Ricky Thornton Jr. banked a $100,000 payday in Nebraska
Ricky Thornton Jr. has been the dominant Dirt Late Model driver for much of the 2023 season and that trend continued on Tuesday night in the XR Super Series-sanctioned Elkhorn 100 at Off Road Speedway. The No, 20RT passed Bobby Pierce following a late race restart then maintained a working margin to eventually score his third victory of the season that paid more than $50,000.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Martinsville, Indiana earned $100,000 from the track located in Norfolk, Nebraska in a race aired live by XRevents.plus.
A total of 27 cars were signed in for the feature.
The starting lineup for the feature was determined by a pair of preliminary races held on Monday night and won by Devin Moran and Daulton Wilson
Feature Lineup: 1. Devin Moran, 2. Daulton Wilson, 3. Bobby Pierce, 4. Ricky Thornton Jr., 5. Kyle Bronson, 6. Dennis Erb Jr., 7. Jonathan Davenport, 8. Hudson O’Neal, 9. Tanner English, 10. Shane Clanton, 11. Ryan Gustin, 12. Brandon Sheppard, 13. Tyler Erb. 14. Brandon Overton, 15. Brian Shirley, 16. Tyler Bruening, 17. Chase Junghans, 18. Matt Cosner, 19. Tim McCreadie, 20. Brent Larson, 21. Daniel Hilsabeck, 22. Tad Pospisil, 23. Ben Sukup, 24. Ethan Dotson, 25. Junior Coover, 26. Dillon McCowan, 27. Morgan Bagley
Feature Re-cap: Early on in the 100-lap feature it was Wilson who took the early lead with Moran, Pierce, Thornton and Bronson trailing. Pierce quickly moved to second and began to harass Wilson for the race lead during the opening laps until a lap 14 yellow flag waved when Tyler Erb spun.
Following that restart, Thornton moved around Pierce for second while O’Neal jumped into the top-5 by passing Moran. Pierce regained the runner-up spot from Thornton on lap 21 while O’Neal slid up to fourth in the order.
A series of cautions between laps 27 to 29 set the running order as Wilson leading over Thornton, Pierce, O’Neal and Bronson.
Thornton and Wilson exchanged the lead on multiple occasions between laps 35 and 42 with Thornton eventually taking hold of the top spot as they worked through slower traffic. Thornton built an advantage of just over two seconds at the halfway point as Pierce passed Wilson to take second on lap 53.
Pierce then closed in on Thornton and eventually drove by the No. 20RT on lap 64 to wrest the lead of the race away. Pierce continued to lead despite having had contact with a lapped car on lap 65. O’Neal charged up and looked to challenge Thornton for second until Thornton glanced off of the backstretch wall into O’Neal send the No. 1 car for a spin on lap 79.
Just after that restart, Thornton passed Pierce for the lead. After that, the top-2 broke away from the pack with Thornton ultimately beating the field to the checkered flag.
Feature Results: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Bobby Pierce, 3. Kyle Bronson, 4. Brandon Sheppard, 5. Daulton Wilson, 6. Tanner english, 7. Chase Junghans, 8. Devin Moran, 9. Brian Shirley, 10. Dennis Erb Jr., 11. Brandon Overton, 12. Jonathan Davenport, 13. Brent Larson, 14. Tyler Erb, 15. Daniel Hilsabeck, 16. Dillon McCowan, 17. Matt Cosner, 18. Ben Sukup, 19. Hudson O’Neal, 20. Ryan Gustin, 21. Shane Clanton, 22. Ethan Dotson, 23. Tad Pospisil, 24. Morgan Bagley, 25. Tim McCreadie, 26. Junior Coover, 27. Tyler Bruening
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