After the Checkers
Instant reaction, analysis as Davenport doubles up
By Kevin Kovac
DirtonDirt senior writer
Thursday's tight racing at Golden Isles. (heathlawsonphotos.com)
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (March 5) — Instant reaction and analysis from Thursday’s Wieland Winternationals Round 2 at Golden Isles Speedway, a $10,000-to-win Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event won by Jonathan Davenport (RaceWire):
LOOKING GOOD: This week’s Wieland Winternationals is just the second time I’ve attended an event at Golden Isles, but I’ve watched plenty of races from the track over the years. This week’s racing — especially Thursday — is the best I’ve personally ever seen the track produce. Jonathan Davenport's led all 70 laps of the two features, but the competition has been far from ho-hum. Hudson O’Neal, after charging from eighth to second in the opener but running out of time to catch J.D., traded sliders with Davenport for several mid-race circuits Thursday before three cautions over the final 18 laps of the 40-lapper dulled his best bid and forced him to settle for second. And most notably, Thursday’s restarts were downright outrageous. Watching from the infield, I had a great view of the motor-screaming pack barreling into the corners with unabashed abandon. “They’ve definitely done a good job,” Davenport said of the track prep, noting that warmer, early March weather rather than January’s typically chilly (and often rainy) condition is key. The track, he analyzed, isn’t bleeding moisture and becoming as “slimy” as in the past, which has made the heat races more competitive and allowed Davenport and Co. to “pretty much race all over the track.”
RIVALRY RENEWED?: Remember January’s Rio Grande Waste Services Wild West Shootout at Central Arizona Raceway when Davenport took exception to a heat-race tangle with Tyler Erb by parking his car at Erb’s trailer to await his return after the race? The pair had a bit of a run-in following a lap-seven restart in Thursday’s feature. When Erb ducked underneath Davenport through turns and four, it appeared he didn’t expect Davenport to cut towards the bottom of the track as much as he did in the fourth corner, prompting Erb to hit the brakes to avoid making significant contact with Davenport. Erb spun, but fortunately no one hit him and he was able to continue (he restarted at the rear and finished 13th). Worked on his car’s nosepiece afterward, the usually loquacious Texan declined to comment.
NOT QUITE: On lap 11, it appeared we might see Ricky Thornton Jr.’s return to his winning Speedweeks form. He dive-bombed through turns one and two, sailing his SSI Motorsports car deep into the corners in a bid to enter the top-five. It showed the confident, daring RTJ we’re used to seeing. Alas, while Thornton later said he was pleased with his machine and he climbed as high as second on lap 30 despite breaking a brakeline around lap 10, he ended up sixth after losing four spots on a lap-31 restart, when he said he failed to put his car in the right position. “It’s the mistakes I usually don’t make that I’ve made a lot this year,” he said.
PROVING HIMSELF: As good as Clay Harris performed during the first two weeks of the Lucas Oil Series campaign — three top-fives in seven events before Golden Isles — that success came at home-state tracks he knows well. The Floridian knew his ’26 improvement would ultimately be judged by his performances elsewhere. Thursday showed he might have staying power with 13th-to-fourth run, primarily in the low groove. Harris was a lap away from a podium result, losing third to Overton entering turn three on the final circuit.
MUSICAL CHAIRS: Fans had to check their scorecards with three racers piloting cars they didn’t the previous night. Billy Hicks registered his No. 79 for the evening with his driver listed as Donald McIntosh after splitting mid-event with Cory Hedgecock. McIntosh, last year’s Lucas Oil Series Rookie of the Year for Hicks, gladly accepted the opportunity to return to the seat because he’s been without a ride since leaving Coltman Farms Racing early in Speedweeks. Hedgecock, meanwhile, landed a ride for the remainder of the weekend with Maryland’s Bruce Kane, who was in the pits assisting Cody Overton. Overton, who drove Kane’s car the last two weeks but was back in his own No. 97 at Golden Isles, parked his car to sub for his Skyline Motorsports buddy Tyler Bruening, whose neck remained sore from a wreck last week at Ocala, Fla. I can’t recall a similarly active seat-swapping night at Speedweeks, but perhaps with this year’s meet stretching into March, it shouldn’t be a surprise driver-owner pairings begin to fray.
STAT OF THE NIGHT: The Lucas Oil Series praised Davenport for recording a record-tying victory — the 94th of his career on the national tour, moving him into a deadlock with the late Scott Bloomquist atop the circuit’s all-time winners’ list. But it should be pointed out that eight of Davenport’s triumphs have come in split-field semifeatures run as preliminaries to major events. The Lucas Oil Series counts those wins as official, unlike the World of Outlaws Late Model Series (and DirtonDirt’s historic records).
