Jonathan Davenport (center) of Blairsville, Ga., is joined in victory lane by his car owner Barry Wright (left) and Southern Nationals Series promoter Ray Cook (right) following his $5,300 win Friday night at Volunteer Speedway in the event presented by Tri-Am RV Center. -- Randall Perry Photo
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By Robert Walden
BULLS GAP, Tenn. (July 23) — The Ray Cook-promoted Southern Nationals Series features 10 events in the span of 13 days around the Southeast, with races held in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee.
The series made its fifth stop at Volunteer Speedway on Friday night for a $5,300-to-win Super Late Model show presented by Tri-Am RV Center, located just off I-81 at Exit 23 across the interstate from the track. The previous series event winners at the East Tennessee speedplant were Jimmy Owens in 2006 and ’07, and Tommy Kerr in both 2008 and ’09.
Now you can write another name in the history books at “The Gap,” as Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., won in impressive fashion by leading flag-to-flag to record his first-ever victory on the famed high banks.
Davenport claimed the pole position after setting fast time at 12.460-seconds during Integra Shocks & Springs qualifying, with five-time (1997, '98, 2000, '05 and '09) Volunteer Speedway track champion Vic Hill second quickest at 12.527 to earn the outside front row starting berth for the main event.
With the fastest 10 cars from qualifying locked into the 53-lap feature, the remainder of the starting field was determined through three qualifiers which transferred the top-four finishers into the main event. Winning the three B-mains were Kerr, Rick Rogers and Terry Wolfenbarger.
Series provisional starting spots were awarded to Brian Booze and Mike Collins. After getting into the turn four wall driving his car during qualifying, Booze was the recipient of Hill’s generosity as he let the Pennsylvania competitor start the race in his backup car.
Davenport blasted out of the gates at the start and never looked back, grabbing the lead on the opening lap over Billy Ogle Jr., Hill, Mark Douglas and Shanon Buckingham. Douglas jumped the cushion between turns one and two on lap 3, allowing both Buckingham and Chris Madden to get by.
Madden got around Buckingham on the fifth circuit as they raced off turn two to move into the fourth spot. Just ahead of them, Hill was working on Ogle for second place, a position he secured on lap 8 between turns one and two.
Madden dropped Ogle back to fourth in the running order on lap 14 with a pass racing off turn two. The event’s first caution waved on lap 17 when current Volunteer Speedway Super Late Model point leader Jeff Maupin slowed high between turns one and two with a flat tire.
On the restart Davenport led Hill, Madden, Ogle and Buckingham. But the race only went green for three circuits before caution waved once again when Donald Bradsher got into the turn one wall.
Over the next 24 laps Davenport began to flex the muscle under the hood of his Elite Concrete/Mega Plumbing of the Carolinas/EnCompass Solutions Inc./Cabinets by Design of South Carolina/Nickel’s Plumbing/JRI Shocks/Dirt Wrap/AES Racing/Clements Racing Engines/Barry Wright Race Cars/No. 49 Chevrolet Corvette, as he pulled out to comfortable lead over Hill and Madden. But the driver known as “Superman” saw his advantage erased on lap 44, when Clint Smith’s driveshaft broke and scattered debris on the front straightaway to bring out the caution.
The race went back green for just one lap before the yellow waved once again when Tony Knowles slowed with flat right-rear tire.
Poised for a run to the checkers, Hill was glued to rear bumper of Davenport to try and mount a challenge. But Hill quickly lost second place to Madden as they raced into the first turn, as Madden got inside of Hill to take the position.
Out front it was all Davenport over the final laps as he pulled away to easily record the victory over Madden, Hill, Ogle and Buckingham.
Completing the top 10 finishers were Eric Wells, Rogers, Kerr, Douglas and Chris Brown. Earning Hard Charger of the Race award was Texan driver Brown, who started from the 18th spot and finished tenth.
“Man, this is cool to get a win at Volunteer Speedway,” said the Georgia racer Davenport, after climbing from his car in victory lane with a big smile on his face. “It’s a blast racing around these high banks. Everybody knows about ‘The Gap’ and to now be able to say I’ve won a race here, it’s awesome. We had a really good car here tonight. We were fast right from the start during hotlaps and then we backed it up with fast-time in qualifying to nail down the pole position, and then during the race I just couldn’t have asked for a better driving car.
“This is a new Barry Wright Race Car we debuted earlier this week when we won at East Alabama Motor Speedway, and we ran awfully well with it last night at Cleveland (Tenn.) Speedway, too. We really should have won that race, but we got tangled up with an (idiot) who wasn’t driving past the air cleaner on his hood and it took us out of the race. So it’s awesome to have this strong run here to victory tonight, it’s just a statement of how good this race team is. I want to dedicate this win to my crew chief Lance Wright (sitting in grandstands due to pit altercation previous night at series event in Cleveland) and also to his dad, my car owner Barry Wright.”
Longtime competitor and a fan favorite at “The Gap,” Vic Chandler of Weaverville, N.C., led flag-to-flag to win the Fastrak Racing Series-sanctioned Pro (Crate) Late Model 25-lap feature by about six-feet over Shanon Buckingham, the first victory of the season for Chandler.
The first attempt to start the race was short-lived, as John King II got into Greg Martin between turns one and two on the opening lap, with both cars sustaining significant damage to end their night quickly after slamming hard into the outside guardrail. Martin’s mount climbed the wall and got up on its side, with King’s car against him as they came to rest high in the banking.
The second go at green saw Chandler grab the lead over outside front row starter Keith Helton, with Buckingham settling into third in the running order. With Chandler riding on the point, rookie chauffeur Helton, who had picked up his first career victory at the last race had his hands full with Buckingham. Buckingham got around Helton to move into the runner-up spot on lap 3 as they raced off into the first turn.
While Buckingham was setting his sights on race leader Chandler, Dale Ball was pressuring Helton for third. After looking to the inside of Helton racing off the corners on both ends of the track for five circuits, Ball finally got around Helton on lap 12 racing off the fourth turn. Helton dropped back one more spot when he got high between turns one and two on lap 13, jumping the cushion to allow Jake Teague to slide by in the fourth spot.
Buckingham closed to Chandler’s rear bumper with a few laps remaining, and made a strong run at him for the win to only come up a little short at the checkered flag. Finishing behind Chandler and Buckingham were Ball, Teague and Helton.
Entering the night holding an 18-point advantage over Dustin Shaver in the race for Hobby Stock track championship, Jamie Whitt of Wise, Va., added two points to his lead by holding off the hard-charging Shaver for his third feature win of the season.
Whitt jumped into the lead on the opening lap from the pole position over Blake Kelley, Shaver, Chuck Johnson and Chris Long. Kelley dropped out early with a broken rear-end (gear), and Johnson was collected in a mid-race incident and was forced to rear of field for a restart.
The trio of Whitt, Shaver and Duke Bare waged a furious battle up front over the final eight circuits, but Whitt would not be denied a visit to victory lane. Whitt captured the win over Shaver, Bare, Roger Hunter, and a good top-five finish for Sue Curl.
TRI-AM RV CENTER – RAY COOK “SOUTHERN NATIONALS SERIES” – FRIDAY, JULY 23 – VOLUNTEER SPEEDWAY – BULLS GAP, TN
Showing Finish Position, Starting Position In Parentheses, Driver Name, Car #, Hometown, Money Won
1. (1) Jonathan Davenport #49-Blairsville, GA $5,300
2. (8) Chris Madden #44-Gaffney, SC $2,500
3. (2) Vic Hill #1-Morristown, TN $1,500
4. (3) Billy Ogle Jr. #201-Knoxville, TN $1,000
5. (4) Shanon Buckingham #50-Morristown, TN $900
6. (7) Eric Wells #18-Hazard, KY $800
7. (12) Rick Rogers #44r-Knoxville, TN $750
8. (11) Tommy Kerr #4T-Maryville, TN $725
9. (5) Mark Douglas #52D-Knoxville, TN $700
10. (18) Chris Brown #21-Cleveland, TX $675
11. (17) Shane Clanton #25-Fayetteville, GA $650
12. (10) Mike Smith #4-Rogersville, TN $625
13. (19) Jeff Smith #18m-Dallas, NC $600
14. (14) Tony Knowles #26-Tyrone, GA $590
15. (13) Terry Wolfenbarger #14-Powell, TN $580
16. (21) Clint Smith #44s-Senoia, GA $575
17. (16) Chad Ogle #10-Sevierville, TN $570
18. (15) Jeff Wolfenbarger #28-Clinton, TN $560
19. (9) Chris Wall #71-Holden, LA $555
20. (6) Jeff Maupin #0-Greeneville, TN $550
21. (24) Mike Collins #3-Council Bluffs, IA $545
22. (20) Donald Bradsher #93-Burlington, NC $540
23. (22) Mark Vineyard #4v-Powell, TN $535
24. (23) Brian Booze #2-Marion, PA $530
Shy Racing Suspensions B-Main #1 (Top Four Advance): Tommy Kerr, Tony Knowles, Shane Clanton, Donald Bradsher, Bryan Hendrix, John Pursley Jr., Steve Smith, Mike Collins
Integra Shocks & Springs B-Main #2 (Top Four Advance): Rick Rogers, Jeff Wolfenbarger, Chris Brown, Clint Smith, Kerry Jones, Daniel Baggerly, John Henderson, Travis Greer
Wix Filters B-Main #3 (Top Four Advance): Terry Wolfenbarger, Chad Ogle, Jeff Smith, Mark Vineyard, Rodney Kiker, Ray Jarnigan, John Tweed, Brian Booze (DNS)
Series Provisionals: Brian Booze, Mike Collins
Drivers Not Transferring:
Bryan Hendrix #5-Knoxville, TN
John Pursley Jr. #09-Clover, SC
Steve Smith #3-Powell, TN
Kerry Jones #6-Bristol, TN
Daniel Baggerly #16-Rural Retreat, VA
John Henderson #2-Aiken, SC
Rodney Kiker #25-Greeneville, TN
Ray Jarnigan #73-Thornhill, TN
John Tweed #1T-Greeneville, TN
Travis Greer #11g-Marion, VA
- Integra Shocks & Springs Fast Qualifier ($100.00): Jonathan Davenport 12.460
- Lap Leaders: Jonathan Davenport (Laps 1-53)
- Cautions: 4 (Laps 17, 20, 44, 45)
- PPM Racing Products Hard Charger of the Race ($50.00): Chris Brown (18th to 10th)
- Barry Wright Race Cars Highest Finisher ($100.00): Jonathan Davenport
- DBR Performance Starters Middleman Award ($75.00): Mike Smith
- GW Performance Highest Finisher ($50.00): Billy Ogle Jr.
- Wilwood Engineering Tough Brake Award ($50.00): Bryan Hendrix
- American Racer Tire Highest Finisher (One Free Tire): Vic Hill
- Joe Jacobs Memorial Tire Award (One Free Tire): Kerry Jones
- QuarterMaster Feature Winner Award ($100.00): Jonathan Davenport
- Comp Cams Feature Winner Award ($100.00): Jonathan Davenport
- Wix Filters Lap Leader Award ($50.00 + Kit): Jonathan Davenport
- Wix Filters Feature Winner Award ($100.00 + Kit): Jonathan Davenport
PRO LATE MODEL (25 laps)
1) Vic Chandler #88; 2) Shanon Buckingham #50; 3) Dale Ball #2; 4) Jake Teague #117; 5) Keith Helton #5; 6) Ken Wilkerson #21; 7) Andy Ogle #68; 8) Ricky Moore #75; 9) Brent Hensley #70; 10) Todd Brooks #T1; 11) Richard Adkins #73; 12) Chris Pendleton #15; 13) James Cole #5c; 14) Greg Martin #24; 15) John King II #21 – Did Not Start: Jackie Hughes #27, Forrest Trent #4Q
HOBBY STOCK (20 laps)
1) Jamie Whitt #1; 2) Dustin Shaver #7; 3) Duke Bare #52; 4) Roger Hunter #7-11; 5) Sue Curl #5; 6) Chris Long #75; 7) Chuck Johnson #17; 8) Jesse Wilder #79; 9) Robbie Woods #2; 10) Tyler Smith #32; 11) Jesse Helton #28; 12) Ricky Shipley #20; 13) Dale Reed #52; 14) Phil Johnston #68; 15) Dennis Metcalf #55; 16) Daniel Reese #66; 17) Patrick Flannery #38; 18) Bobby Reed #54; 19) Blake Kelley #K5; 20) Eddie Adams #9 – Did Not Start: Landon Williams #44
