"Blue-Gray 100" winner Jonathan Davenport at Cherokee Speedway. (George Missita)

Ultimate Racing Series: Red-Hot Davenport Claims Controversial Win; Ferguson Takes title By a Nose

Gene Murphy

GAFFNEY, S.C. - Nov. 20. Cherokee Speedway, which boasts of being "The Place Your Mama Warned You About", lived up to the expectations for its annual "Blue-Gray 100". Sunday evening's race will go down in the track's storied history as one of its most memorable as Jonathan Davenport, piloting the Cowpens-based Barry Wright Race Cars "house" car, aggressively claimed the 21st running of the event as his own. 

Virginia's Booper Bare leads Ultimate Series champion Chris Ferguson before finishing fourth at Gaffney. (George Missita)

Wrapping up his season with an incredible string of wins in October and November, Jonathan Davenport posted Sunday's win in the annual "Blue-Gray 100" at Cherokee Speedway. The win was the Georgia ace's sixth out his last nine outings, with three runner-up finishes. (George Missita)

On the start, Davenport slid to second behind fellow front row starter Steve Shaver, behind the wheel of the Leroy and Kevin Rumley-owned machine. Content to bide his time, and never slipping farther than third, Davenport took the lead from Shaver following a Lap 43 restart. By Lap 58, the battle for the lead had become a three-way dogfight between Davenport, Shaver, and Dale McDowell. On the 66th circuit, McDowell cleared Shaver for second and set his sights on Davenport. Two laps later, McDowell took the lead. During a caution period on lap 69, Shaver retired his machine to the pits.

Following a restart on Lap 72, Davenport dove under McDowell entering turn one with a move that will be talked about for some time. Not willing to yield

Booper Bare narrowly misses "The Big One" at Cherokee. Dale McDowell spun his #17 after contact with eventual winner Davenport. (George Missita)

the lead, McDowell stayed in the gas alongside Davenport's right rear quarter panel. With both cars dancing on the edge of control they both washed up the track and McDowell's car slammed the turn two concrete. The incident also collected the Ultimate Super Late Model Series point leader entering the event, Chris Ferguson, whose machine received heavy right side damage. Ferguson was able to continue in 16th position.

During the cleanup, McDowell climbed from his car and walked down to turn one, where Davenport and the rest of the field had stopped for the red flag. McDowell leaned into Davenport's window, obviously expressing his displeasure over the incident.

Chris Ferguson's seventh place finish put the wraps on his first Ultimate Racing Series championship. (George Missita)

Caution fell on lap 81 for Chip Brindle's hard contact with the turn two wall, ending his night and his championship hopes. The final caution of the race came on lap 90 - setting up an Epic battle for the points Championship with Casey Roberts ahead of Chris Ferguson by four positions with 10 to go. Davenport led the field back to green for the final time, but the battle was back in the field. Booper Bare got by Roberts on the restart and Ferguson was again on the move, working around Earl Pearson, Jr. and Mike Gault. Jared Landers made his way around Ferguson with six to go, moving Ferguson back to two spots behind Roberts. Landers worked around Roberts on the high side to move to fifth however, dropping Roberts to sixth, with Ferguson up to seventh. Davenport held the lead until the end of the race and claimed the $10,000 prize money. Chris Madden finished second three car lengths behind Davenport at the fall of the checkered flag. Dennis Erb, Booper Bare, and Jared Landers rounded out the top five.

After the race, back at his hauler, a still steamed McDowell was direct and to the point. "I got took out," he said while holding a bag of ice to his swollen hand. "If you want to know anymore than that, you need to go ask (Davenport)."

Ultimate Racing Series Champion Chris Ferguson. (George Missita)

A visibly subdued and remorseful Davenport seemed to grudgingly accept the trophy and oversize check in victory lane. Afterwards, he shared his thoughts on the incident. Davenport said, "(McDowell) probably wouldn't have done it to me. I was going to do it, then at the last second I tried not to, but I was already committed so it made it probably even a little worse. But, I don't know. Usually Dale don't get upset like that unless somebody does something wrong."

The event also decided the battle for the Ultimate Super Late Model Series point's crown. Entering the race, Ferguson led, while Casey Roberts and Chip Brindle resided in second and third. Separating first to third was just four points. Despite the damage suffered in the Lap 72 accident, Ferguson held on to finish seventh and claimed the 2011 Ultimate Super Late Model Series championship by a single point over Roberts. The Ultimate Series allows each driver who makes every event to drop his worst finish of the season. Casey Roberts would have won his fifth consecutive Championship by four points had it not been for the dropped race.

Nov. 20 - Ultimate Racing Series "Blue-Gray 100" at Cherokee Speedway 1) Jonathan Davenport, 2) Chris Madden, 3) Dennis Erb, Jr., 4) Booper Bare, 5) Jared Landers, 6) Casey Roberts, 7) Chris Ferguson, 8) Earl Pearson Jr., 9) Mike Gault, 10) Ross Bailes, 11) Daniel Baggerly, 12) Ricky Weeks, 13) Jamie Lathroum, 14) Chip Brindle, 15) Jeff Smith, 16) Tim Allen, 17) Dale McDowell, (18) Steve Shaver, (19) Mike Marlar, (20) Brent Dixon, (21) Jeff Cooke, (22) Doug Sanders, (23) Freddy Smith, (24) Zack Mitchell
George Missita photo