Ocala Speedway
Davenport owns rare car-crunching mistake
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt.com staff reporter
Jonathan Davenport (49) crashes with Kyle Bronson (40b). (Heath Lawson)
OCALA, Fla. (Feb. 26) — The moment he knew he messed up, Jonathan Davenport feared the wreckage from his botched bid for the lead on Thursday’s opening lap at Ocala Speedway would be quite substantial. Clipping the rear quarter-panel of polesitting Kyle Bronson while barreling into the feature’s first corner, both the second-starting Davenport and Bronson went careening up the 3/8-mile oval’s banking.
For the Blairsville, Ga., driver, it felt like he was bound to flip at least once — maybe even outside the ballpark and over the track’s outside wall — and that he had immediately wiped out Bronson’s shot at Thursday’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory. | RaceWire
While Bronson continued on, Davenport’s night was finished almost as quickly as it began, his car too damaged to repair. In the aftermath, Davenport was at least relieved the incident didn’t end worse — for Bronson, for himself, for either team or any of the other 25 competitors who could’ve easily been swept up in the opening-lap melee. Owning the mistake was the least he could do.
“Just didn’t get a real good initial start, but I got a good run down the front straightaway. I just misjudged,” the 43-year-old Davenport said. “I knew it was kind of black in the center where Kyle was going to turn in. There’s a little more grip on the outside. It was just a race to the cushion off turn two. I tried to get there before him and just misjudged, honestly. One-hundred percent my fault.
“I went down there and talked to (Bronson). He ain’t too mad at me. I took out basically two good cars there that could’ve won the race. I hate it for him. It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t anything he did. Just a misjudgment on my part.”
Bronson ended up leading the feature’s opening 13 laps despite noticeable bumper damage, but couldn’t hold onto the top spot for the full 40 circuits as Hudson O’Neal came on strong before rubber laid down around the halfway point and emerged victorious. Bronson settled for a third-place finish.
Starts and restarts have been so critical all week at Ocala that Davenport felt pressure to capitalize on the race’s initial green flag. He estimates not even half a foot of misjudgment triggered the opening-lap disaster.
“On starts, you really have to be aggressive, especially starting on the front row,” Davenport said. “We didn’t know what the racetrack was going to do, but ultimately, we’ve seen what it did. We all had thoughts in our mind what it could do. I like to lead rather than chase. I tried to get the lead, tried to be aggressive. And I just misjudged, probably three or four inches — maybe six inches, I don’t know — it’s just the way it goes. Hate it for him. He has a good team. He’ll regroup. He’s been fast down here all week. We do, too. Just hate it for my guys.”
Davenport and his Double L Motorsports team arrived Wednesday evening to watch the night’s 30-lap feature before returning to action Thursday for the first time since Jan. 18’s Wild West Shootout finale at Central Arizona Raceway in Casa Grande, Ariz. Despite the five-week hiatus they felt good about their chances for the three-race weekend ahead after triumphing in two Wieland Winternationals events at the Bubba Clem-owned track last year.
Now they’ll have to take the wrecked car back to Longhorn Chassis for repairs. But for Davenport, he knows it could’ve easily been worse.
“Luckily I didn’t roll the car over, have them get me out,” Davenport said. “It’s been a long time since I turned over, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Initially, I didn’t know where I was at because I was hooked to him,” he added. “I was trying to get off of him, but I hit the outside wall and spun him on around. When I hit and turned back the other way, I thought, once the left side dug in, I’d probably flip over. Just kind of tucked my head and kissed my ass.”
All told, Davenport remained in relatively good spirits after the forgettable night, seemingly showing no embarrassment or urge to hide from the gaffe. Mistakes of that magnitude aren’t part of his reputation, and he’s eager to quickly turn his fortunes around in his new-look, pick-and-choose schedule this season.
“I’m not embarrassed about it. It just sucks. I hate it for my car owner and my guys,” Davenport said. “They worked their asses off on these things and make them perfect. And I went out there and tore it up a little bit. They’ll have to take it apart, get it fixed tomorrow morning and put it back together. We’re all good. We tested both cars when we came down. One was just as good as the other.”
