Ricky Thornton Jr.
Ricky Thornton Jr. has won a lot in 2023 – 30 times – as a matter of fact, and Friday night was no exception. A light rain shower that delayed the start was not even enough to slow the No. 20RT down. The SSI Motorsports team grabbed another checkered flag in Friday night’s Lucas Knoxville Late Model Nationals preliminary as Knoxville Raceway.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Martinsville, Indiana earned $7,000 from the track located in Knoxville, Iowa in a race shown live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 39 cars were signed in for competition
Qualifying Results:
Group A Results- 1. Brian Shirley(17.294), 2. Mike Marlar, 3. Ryan Gustin, 4. Chad Simpson, 5. Ricky Thornton Jr., 6. Chris Simpson, 7. Chris Ferguson, 8. Hudson O’Neal
Group B Results- 1. Brandon Overton(17.344), 2. Kyle Bronson, 3. Spencer Hughes, 4. Daulton Wilson, 5. Tyler Bruening, 6. Billy Moyer Sr., 7. Jonathan Davenport, 8. Devin Moran
Heat 1 Results: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Garrett Alberson, 3. Chris Ferguson, 4. Ryan Gustin, 5. Todd Cooney
Heat 2 Results: 1. Hudson O’Neal, 2. Chad Simpson, 3. Mike Marlar, 4. Cory Hedgecock, 5. Tyler Erb
Heat 3 Results: 1. Brandon Sheppard, 2. Max Blair, 3. Spencer Hughes, 4. Tyler Bruening, 5. Brandon Overton
Heat 4 Results: 1. Earl Pearson Jr., 2. Devin Moran, 3. Chase Junghans, 4. Kyle Bronson, 5. Daulton Wilson
B-main 1 Finish: 1. Brian Shirley, 2. Daniel Hilsabeck
B-main 2 Finish: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Justin Zeitner
Feature Re-cap: The 25-lap feature began with Thornton leading Chad Simpson, Wilson, Hughes and Overton. Bronson entered the top-5 on the second lap by passing Overton. However, Overton would not only fight back but jump all the way to fourth.
The fight between Overton and Hughes would carry on for several laps among a hornet’s nest of battles.
By lap 8, Thornton had built his lead to just over two seconds. Overton came storming through the top-5 all the way up to second but trailing Thornton by four seconds.
But the field would be bunched back together on lap 16 when Marlar stopped on track. At the time of caution, Thornton led Overton, Simpson, Wilson and Bronson.
On the lap 16 restart, Simpson, Bronson and Moran moved up to positions 2-4 as Thornton continued to show the way. Moran got by Bronson for third to take third on lap 20.
Thornton again built a big lead by lap 22 and continued to pull even further ahead all the way to the time the checkered flag waved.
Feature Results: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Chad Simpson, 3. Devin Moran, 4. Brandon Overton, 5. Kyle Bronson, 6. Daulton Wilson, 7. Spencer Hughes, 8. Brandon Sheppard, 9. Hudson O’Neal, 10. Ryan Gustin, 11. Brian Shirley, 12. Tyler Erb, 13. Chase Junghans, 14. Tyler Bruening, 15. Garrett Alberson, 16. Justin Zeitner, 17. Cory Hedgecock, 18. Todd Cooney, 19. Daniel Hilsabeck, 20. Mike Marlar, 21. Chris Ferguson, 22. Jonathan Davenport, 23. Max Blair, 24. Earl Pearson Jr.
Please consider also reading:
Ricky Thornton Jr. charges to Knoxville preliminary win on Thursday night
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