Superman leaves I-80 and the Silver Dollar Nationals, $40,000 richer.
Superman rides off with the cash at the Silver Dollar Nationals
Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Georgia earned his nickname “Superman” at the Sixth Annual Silver Dollar Nationals on Saturday. Starting seventh in the 80 lap finale Davenport took the lead on lap 13 and never looked back as he held off the challenges of the old veteran Billy Moyer and went to victory lane to collect a check for $40,000!
Polesitter Jared Landers took the lead at the drop of the green and held the point until Iowa’s Chris Simpson grabbed the lead on lap 10. Three laps later, after a couple of cautions Davenport went to the front and a lap later Moyer went to second. Davenport stayed out front the rest of the way while Moyer seemed hang around in second through fourth for most the race before mounting his charge.
“The car was just super tonight, we have worked so hard to get back here to victory lane,’ commented Davenport after the race. “We have had brake issues, and all kinds of things that didn’t happen last year. So it feels good to get a win her tonight. It’s a great race track and the fans get to see a great race every time we come here.”
The drive of the race may have been that of Brandon Sheppard. The New berlin, Illinois driver had to take a Lucas Oil provisional and start 25th. He charged to second and ended up finishing the big race in third. Tim McCreadie finished fourth, Earl Pearson, Jr. fifth with first time visitor to I-80 Shannon Babb sixth.
In the 40 lap USMTS finale, it was business as usual as Rodney Sanders of Happy, Texas lead almost the entire race to pick up his seventh straight USMTS Silver Dollar National feature win despite strong pressure from Jason Krohn.
Despite the high temperatures throughout the three day affair, Steve Kosiski and his crew once again lived up to their reputation and had proved the racers with a terrific track to race on.
In 2017, Promoter Joe Kosiski is taking the Silver Dollar Nationals to a whole new level, first, it was going to be $50,000 to win and then he decided to honor father Bob and the number 53 that the Kosiski family racing cars have traditionally carried by making the Seventh Annual Silver Dollar pay $53,000 to win, the third biggest payout for a win in dirt late model racing. Oh, he didn’t forget about the USMTS Modified either next year their feature will pay $10,000 to win.
