Ricky Thornton Jr. swept the Lucas Oil weekend in Iowa
Ricky Thornton Jr. picked up his fourth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season on Friday night at 300 Raceway but he wasn’t finished there. On Saturday night at 34 Raceway the No. 20RT wheeled into victory lane to complete the weekend sweep.
Not only did the win follow his previous victory but Thornton and his family were involved in a serious highway accident travelling between the two tracks. The weekend performance returned the driver to the top of the series standings.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Martinsville, Indiana earned $15,000 from the West Burlington, Iowa track in a race shown live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 28 cars were signed in for competition
Qualifying Results:
Group A Results- 1. Tyler Bruening(15.026), 2. Ricky Thornton Jr., 3. Tim McCreadie, 4. Brandon Overton, 5. Chad Simpson, 6. Hudson O’Neal, 7. Devin Moran, 8. Max Blair
Group B Results- 1. Earl Pearson Jr.(15.122), 2. Jimmy Owens, 3. Daulton Wilson, 4. Jonathan Davenport, 5. Spencer Hughes, 6. Daniel Hilsabeck, 7. Chris Simpson, 8. Mason Zeigler
Heat 1 Results: 1. Tim McCreadie, 2. Tyler Bruening, 3. Devin Moran, 4. Chad Simpson
Heat 2 Results: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Brandon Overton, 3. Hudson O’Neal, 4. Max Blair
Heat 3 Results: 1. Earl Pearson Jr., 2. Spencer Hughes, 3. Chris Simpson, 4. Daulton Wilson
Heat 4 Results: 1. Jimmy Owens, 2. Jonathan Davenport, 3. Mason Zeigler, 4. Daniel Hilsabeck
B-main Results: 1. Garrett Alberson, 2. Tyler Erb, 3. Jake Timm, 4. Boom Briggs, 5. Spencer Diercks, 6. Ross Robinson
Feature Re-cap: The 50-lap main event got underway with McCreadie leading Thornton, Pearson, Bruening and Overton. Hughes entered the top-5 on the second lap when he passed by Overton. But Overton would retake the spot three laps later with cars running all over the track at that time.
McCreadie extended his lead to just over two seconds ahead of McCreadie with the field spreading out around the track.
Contact between McCreadie and a slower car then a wall scrape by McCreadie one lap later allowed Thornton to close quickly. On lap 17, Thornton raced by the No. 39 to grab the race lead as both cars fought through traffic.
Thornton then began pull away from the pack leading by over two seconds by lap 22. At the halfway mark, Thornton was leading over McCreadie, Pearson, Bruening and Overton.
Pearson took second away from McCreadie on lap 29 but McCreadie would return the favor one lap later. Again, however, Thornton pulled away from his pursuers. Further back, Davenport and Owens were fighting over sixth just before a lap 38 yellow flag for the slowing car of Daulton Wilson.
On the restart, McCreadie made a bold move attempting to steal the lead but he slipped over the banking and lost numerous positions. At the same time, Overton and Hughes jumped up to second and third respectively.
During a battle for position, Davenport and Bruening came together on lap 41 damaging both cars and bringing out a caution.
Over the closing laps, Thornton pulled away and sailed to the checkered flag to earn his fifth win of the season.
Feature Results: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Brandon Overton, 3. Spencer Hughes, 4. Earl Pearson Jr., 5. Chris Simpson, 6. Hudson O’Neal, 7. Mason Zeigler, 8. Tyler Erb, 9. Jimmy Owens, 10. Max Blair, 11. Garrett Alberson, 12. Tim McCreadie, 13. Devin Moran, 14. Jonathan Davenport, 15. Daulton Wilson, 16. Boom Briggs, 17. Ross Robinson, 18. Daniel Hilsabeck, 19. Jake Timm, 20. Chad Simpson, 21. Tyler Bruening, 22. Matt Furman, 23. Spencer Diercks, 24. Rickey Frankel
Please consider also reading:
Ricky Thornton Jr. adds another Lucas Oil trophy to his collection at 300 Raceway
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