JONATHAN DAVENPORT POCKETS $40,000 IN RUMBLE BY THE RIVER
PORT ROYAL, PA (August 24, 2024) – Jonathan Davenport grabbed the lead on the second lap and maintained it throughout, securing victory at the Rumble by the River presented by UNOH.edu on Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway. Davenport’s win netted him $50,000 out of the $150,000 feature purse in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned event.
Ricky Thornton Jr. finished second, with Max Blair, Devin Moran, and Tim McCreadie rounding out the top five.
Moran led the opening lap from his pole-stating spot, but Davenport made a move in turn two to take over the lead on the second circuit.
The first caution of the race flew on lap four when Friday night’s winner, Garrett Alberson, slowed on the track as his night would end on the hook.
On the restart, Davenport fought off Hudson O’Neal for several laps until Thornton and O’Neal made contact, battling for second coming off of turn four on lap 19. A few laps later, O’Neal slowed with a flat tire, drawing a caution.
During lap 33 of the race, Davenport was leading with Thornton close behind when Boom Briggs spun out in front of them. Both Davenport and Thornton had to take evasive action as the caution came out for Briggs’ stalled car.
Two laps later, the final caution was caused by Mike Marlar, who had moved up from 18th place but lost his brakes and hit the turn two wall. Marlar would ultimately retire from the remainder of the race.
From then on, Davenport and Thornton chased each other around the top of the racetrack. Thornton managed to get within half a second of Davenport, but contact with the wall on each end of the track derailed Thornton’s chance at the win.
In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 81st time in his career, the three-time series champion picked up his second $50,000 Arizona Sports Shirts Crown Jewel Cup win of 2024, following his Show-Me 100 victory in May. With the win, Davenport also moved back into second place in the championship standings.
“It feels great to win this event. I tried to stay as low as possible for as long as possible. There at the end we got behind a lapped car and he was blowing just enough grit, and I didn’t have a really good clean line where I wanted in one and two. I pushed a little bit and got into the wall. I’ve got to thank my dad I’m thinking of him he’s probably not doing too well. In fact, I know he’s not doing too well, he is in the hospital. Hopefully he had enough strength to stay up and watch me he don’t get to come out on the road near as much as he used to. I am thankful for all he has done for me,” said the Blairsville, Georgia native.
“We’ve just been tuning on this thing quite a bit. You know you’ve got to keep up with these young guys. It seems like everywhere we go now, if there’s just a little bit of grip around the top, that’s where we’ve got to be. I just want to thank all of these fans for coming out tonight. It was a great crowd tonight.”
