World of Outlaws regular Josh Richards was the winner of the two points races while defending Lucas Oil Series champion Jonathan Davenport won the non-points event, but it wasn't just that these two were battling it out up front in all three feature races that made the whole weekend seem to run all together. It also seemed like the same cast of characters were running up there with them all weekend as well.
Richards and Davenport earned front row starting spots in their heat races for all three programs, but so too did Jared Landers and Brian Shirley while four other drivers Brandon Sheppard, Eddie Carrier Jr., Mason Ziegler and Billy Moyer Jr. were on the front row of the heats during two of the three programs. Now this might not seem like an usual occurrence if the field was say thirty strong with series regulars and some local fill-ins, but when it is a Speed Weeks roster of more than forty of the best drivers out there then it becomes noteworthy. And oh yes, some of the names who did not earn a front row start in a heat race the entire weekend included Bloomquist, Owens, O'Neal, Lanigan and Francis.
The dominance of Richards and Davenport had the Dirt On Dirt experts contemplating whether that duo would sweep the entire Speed Weeks schedule. Perhaps a bit too early for that, but they definitely had the field covered on this first weekend.
Actually it was Brandon Sheppard in his new ride with the Best Performance Motorsports team that applied the pressure to Richards on Friday night but that was because Davenport was too busy recovering from a 360 degree spin after he clipped the inside berm in turn three while racing with Chris Madden. His charge back up to third at the finish was a signal that the new suspension rules implemented on the Lucas series for 2016 would have little or no effect on Davenport and reports were that his car was in tech until the wee hours of the morning making sure that it complied with those new rules.
Davenport outdragged the pole-sitter Richards and then went flag-to-flag to win Saturday's day race that, not surprisingly, turned into hug the bottom affair. Lapped traffic kept Brian Shirley and Richards within striking distance over the closing laps, but there would be no stopping Superman in this one.
Sunday's rubber match, no pun intended, was actually a pretty entertaining race despite the bright and sunny conditions as only a consi or two were run prior to the Late Model main event taking to the track. Davenport held the lead for much of the event, but when he drifted high in turn two while working traffic, Richards seized the opportunity and held on for the final 14 laps to score the victory. Davenport tried to make one last run at the leader in the final set of turns but spun sideways allowing Jared Landers to take the runner-up spot while Davenport recovered in time to finish third.
The LOLMDS website has not yet been updated with the point standings from this weekend's racing, but if it was you would find Richards at the top for now before he ventures back up to southern Georgia for the World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series opener at Screven this weekend. Davenport and Landers would be neck and neck for second while Eddie Carrier Jr. would likely rank fourth, a fantastic start for a driver who had a 2015 season that he would like to forget.
Series convert Tim McCreadie got off to a solid start finishing 7th and 6th in the two points-paying races so he would be right there with Carrier while Scott Bloomquist was uncharacteristically quiet running 11th and 4th on the weekend.
Clint Bowyer's team of Darrell Lanigan and Don O'Neal chose to sit out the Saturday afternoon race after running 8th and 20th respectively on Friday night and the combined results were about the same in Sunday's finale where they finished 10th and 17th. And Jimmy Owens' new team had a tough weekend with a 14th and a 21st.
The series now moves to East Bay tonight where they will do some non-points racing on the weeknights before upping the ante on the weekend.
In other Speed Weeks action from the weekend Nick Hoffman won three of the four Modified main events held at Golden Isles during the Super Bowl of Dirt Racing with Kyle Strickler taking the other win. Kraig Kinser was the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car feature winner at Bubba Raceway Park on Friday night with the rest of the weeken'd schedule there being rained out. In the companion Sunshine State Modified Tour at Bubba it was Tait Davenport scoring the win over Wisconsin's Kevin Adams while Minnesota's Johnny Broking finished fourth. And, since the final two events on that schedule were washed out I am assuming the the points are final with Adams taking the championship Trent Young and Tait Davenport. Kewanee's Ray Bollinger ranked fourth just ahead of Kenny Wallace and, despite skipping the races at Bubba, Iowa's Mike Van Genderen finished in ninth.
Christine has to use some of her vacation time this week so if I am successful at begging, I might just get that first race of 2016 in later this week. The updated Back Stretch National Dirt Late Model Points follow.
| The "Back Stretch" | ||||
| Dirt Late Model Points | Total | |||
| Pos. | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | . | Jonathan Davenport | Blairsville GA | 33 |
| 2 | . | Josh Richards | Shinnston WV | 16 |
| 3 | . | Jared Landers | Batesville AR | 11 |
| 4 | . | Darrell Lanigan | Union KY | 9 |
| 5 | . | Donald McIntosh | Dawsonville GA | 9 |
| 6 | . | Brandon Sheppard | New Berlin IL | 8 |
| 7 | . | Don O'Neal | Martinsville IN | 8 |
| 8 | . | Steve Francis | Ashland KY | 6 |
| 9 | . | Eddie Carrier Jr. | Salt Rock WV | 5 |
| 10 | . | Jason Papich | Santa Maria CA | 5 |
| 11 | . | Ricky Thornton Jr. | Chandler AZ | 5 |
| 12 | . | Scott Bloomquist | Mooresburg TN | 5 |
| 13 | . | David Brannon | Elora TN | 4 |
| 14 | . | Jason Hiett | Lincoln AL | 4 |
| 15 | . | Ryan Gustin | Marshalltown IA | 4 |
| 16 | . | Brian Shirley | Chatham IL | 3 |
| 17 | . | Jimmy Mars | Elk Mound WI | 3 |
| 18 | . | Ronny Lee Hollingsworth | Northport AL | 3 |
| 19 | . | Tim McCreadie | Watertown NY | 3 |
| 20 | . | Chris Madden | Gray Court SC | 2 |
| 21 | . | Chris Simpson | Marion IA | 2 |
| 22 | . | Dale McDowell | Chickamauga GA | 2 |
| 23 | . | Dennis Erb Jr. | Carpentersville IL | 2 |
| 24 | . | Ray Cook | Brasstown NC | 2 |
| 25 | . | Rhett Carter | Blackshear GA | 2 |
| 26 | . | Shane Clanton | Locust Grove GA | 2 |
| 27 | . | Billy Moyer | Batesville AR | 1 |
| 28 | . | Donny Schatz | Fargo ND | 1 |
| 29 | . | Garrett Alberson | Las Cruces NM | 1 |
| 30 | . | Kyle Van Sickle | Jacksonville FL | 1 |
| 31 | . | Tim Busha | Boaz AL | 1 |
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