Shane Clanton Tops Night #1 of the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals!
Thursday Top Three: Jonathan Davenport (3rd), Shane Clanton (Winner), Earl Pearson Jr. (2nd)
Thursday, September 15, 2022
Shane Clanton Tops Night #1 of the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals!
Jonathan Davenport is High Point Man
by Bill Wright
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (September 15, 2022) – Shane Clanton went wire to wire to win on night #1 of the 18th Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway Thursday night. It was the Zebulon, Georgia native’s second career win at the famous half-mile, as he pocketed $7,000. Jonathan Davenport emerged as the high point getter on the night (full points below). Drivers will take the best of their two point totals on Thursday and Friday qualifying nights.
Clanton led from his pole position from the outset of the 25-lap main event ahead of Hudson O’Neal, Earl Pearson Jr., Tad Pospisil and Tim McCreadie. Jonathan Davenport jumped from sixth to fourth on lap two, and then claimed third from Pearson on the third circuit.
Chris Madden slowed to the bottom of turn one to bring a caution three laps in. Clanton led O’Neal, Davenport, Pearson and McCreadie back to green. On lap five, Pearson used the high side of two to get back by Davenport for third.
One more caution appeared 11 laps in when O’Neal’s strong second place run ended with rear-end issues. Brandon Sheppard shot by McCreadie to the fourth spot on that restart. Clanton entered lapped traffic with just five laps to go, but never wavered to the checkers.
Pearson followed Clanton to the stripe, with Davenport, Sheppard and Kyle Strickler in tow. McCreadie, Jimmy Owens, Ryan Gustin, Brian Shirley and Chase Junghans rounded out the top ten. Spencer Hughes and Brandon Overton set quick time over their respective groups. Clanton, Madden, Gustin, Junghans, Aaron Marrant and Stormy Scott won heat races. Mike Marlar and Garrett Alberson won B mains.
“The car was phenomenal in the race there,” said Clanton in Victory Lane. “We made some changes, because of what we did to (teammate) Tyler’s (Bruening) car there. If it wasn’t for him, and the changes we made for him, I may not have won the race. We just adjusted the shocks. We just tweaked it here and there. Our car was fast to begin the night, and we made the right adjustments.”
“We qualified good and run good in our heat,” said Pearson. “The car was good there. It was kind of top dominant tonight. Hopefully, the track will be different tomorrow where we can move around a little bit. Hudson broke there, and Davenport drove me clean. Second was good enough…we’ll try again tomorrow, but we had a good points night, and good starting spot for Saturday anyway.”
“We had a really fast racecar there,” said Davenport. “The top was definitely the place to be in that race, but I felt like I could move around the middle and bottom too. I felt really comfortable, so hopefully, we can carry that through the rest of the weekend. The goal was to be there at the end on Saturday, and I think we have a good starting spot. It’s all about having a good balance. It’s a lot of fun and one of my favorite racetracks to be at.”
Join us for night #2 of the 18th Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals on Thursday! For more information, visit or check Knoxville Raceway’s website at www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com or on Facebook and Twitter.
18th Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals Results
Time Trials Group A (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 11, Spencer Hughes, Meridian, MS (13), 17.557; 2. 62, Justin Zeitner, Malvern, IA (15), 17.599; 3. 39, Tim McCreadie, Watertown, NY (3), 17.744; 4. 32, Bobby Pierce, Oakwood, IL (16), 17.814; 5. 20RT, Ricky Thornton Jr., Chandler, AZ (2), 17.828; 6. 18S, Jesse Sobbing, Glenwood, IA (4), 17.833; 7. 32S, Chris Simpson, Marion, IA (14), 17.905; 8. 71, Hudson O'Neal, Martinsville, IN (20), 17.953; 9. 29D, Spencer Diercks, Davenport, IA (17), 17.973; 10. 25C, Shane Clanton, Zebulon, GA (8), 18.004; 11. 157, Mike Marlar, Winfield, TN (1), 18.004; 12. 7W, Ricky Weiss, Headingley, MB, Can. (6), 18.010; 13. 7, Ross Robinson, Georgetown, DE (24), 18.030; 14. 44, Chris Madden, Gray Court, SC (12), 18.183; 15. 19R, Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, IA (5), 18.203; 16. 3S, Brian Shirley, Chatham, IL (19), 18.256; 17. 40B, Kyle Bronson, Brandon, FL (18), 18.365; 18. 48, Tim Lance, Brimfield, IL (21), 18.416; 19. 1T, Tyler Erb, Houston, TX (9), 18.533; 20. 22, Charlie McKenna, Clear Lake, IA (7), 18.555; 21. 53, Andrew Kosiski, La Vista, NE (22), 18.626; 22. 15, Justin Duty, Molalia, OR (11), 18.781; 23. 14M, Reid Millard, Jefferson City, MO (23), 19.633; 24. 10, Junior Coover, Norfolk, NE (10), 21.002
Time Trials Group B (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 76, Brandon Overton, Evans, GA (10), 17.494; 2. 20, Jimmy Owens, Newport, TN (8), 17.585; 3. 49, Jonathan Davenport, Blairsville, GA (12), 17.627; 4. 46, Earl Pearson Jr., Trinity, NC (24), 17.885; 5. 04, Tad Pospisil, Norfolk, NE (15), 17.928; 6. 1, Brandon Sheppard, New Berlin, IL (3), 18.075; 7. 8, Kyle Strickler, Mooresville, NC (14), 18.079; 8. 21, Billy Moyer, Batesville, AR (9), 18.116; 9. 58, Garrett Alberson, Las Cruces, NM (7), 18.137; 10. 1ST, Johnny Scott, Las Cruces, NM (11), 18.140; 11. 18D, Daulton Wilson, Fayetteville, NC (5), 18.146; 12. 99JR, Frank Heckenast Jr., Orland Park, IL (22), 18.268; 13. 22H, Daniel Hilsabeck, Earlham, IA (13), 18.292; 14. 1X, Aaron Marrant, Orrick, MO (1), 18.320; 15. 33, Nick Marolf, Moscow, IA (23), 18.362; 16. 18J, Chase Junghans, Manhattan, KS (21), 18.385; 17. 56, Chris Spieker, Massena, IA (4), 18.411; 18. 2S, Stormy Scott, Las Cruces, NM (20), 18.422; 19. 42, Johnathan Huston, Columbus Junction, IA (16), 18.422; 20. 16, Tyler Bruening, Decorah, IA (18), 18.479; 21. 51, Matt Furman, Iowa City, IA (6), 18.557; 22. 25, Chad Simpson, Mount Vernon, IA (19), 18.869; 23. 6H, Al Humphrey, Giltner, NE (2), 19.309; 24. 14W, Dustin Walker, Polk, MO (17), 19.568
Heat one (started), 12 Laps, NT: 1. Shane Clanton (3); 2. Ross Robinson (2); 3. Brian Shirley (1) / 4. Bobby Pierce (5); 5. Spencer Hughes (6); 6. Chris Simpson (4); 7. Tyler Erb (7); 8. Justin Duty (8)
Heat two (started), 12 Laps, 3:47.0: 1. Chris Madden (2); 2. Hudson O'Neal (4); 3. Justin Zeitner (6) / 4. Mike Marlar (3); 5. Ricky Thornton Jr. (5); 6. Charlie McKenna (7); 7. Kyle Bronson (1); 8. Reid Millard (8)
Heat three (started), 12 Laps, NT: 1. Ryan Gustin (2); 2. Ricky Weiss (3); 3. Tim McCreadie (6) / 4. Jesse Sobbing (5); 5. Andrew Kosiski (7); 6. Tim Lance (1); 7. Junior Coover (8); 8. Spencer Diercks (4)
Heat four (started), 12 Laps, 3:46.0: 1. Chase Junghans (1); 2. Kyle Strickler (4); 3. Earl Pearson Jr. (5) / 4. Brandon Overton (6); 5. Daniel Hilsabeck (2); 6. Johnathan Huston (7); 7. Johnny Scott (3); 8. Chad Simpson (8)
Heat five (started), 12 Laps, NT: 1. Aaron Marrant (2); 2. Tad Pospisil (5); 3. Jimmy Owens (6) / 4. Tyler Bruening (7); 5. Daulton Wilson (3); 6. Chris Spieker (1); 7. Billy Moyer (4); 8. Al Humphrey (8)
Heat six (started), 12 Laps, 3:51.0: 1. Stormy Scott (1); 2. Jonathan Davenport (6); 3. Brandon Sheppard (5) / 4. Frank Heckenast Jr. (3); 5. Garrett Alberson (4); 6. Nick Marolf (2); 7. Matt Furman (7); 8. Dustin Walker (8)
B main one (started), 15 Laps, NT: 1. Mike Marlar (6); 2. Ricky Thornton Jr. (3); 3. Spencer Hughes (1) / 4. Chris Simpson (5); 5. Tyler Erb (10); 6. Kyle Bronson (11); 7. Charlie McKenna (7); 8. Andrew Kosiski (8); 9. Reid Millard (12); 10. Jesse Sobbing (4); 11. Bobby Pierce (2); 12. Junior Coover (9) DNS - 13. Spencer Diercks 14. Justin Duty 15. Tim Lance
B main two (started), 15 Laps, NT: 1. Garrett Alberson (2); 2. Daniel Hilsabeck (5); 3. Chris Spieker (7) / 4. Frank Heckenast Jr. (4); 5. Matt Furman (10); 6. Dustin Walker (12); 7. Tyler Bruening (9); 8. Brandon Overton (1); 9. Nick Marolf (6); 10. Al Humphrey (11); 11. Daulton Wilson (3); 12. Johnathan Huston (8) DNS - 13. Johnny Scott 14. Billy Moyer 15. Chad Simpson
A main (started), 25 Laps, NT: 1. Shane Clanton (1); 2. Earl Pearson Jr. (4); 3. Jonathan Davenport (6); 4. Brandon Sheppard (9); 5. Kyle Strickler (11); 6. Tim McCreadie (5); 7. Jimmy Owens (7); 8. Ryan Gustin (14); 9. Brian Shirley (16); 10. Chase Junghans (15); 11. Aaron Marrant (13); 12. Mike Marlar (18); 13. Garrett Alberson (19); 14. Ricky Weiss (8); 15. Spencer Hughes (22); 16. Stormy Scott (17); 17. Ross Robinson (10); 18. Chris Spieker (23); 19. Tad Pospisil (2); 20. Daniel Hilsabeck (21); 21. Hudson O'Neal (3); 22. Ricky Thornton Jr. (20); 23. Justin Zeitner (24); 24. Chris Madden (12). Lap Leader: Clanton 1-25. Hard-charger: Shirley.
Thursday Points
1. 49, Jonathan Davneport, 489
2. 46, Earl Pearson Jr., 486
3. 25c, Shane Clanton, 482
4. 39, Tim McCreadie, 480
5. 20, Jimmy Owens, 480
6. 1, Brandon Sheppard, 478
7. 8, Kyle Strickler, 477
8. 11, Spencer Hughes, 460
9. 19R, Ryan Gustin, 458
10. 1x, Aaron Marrant, 454
11. 04, Tad Pospisil, 453
12. 18J, Chase Junghans, 452
13. 157, Mike Marlar, 449
14. 7w, Ricky Weiss, 449
15. 3s, Brian Shirley, 448
16. 58, Garrett Alberson, 448
17. 62, Justin Zeitner, 448
18. 71, Hudson O’Neal, 443
19. 7, Ross Robinson, 441
20. 20RT, Ricky Thornton Jr., 438
21. 2s, Stormy Scott, 436
22. 44, Chris Madden, 428
23. 76, Brandon Overton, 427
24. 22H, Daniel Hilsabeck, 426
25. 56, Chris Spieker, 419
26. 32s, Chris Simpson, 417
27. 32, Bobby Pierce, 415
28. 99JR, Frank Heckenast Jr., 413
29. 18s, Jesse Sobbing, 413
30. 18D, Daulton Wilson, 398
31. 21, Billy Moyer, 392
32. 16, Tyler Bruening, 391
33. 33, Nick Marolf, 391
34. 40B, Kyle Bronson, 390
35. 1st, Johnny Scott, 390
36. 29D, Spencer Diercks, 389
37. 1T, Tyler Erb, 388
38. 22, Charlie McKenna, 385
39. 51, Matt Furman, 384
40. 53, Andrew Kosiski, 384
41. 42, Johnathan Huston, 377
42. 14w, Dustin Walker, 373
43. 48, Tim Lance, 373
44. 14M, Reid Millard, 369
45. 6H, Al Humphrey, 367
46. 10, Junior Coover, 364
47. 15, Justin Duty, 361
48. 25, Chad Simpson, 359
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