WHEATLAND, Mo. (April 13) — Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., lived up to his nickname of "Superman" once again on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway, completing a dominating weekend sweep of the 11th annual MLRA Spring Nationals Presented by Arizona Sport Shirts.
One night after leading all 40 laps to take home a $7,000 prize, Davenport paced all 60 circuits to once again outdistance Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., and take home the finale’s $20,000 check.
After winning five times at Lucas Oil Speedway in 2023, the 40-year-old star is two-for-two this season after beating Thornton by 4.23 seconds for his latest triumph in south-central Missouri.
“We got a good starting spot from qualifying,” said Davenport, who took the green flag from the outside pole. “My guys have been doing a great job. We were so good in that heat race we were afraid to change anything. We over-adjusted last night. We did finally make some changes there and I don’t know if they were the right ones, but we it sure made it easier to drive. I could maneuver very well. The car was really good."
Just as he did a night earlier, Davenport sprinted to the lead at the start from his front-row starting position. He opened a 3.1-second edge just six laps in over Mason Zeigler of Chalk Hill, Pa., with Thornton running third.
By lap 12 Davenport caught lapped traffic and that allowed Zeigler to shave a half-second off his lead. It didn’t take Davenport long to stretch his advantage back out to 4.07 seconds by lap 20 as Thornton moved into the runner-up spot.
The long green-flag run from the start continued and Davenport threatened to make it a complete runaway as his lead hit 4.8 seconds by lap 25. That’s when the first caution flag flew as Chris Simpson slowed on the track with a flat tire.
Davenport and needed just five laps to re-open a 1.5-second lead over Thornton with Garrett Alberson of Las Cruces, N.M., third and Zeigler fourth. His margin was 2.1 seconds when the race’s second caution appeared on lap 35 after Matt Johnson’s spin in turn four.
It took only three laps after the restart for the next caution, with the top four unchanged. However, Mike Marlar continued an impressive march, going from 21st and into the fifth by lap 38 when a five-car pileup in turn three brought out the red to clean up the debris.
When action resumed, it was more of the same with Davenport using the high groove to quickly open a two-second lead over Thornton by lap 43. Marlar continued to ascend using the extreme low line, passing Alberson for third on lap 46.
The race remained caution-free the rest of the way and that was all Davenport needed to weave his way through lapped traffic all the way to the checkers.
Thornton held off Alberson for second with Marlar slipping to fourth in the final laps after briefly climbing as high as second when he traded sliders with Thornton on lap 49. Zeigler settled for fifth and reigning MLRA champ Chad Simpson was sixth for the second straight night.
Davenport said he didn’t change his driving approach after the cautions wiped out his sizable leads, but he definitely kept an eye on the video board to see who was behind him.
“I got into a pretty good rhythm there and the biggest thing that won me the race was through lapped cars,” Davenport said. “I tried not to get complacent and get behind one. Even if it was the wrong line, I tried to keep my momentum up and try to pass them in the next corner.
“I knew those guys were right on me. Ricky’s been really good and Garrett was coming up through there.”
Thornton said he thought the final caution would provide him a chance to see how he matched up with Davenport after losing to him at the finish by just over a second on Friday night.
“The one yellow came out and I thought I could at least see how comparable I am to him and he just drove off,”Thornton said. “That’s why we’re here. We need to get better. We’ll keep working.”
“Hopefully when we come back here for the Show-Me (May 23-25) we can finish a little better in the heat race. That’s a big thing here."
