Davenport sweeps MLRA Spring Nationals weekend at Lucas Oil Speedway
Photo by GSS Media
WHEATLAND, MO.—“Superman” indeed was again super, completing a sweep of the 13th annual MLRA Spring Nationals on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Jonathan Davenport led all 50 laps - one night after pacing all 40 in the main event - and outdistanced runner-up Ricky Thornton Jr.,. Davenport, of Blairsville, Ga., earned $20,000 a night after taking a $7,000 win in his Double L Motorsports Longhorn chassis.
This one was more challenging than the preliminary-night win, when Davenport's winning margin was more than seven seconds, as Thornton made it interesting as he zipped through the field from his 18th starting position. But in the end, it was all Davenport.
“Ricky got up through there. He’s had a tough weekend for sure, but he’s really, really good,” said Davenport, who led all 90 laps during the two wins. It was the two-time Show-Me 100 champion’s 10th feature win at Lucas Oil Speedway since the spring of 2023.
Davenport said he will return to Wheatland for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Show-Me 100, May 21-23, with some extra confidence after the MLRA Spring Nationals success.
“We’ve got a really good notebook here,” Davenport said. “We’ve kind of made it a tradition to bring a car here to get prepared for that race. This is an awesome facility and we love coming here.”
Just as he did Friday night, Davenport grabbed the lead at the drop of the green, though fellow front-row starter Tony Jackson Jr. stayed close through the early going with Davenport just a half-second in front through 10 laps.
Davenport and Jackson already were passing lapped cars by that point with the first caution waving on lap 11 as Chris Simpson slowed with a flat tire while running third. The restart saw Davenport use clean air to extend his lead to two seconds by lap 17 over Jackson with Garrett Alberson moving into third. Alberson got around Jackson on lap 21 for second.
Trevor Gundaker spun on lap 23 to bring out caution No. 2 as Davenport led Alberson by 3.1 seconds, followed by the ninth-starting Dalton Murty and Jackson. Thornton’s surge from 18th continued as he claimed second on lap 27, going around Alberson. As Thornton and Alberson battled, Davenport was able to open a three-second lead by lap 30.
Davenport struggled a bit with lapped traffic and Thornton rallied within 1.5 seconds with 10 laps to go. That was the same margin when caution flew on lap 43 as Jeff Herzog slowed with a flat tire and Dillon McCowan, who was running fourth, came to a stop in turn two.
That gave Thornton a shot with seven laps remaining, but Davenport zipped away on the restart and opened a 10-car-length lead in just two laps. He kept pulling away and completed the sweep, prevailing over Thornton by 2.5 seconds at the checkers.
“I was trying to pace myself,” Davenport said of the final half of the race. “We really hurt tires more in the heat races today than we did yesterday. I was little worried about that, so I was pacing myself there and trying to keep a safe distance.
"Just hats off to my crew. Once again, they did a phenomenal job."
Alberson settled for third with Tyler Wolff driving from 19th to fourth and Matthew Larson taking fifth.
Thornton lamented that he has to get his qualifying straightened out if he wants a level shot at beating Davenport.
“It’s embarrassing to start the night,” Thornton said of time trials. “At least we’re good when it matters. Congrats to ‘JD.’ He was really good and I knew he was going to be really good coming here. He’s so good on entry and he can take off after that.
“Hats off to my guys. I think we threw everything but the kitchen sink at it.”
Jackson Jr. posted fast overall qualifying lap with a time of 15.733 out of Group Two after Alberson paced Group 1 at 15.794. Jackson went on to win his heat race to earn the pole for the feature. Davenport, Simpson and Jeff Herzog also won heat races.
Fennewald finishes Super Stocks sweep: Johnny Fennewald of Appleton City took the lead from race-long pacesetter Terry Schultz with one lap to go and held off Mike Striegel to win the Hickamo Super Stock feature for the second straight night.
Schultz set the pace from the start and held a half-second lead over Striegel at the halfway mark on lap 10, with Blaine Ewing right behind in third with Fennewald fourth.
The sixth-starting Fennewald moved into second on lap 15 and, riding the high groove all around the track, caught and passed Schultz on lap 19 coming out of turn four. Schultz broke something on his car and slowed, bringing out a yellow after taking the white flag.
Fennewald beat Striegel by one second with Ewing third, Johnny Coats fourth and Derek Brown fifth.
“I like this place. It fits my driving style really well," Fennewald said. "This track has been unbelievable. It's got character in it. It's not just follow the leader. It's got three grooves on racing and you can get on top of it now, which is where I like to be all the time."
Evinger takes SMVR feature: Owen Evinger of Odessa, driving a 1970 Chevy Nova, led all the way to catpure the Show-Me Vintage Racers 15-lap feature, beating David Isaacs by a half-second.
"I like this class a lot," Evinger said. "Usually we don't have a lot of wrecks, but it wasn't that way tonight."
Emma Davis was third in the caution-filled race, with Jim Thorne fourth and Richard Fields fifth.
LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (April 11, 2026)
13th annual MLRA Spring Nationals
MLRA Late Models
A Feature - 1. 49D-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[18]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[5]; 4. 4W-Tyler Wolff[19]; 5. 8L-Matthew Larson[8]; 6. 13-Dallon Murty[9]; 7. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[12]; 8. 43-Derrick Stewart[21]; 9. 3W-Brennon Willard[6]; 10. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[2]; 11. 1T-Tucker Cox[14]; 12. 11-Jeff Herzog[4]; 13. 11C-Sawyer Crigler[17]; 14. 25B-Chevy Boyer[11]; 15. 50C-Kayden Clatt[15]; 16. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[13]; 17. 15S-Clay Stuckey[16]; 18. 78S-Steve Stultz[24]; 19. 3-Joey Smith[26]; 20. (DNF) 15E-Laela Eisenschenk[7]; 21. (DNF) 8-Dillon McCowan[10]; 22. (DNF) 23-Chad Walter[22]; 23. (DNF) 32S-Chris Simpson[3]; 24. (DNF) 1XM-Aaron Marrant[20]; 25. (DNF) 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel[25]; 26. (DNF) 4TW-Tim Ward[23]
B Feature 1 - 1. 11C-Sawyer Crigler[1]; 2. 4W-Tyler Wolff[3]; 3. 43-Derrick Stewart[5]; 4. 18J-Chase Junghans[2]; 5. 1E-Amelia Eisenschenk[4]; 6. 32-Derek Fetter[8]; 7. 41-Matt Menzie[7]; 8. 10G-Don Geist[6]; 9. (DNS) 26JR-Corey Zeitner
B Feature 2 - 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 2. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[1]; 3. 23-Chad Walter[7]; 4. 3-Joey Smith[6]; 5. 51C-Dean Carpenter[3]; 6. 78S-Steve Stultz[4]
7. 28G-Jim Greenway[5]; 8. 19L-Thomas Langley[8]; 9. 26H-Daniel Hilsabeck[11]; 10. 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel[9]; 11. (DNS) 4TW-Tim Ward
Heat 1 - 1. 49D-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 3. 13-Dallon Murty[3]; 4. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[4]; 5. 11C-Sawyer Crigler[7]; 6. 4W-Tyler Wolff[5]; 7. 43-Derrick Stewart[6]; 8. 10G-Don Geist[8]; 9. 32-Derek Fetter[9]
Heat 2 - 1. 32S-Chris Simpson[2]; 2. 15E-Laela Eisenschenk[1]; 3. 25B-Chevy Boyer[4]; 4. 50C-Kayden Clatt[9]; 5. 18J-Chase Junghans[5]; 6. 1E-Amelia Eisenschenk[3]; 7. 26G-Glen Powell[7]; 8. 41-Matt Menzie[8]; 9. (DNF) 26JR-Corey Zeitner[6]
Heat 3 - 1. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[1]; 2. 3W-Brennon Willard[3]; 3. 8-Dillon McCowan[2]; 4. 1T-Tucker Cox[5]; 5. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[6]; 6. 51C-Dean Carpenter[8]; 7. 28G-Jim Greenway[7]; 8. (DNF) 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[4]; 9. (DNF) 19L-Thomas Langley[9]; 10. (DNF) 4TW-Tim Ward[10]
Heat 4 - 1. 11-Jeff Herzog[1]; 2. 8L-Matthew Larson[3]; 3. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[4]; 4. 15S-Clay Stuckey[2]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[5]; 6. 78S-Steve Stultz[6]; 7. 3-Joey Smith[9]; 8. 23-Chad Walter[7]; 9. 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel[8]
Qualifying Group 1 - 1. 58-Garrett Alberson, 15.794[10]; 2. 15E-Laela Eisenschenk, 15.836[12]; 3. 49D-Jonathan Davenport, 15.851[9]; 4. 32S-Chris Simpson, 15.873[11]; 5. 13-Dallon Murty, 15.901[7]; 6. 1E-Amelia Eisenschenk, 16.094[17]; 7. 11T-Trevor Gundaker, 16.201[8]; 8. 25B-Chevy Boyer, 16.204[1]; 9. 4W-Tyler Wolff, 16.416[6]; 10. 18J-Chase Junghans, 16.440[3]; 11. 43-Derrick Stewart, 16.449[15]; 12. 26JR-Corey Zeitner, 16.493[19]; 13. 11C-Sawyer Crigler, 16.609[13]; 14. 26G-Glen Powell, 16.654[5]; 15. 10G-Don Geist, 16.663[16]; 16. 41-Matt Menzie, 16.905[14]; 17. 32-Derek Fetter, 17.311[18]; 18. (DNS) 50C-Kayden Clatt, 25.000; 19. (DNS) 37W-Frank Waszkiewicz, 25.001
Qualifying Group 2 - 1. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr, 15.733[2]; 2. 11-Jeff Herzog, 15.841[4]; 3. 8-Dillon McCowan, 15.954[17]; 4. 15S-Clay Stuckey, 15.992[13]; 5. 3W-Brennon Willard, 16.080[14]; 6. 8L-Matthew Larson, 16.150[3]; 7. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck, 16.173[1]; 8. 11G-Gordy Gundaker, 16.237[5]; 9. 1T-Tucker Cox, 16.239[6]; 10. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 16.239[12]; 11. 1XM-Aaron Marrant, 16.296[9]; 12. 78S-Steve Stultz, 16.398[10]; 13. 28G-Jim Greenway, 16.610[18]; 14. 23-Chad Walter, 16.623[7]; 15. 51C-Dean Carpenter, 16.752[15]; 16. 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel, 16.803[11]; 17. 19L-Thomas Langley, 16.837[8]; 18. 3-Joey Smith, 16.864[16]; 19. 4TW-Tim Ward, 25.000[19]
Hickamo Super Stocks
A Feature - 1. 21-Johnny Fennewald[6]; 2. 17-Mike Striegel[3]; 3. 04-Blaine Ewing[2]; 4. 35-Johnny Coats[7]; 5. 11-Derek Brown[8]; 6. 94C-JT Carroll[4]; 7. 26-Burl Woods[11]; 8. 1X-Kris Lloyd[20]; 9. G1-Tony Anglin[15]; 10. B4-Brian Worley[5]; 11. 2-Colton Bourland[14]; 12. 59R-Jacob Rexing[23]; 13. 53-Danny O'Neal[19]; 14. O70-Mike Daugherty[24]; 15. 06-Morgan Campbell[16]; 16. 10C-Jacob Combs[22]; 17. 9-Kyle Downs[18]; 18. (DNF) 41-Terry Schultz[1]; 19. (DNF) 26M-Donnie Miller[12]; 20. (DNF) 21M-Payton McDowell[10]; 21. (DNF) 21W-Ted Welschmeyer[13]; 22. (DNF) 16-Logan Thompson[21]; 23. (DNF) 21P-Darin Porter[17]; 24. (DNF) 164-Michael Muskrat[9]; 25. (DNF) 68-Dean Wille[25]
Heat 1 - 1. 94C-JT Carroll[1]; 2. 04-Blaine Ewing[7]; 3. 11-Derek Brown[5]; 4. 21-Johnny Fennewald[9]; 5. 26M-Donnie Miller[8]; 6. 9-Kyle Downs[2]; 7. 1X-Kris Lloyd[3]; 8. 59R-Jacob Rexing[6]; 9. O70-Mike Daugherty[4]
Heat 2 - 1. B4-Brian Worley[1]; 2. 35-Johnny Coats[2]; 3. 164-Michael Muskrat[3]; 4. 26-Burl Woods[6]; 5. 2-Colton Bourland[4]; 6. 06-Morgan Campbell[7]; 7. 53-Danny O'Neal[8]; 8. 10C-Jacob Combs[5]
Heat 3 - 1. 17-Mike Striegel[2]; 2. 41-Terry Schultz[8]; 3. 21M-Payton McDowell[3]; 4. 21W-Ted Welschmeyer[4]; 5. G1-Tony Anglin[5]; 6. 21P-Darin Porter[7]; 7. 16-Logan Thompson[6]; 8. (DNF) 68-Dean Wille[1]
Show-Me Vintage Racers
A Feature - 1. 18-Owen Evinger[1]; 2. 66-David Isaacs[8]; 3. 99E-Emma Davis[15]; 4. 113-Jim Thorne[13]; 5. 3X-Richard Fields[3]; 6. 27-Danny Lorton[9]; 7. 63-John Martin[10]; 8. 14-Mickie Cook[12]; 9. 99-Jim Siewert[19]; 10. 76-Kevin Prall[2]; 11. 72-Tim Wies[21]; 12. 42-Rob Brash[6]; 13. (DNF) 54S-Ken Snyder[18]; 14. (DNF) 15-Jason Isabell[4]; 15. (DNF) 32W-Bob Werkmeister[20]; 16. (DNF) 1-Angela Ashworth[16]; 17. (DNF) 8X-Gary Proskocil[14]; 18. (DNF) 74-Rodney Ashworth[17]; 19. (DNF) 2 D-Brandon Jordan[5]; 20. (DNF) 2C-Allen Clark[7]; 21. (DNS) 6-Damon Clevenger
Heat 1 - 1. 63-John Martin[1]; 2. 18-Owen Evinger[5]; 3. 14-Mickie Cook[2]; 4. 74-Rodney Ashworth[3]; 5. 8X-Gary Proskocil[4]; 6. 72-Tim Wies[7]; 7. (DNS) 6-Damon Clevenger
Heat 2 - 1. 66-David Isaacs[5]; 2. 32W-Bob Werkmeister[2]; 3. 76-Kevin Prall[6]; 4. 1-Angela Ashworth[3]; 5. 54S-Ken Snyder[1]; 6. 3X-Richard Fields[4]
Heat 3 - 1. 2 D-Brandon Jordan[1]; 2. 113-Jim Thorne[3]; 3. 27-Danny Lorton[7]; 4. 15-Jason Isabell[4]; 5. 99-Jim Siewert[2]; 6. 2C-Allen Clark[6]; 7. 42-Rob Brash[8]; 8. (DNF) 99E-Emma Davis[5]
High Limit Sprints next: Advance tickets for the Interstate Batteries High Limit Sprint Series' Saturday April 18 visit at Lucas Oil Speedway are available online. Tanner Thorson holds a narrow lead over Aaron Reutzel, Rice Abreu and Giovanni Scelzi in the early 2026 championship standings.
For further event information, including more info on tickets and camping for any event at Lucas Oil Speedway, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or by email at Nmcmillan@lucasoilspeedway.com.
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