Ricky Thornton Jr.
Another night on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and another win for Ricky Thornton Jr. This time, the triumph came in Friday night’s Topless 100 preliminary event at the Batesville Motor Speedway and was the No. 20RT team’s 15th series win of the 2023 season.
Thornton will start Saturday night’s $50,000-to-win main event from the pole as a result of his win.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Martinsville, Indiana earned $5,000 from the track located in Batesville, Arkansas in a race shown live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 63 cars were signed in for competition
Qualifying Results:
Group A Results- 1. Jonathan Davenport(13.615), 2. Dale McDowell, 3. Brandon Overton, 4. Jared Landers, 5. Stormy Scott, 6. Earl Pearson Jr., 7. Spencer Hughes, 8. Tyler Erb
Group B Results- 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Billy Moyer Sr., 3. Garrett Smith, 4. Devin Moran, 5. Daulton Wilson, 6. Tim McCreadie, 7. Cade Dillard, 8. Daniel Hilsabeck
Heat Race Results:
Heat 1 Finish- 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Jared Landers, 3. Spencer Hughes
Heat 2 Finish- 1. Dale McDowell, 2. Stormy Scott, 3. Tyler Erb
Heat 3 Finish- 1. Brandon Overton, 2. Earl Pearson Jr., 3. Scott Crigler
Heat 4 Finish- 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Devin Moran, 3. Garrett Alberson
Heat 5 Finish- 1. Billy Moyer Sr., 2. Daulton Wilson, 3. Brian Rickman
Heat 6 Finish- 1. Tim McCreadie, 2. Garrett Smith, 3. Billy Moyer Jr.
B-main Results:
B-main 1 Finish- 1. Tyler Stevens, 2. Hudson O’Neal, 3. Hunter Rasdon
B-main 2 Finish- 1. Cade Dillard, 2. Brandon Sheppard, 3. Morgan Bagley
Feature Re-cap: The 30-lapfeature began with Davenport taking the lead ahead of Thornton, McDowell, Moyer Sr. and Overton. McDowell was able to get by Thornton for second place on the second lap while Overton took fourth from Moyer.
Just behind the top-4 McCreadie entered the top-5 on lap 4. Soon after, the front runners began to space out with about one second between each of the top-5 drivers. However, McDowell and Thornton began to close in on Davenport at the halfway mark as the leaders began to run up on slower traffic.
Thornton passed McDowell on lap 16 to take the runner-up spot and immediately went after Davenport. One lap later, the series points leader drove by the defending winner of the Topless 100 to claim the lead.
A series of cautions would allow drivers such as Moran and McCreadie to gain positions on the ensuing restarts. However, no one was ever able to mount a charge against Thornton as he drove on the capture another checkered flag.
Feature Results: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Tim McCreadie, 3. Jonathan Davenport, 4. Dale McDowell, 5. Devin Moran, 6. Jared Landers, 7. Stormy Scott, 8. Hudson O’Neal, 9. Earl Pearson Jr., 10. Spencer Hughes, 11. Garrett Alberson, 12. Daulton Wilson, 13. Garrett Smith, 14. Cade Dillard, 15. Brandon Sheppard, 16. Hunter Rasdon, 17. Billy Moyer Sr., 18. Logan Martin, 19. Morgan Bagley, 20. Billy Moyer Jr., 21. Scott Crigler, 22. Brian Rickman, 23. Brandon Overton, 24. Tyler Erb
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