WORLD 100 FRIDAY: Davenport Banks Eldora Win No. 21, O’Neal Goes Back-to-Back
Bobby Pierce charges from 12th to finish third, Clanton runs fifth in Group B Feature
ROSSBURG, OH (Sept. 6, 2024) — The second night of preliminary action in the 54th edition of the World 100 featured a 21st career Eldora Speedway Feature win for Jonathan Davenport and a second-straight Twin 25 Feature win for defending event winner Hudson O’Neal.
Davenport, the five-time World 100 globe trophy winner from Blairsville, GA, drove his DIRTcar Late Model from ninth on the starting grid and took the lead on Lap 21 to win the Group A Twin 25 main event. O’Neal, who also won his Feature on Thursday night, made it back-to-back wins at the historic half-mile oval by leading every lap of the Group B Twin 25.
High-points driver Tim McCreadie — the 2018 World 100 winner from Watertown, NY — finished fourth in the Group A Feature, earning him the high-points driver honors. As the top event points getter over the two-day stretch, McCreadie earned the right to spin the inversion wheel to determine the invert for Saturday’s Heat Races, which landed on a ‘3.’ This means the top-three starters in each Heat Race will be inverted, giving McCreadie an inside Row 2 starting spot in Heat 1.
Group A Feature
Starting ninth on the grid following a third-place run in the third Shootout Race, Jonathan Davenport was not going to let the lack of a top starting spot slow his pursuit of victory.
The Georgia racer worked his way through the top-10, and by the halfway point, trailed only leader Devin Moran. As Moran entered lapped traffic, Davenport was able to reel him in. With the slower cars working in his favor, Davenport threw a slide-job on Moran in Turns 1-2 to take the lead, and then used the caution flag the following lap to get in clean air and drive away with his 21st career Feature win of any kind at Eldora.
Behind Davenport and Moran was multi-time DIRTcar Late Model national points champion, Bobby Pierce. The 27-year-old World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series champion from Oakwood, IL, started 12th on the grid and by the halfway point had reached the top-five.
When a caution flag forced another restart on Lap 21, Pierce advanced from fourth into a battle with Moran for the runner-up spot. After trading slide-jobs back-and-forth multiple times, Moran made the final pass on Pierce on Lap 24 to seal his place in second while Pierce settled for third.
Though the 2016 World 100 winner was shut out of Victory Lane for the second-straight night, Pierce gained valuable points with his runner-up effort Thursday and third-place finish Friday, which will set him up front in a Heat Race on Saturday.
“We got a good spot for tomorrow; that’s what it’s all about with these prelim nights is getting you a good (spot) hopefully,” Pierce said. “[Tim McCreadie] spun the three, so we start third in our heat, which is great. We’ll go tomorrow and try to pick out which setup we wanna go with for the Feature and see if any of us can beat [Davenport].”
Pierce — a five-time DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion — knows the great endurance test the 100-lap races are at Eldora and has learned how valuable a good start to the finale is on Saturday, which transfers the top-three finishers from the Heats to the main event.
“I really want to have a good Heat Race, because if you can start in the first couple rows in the 100-lapper, it makes things way easier,” Pierce said. “Because [burning] your stuff up to get [to the front] is bad. So, if you’ve got to start mid-pack or back, that’s what you don’t want to happen here. Track position is so key.”
Fellow World of Outlaws championship contender Nick Hoffman, of Mooresville, NC, was running in the top-10 when, during the Lap 11 caution, he was forced to come to pit road to change a flat tire after reportedly running over an object on the track. He restarted at the tail of the field but was able to drive back to 20th place before the checkered.
Feature | Group A (25 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[9]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[12]; 4. 1-Tim McCreadie[7]; 5. 30-Ryan Gustin[1]; 6. 93-Carson Ferguson[3]; 7. 14H-Wil Herrington[11]; 8. 8S-Brian Shirley[4]; 9. 57-Zack Mitchell[17]; 10. 87-Ross Bailes[5]; 11. 10S-Garrett Smith[6]; 12. 96-Tanner English[8]; 13. 8-Kyle Strickler[25]; 14. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[26]; 15. 79-Donald McIntosh[24]; 16. 7-Ricky Weiss[14]; 17. 25F-Jason Feger[15]; 18. 114-Jordan Koehler[16]; 19. 7B-Jeff Babcock[19]; 20. 9-Nick Hoffman[13]; 21. 18-Shannon Babb[23]; 22. 2S-Stormy Scott[10]; 23. 6H-Clay Harris[21]; 24. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[22]; 25. 28C-Tyler Carpenter[20]; 26. 44-Chris Madden[18]