Ricky Thornton Jr. just keeps winning
Another day, another win for Ricky Thornton Jr. The hottest driver on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series scored another feature victory on Saturday in the Freedom 60 at Muskingum County Speedway on Saturday night. The No. 20RT machine took the lead just before halfway and had to survive late race restarts to take the checkered flag.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Martinsville, Indiana earned $30,000 from the track located in Zanesville, OH in a race shown live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 33 cars were signed in for competition
The B-main and feature lineups were set by results from preliminary races held on Friday night.
Feature Starting Lineup: 1. Tim McCreadie, 2. Hudson O’Neal, 3. Ricky Thornton Jr., 4. Brandon Overton, 5. Devin Moran, 6. Daulton Wilson, 7. Jonathan Davenport, 8. Ross Robinson, 9. Todd Brennan, 10. Doug Drown, 11. Matt Cosner, 12. Tyler Carpenter, 13. Garrett Smith, 14. Garrett Alberson, 15. Tyler Bruening, 16. Cody Scott, 17. Rob Anderzack, 18. Boom Briggs
B-main Finish: 1. Spencer Hughes, 2. Tyler Erb, 3. Jesse Wisecarver, 4. Max Blair
Feature Re-cap: At the start of the 60-lap feature Overton jumped to the lead ahead of Thornton, McCreadie, O’Neal and Moran. On the second circuit it would be McCreadie who would go on the move by taking second from Thornton. However, the action would be slowed on the second lap when Drown spun to bring out a yellow flag.
Multiple cars were involved in an incident on the attempt at a restart with Smith, Hughes and Pearson among those caught up in the mishap. All cars continued.
O’Neal moved into second on the restart but Thornton fought back as those two continued to exchange the spot with O’Neal eventually winning out as Overton continued to show the way.
McCreadie took fourth away from Wilson on lap 9. Further back Blair worked his way into the top-10 as Thornton resumed his fight for second with O’Neal at the same time. Erb moved from his 20th starting position up to 10th by lap 16.
The top-3 of Overton, O’Neal and Thornton engaged in a fierce battle at lap 20. Thornton passed by Overton for the lead with an outside move on lap 26. One lap later, Overton went back to the top spot on the leaderboard but Thornton retaliated to regain the advantage.
Thornton then attempted to set sail as he roared out to an advantage of two seconds by the halfway point.
The fast rising Blair burst into the top-5 on lap 37 with a pass of Wilson but Wilson regained the spot soon thereafter. With the feature moving by the 20-to-go mark, Thornton was three second ahead. However, a spin by Drown on lap 42 would bunch the field.
McCreadie went to second behind Thornton on the lap 42 restart dropping O’Neal to third ahead of Wilson and Overton.
Hughes slowed with a flat tire on lap 46 to bring out a caution.
Blair went to third on lap 47 with Thornton and McCreadie still ahead. Over the closing laps, Thornton continued his winning ways by beating the pack to the checkered flag.
Feature Results: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Tim McCreadie, 3. Max Blair, 4. Hudson O’Neal, 5. Devin Moran, 6. Tyler Erb, 7. Earl Pearson Jr., 8. Brandon Overton, 9. Garrett Alberson, 10. Jonathan Davenport, 11. Tyler Bruening, 12. Tyler Carpenter, 13. Spencer Hughes, 14. Cody Scott, 15. Daulton Wilson, 16. Matt Cosner, 17. Ross Robinson, 18. Rob Anderzack, 19. Boom Briggs, 20. Clint Keenan, 21. Doug Drown, 22. Garrett Smith, 23. Todd Brennan, 24. Jesse Wisecarver
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