricky Thornton Jr., Nick Hoffman
Row 2: Kyle Bronson, Jared Bailey
Row 3: Chad Stapleton, Victor Lee
Row 4: Scott Bloomquist, Joe Godsey
Row 5: Jeff Roth, Brayton Laster
Third heat
Row 1: Mason Zeigler, Scott James
Row 2: Gregg Satterlee, Dennis Erb Jr.
Row 3: Eddie Carrier Jr., Darrell Lanigan
Row 4: Jonathan Davenport, Steve Godsey
Row 5: Alan Magner, Steve Casebolt
Fourth heat
Row 1: Kent Robinson, Don O’Neal
Row 2: Earl Pearson Jr., Tim McCreadie
Row 3: Michael Chilton, Colten Burdette
Row 4: Greg Johnson, Adam Bowman
Row 5: Brad Barrow, Zach McMillan

Friday's time trials

Driver (car no.), hometown, time
Group A
Jason Jameson (16), Lawrenceburg, Ind., 13.538
Ricky Thornton Jr. (20rt), Chandler, Ariz., 13.563
Josh Richards (1), Shinnston, W.Va., 13.587
Nick Hoffman (2), Mooresville, N.C., 13.678
Frank Heckenast Jr. (99jr), Frankfort, Ill., 13.791
Kyle Bronson (40B), Brandon, Fla., 13.816
Devin Gilpin (1G), Columbus, Ind., 13.859
Jared Bailey (24), Bedford, Ind., 13.872
Duane Chamberlain (20c), Richmond, Ind., 13.885
Chad Stapleton (32), Edinburgh, Ind., 13.895
Bobby Pierce (32), Oakwood, Ill., 13.921
Victor Lee (1X), Danville, Ky., 14.017
Zak Blackwood (93), Columbus, Ind., 14.032
Scott Bloomquist (0), Mooresburg, Tenn., 14.192
Jimmy Owens (20), Newport, Tenn., 14.268
Joe Godsey (14G), Bedford, Ind., 14.385
Kody Evans (4G), Camden, Ohio, 14.491
Jeff Roth (14R), Bentonville, Ark., 14.850
Karlie Holt (H9), Shoals, Ind., 15.200
Brayton Laster (13), Greenwood, Ind., 16.527
Group B
Mason Zeigler (25z), Chalk Hill, Pa., 14.115
Kent Robinson (7R), Bloomington, Ind., 14.220
Scott James (15), Bright, Ind., 14.291
Don O’Neal (5), Martinsville, Ind., 14.302
Gregg Satterlee (22), Indiana, Pa., 14.370
Earl Pearson Jr. (1), Jacksonville, Fla., 14.374
Dennis Erb Jr. (28), Carpentersville, Ill., 14.378
Tim McCreadie (39), Watertown, N.Y., 14.413
Eddie Carrier Jr. (10), Salt Rock, W.Va., 14.440
Michael Chilton (97), Salvisa, Ky., 14.539
Darrell Lanigan (14), Union, Ky., 14.572
Colten Burdette (44B), Parkersburg, W.Va., 14.639
Jonathan Davenport (49), Blairsville, Ga., 14.665
Greg Johnson (88), Bedford, Ind., 14.793
Steve Godsey (14S), Bedford, Ind., 14.807
Adam Bowman (77), Seymour, Ind., 14.810
Alan Magner (17m), North Vernon, Ind., 14.913
Brad Barrow (80), Bloomington, Ind., 15.017
Steve Casebolt (C9), Richmond, Ind., 15.046
Zach McMillan (14), Gladewater, Texas, 15.418