Ricky Thornton Jr.
Another race, another win. Ricky Thornton Jr. has looked unbeatable on numerous occasions this season and Friday night in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned Great Lakes 50 at Raceway 7 was another of those times. The SSI Motorsports driver led all the way in the feature to score yet another victory.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Martinsville, Indiana earned $12,000 from the track located in Conneaut, Ohio in a race aired live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 24 cars were signed in for competition
Qualifying Results: 1. Hudson O’Neal(16.955), 2. Jonathan Davenport, 3. Devin Moran, 4. Boom Briggs, 5. Ricky Thornton Jr., 6. Daulton Wilson, 7. Garrett Alberson, 8. Matthew Lux, 9. Ross Robinson, 10. Tyler Erb
Heat 1 Results: 1. Garrett Alberson, 2. Hudson O’Neal, 3. Tim McCreadie, 4. Earl Pearson Jr., 5. Boom Briggs, 6. Tyler Erb, 7. Logan Jaquay, 8. Kevin Santee
Heat 2 Results: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Jonathan Davenport, 3. Logan Roberson, 4. Matthew Lux, 5. Bump Hedman, 6. Drake Troutman, 7. Brandon Overton, 8. Bob Dorman
Heat 3 Results: 1. Devin Moran, 2. Daulton Wilson, 3. Spencer Hughes, 4. Ross Robinson, 5. Max Blair, 6. Darrell Bossard, 7. Breyton Santee, 8. Dylan Yoder
Feature Re-cap: At the start of the 50-lap main event there was a multi-car crash in turn three involving O’Neal, Santee, Roberson, Wilson, Pearson and Erb caused a complete restart.
On the second attempt to start the feature it was Thornton who went to the lead with Alberson, O’Neal, Moran and Wilson trailing. A second yellow flag would wave on lap 3 when Troutman suffered a flat tire.
Shortly after the restart, Davenport and Wilson battled for the fifth position with Davenport winning out. By lap 10, Thornton began to slip away from Alberson and O’Neal. The leaders began to encounter heavy traffic as the race reached the lap 15 mark but Thornton was able to maintain his advantage.
O’Neal took second away from Alberson on lap 18. The No. 1 car then set off in pursuit of Thornton as traffic remained a factor. However, the lead for the No. 20RT car extended to 2.5 seconds at the halfway point.
Moran caught up to passed Alberson for third on lap 32 as Thornton led O’Neal by just over three seconds. A lap 38 caution for a flat tire on Roberson would regroup the field with Thornton ahead of O’Neal, Moran, Alberson, Davenport and Wilson.
The lap 38 restart lifted Moran to second behind Thornton but another caution would again slow the pace when O’Neal slowed with a flat tire. That misfortune placed Thornton in the lead over Moran, Davenport, McCreadie and Wilson.
Once more, Thornton bolted away from the pack leaving Moran and Davenport to battle for second.
Over the closing laps, Thornton drove away to claim his 22nd series win of the 2023 season.
Feature Results: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Devin Moran, 3. Jonathan Davenport, 4. Tim McCreadie, 5. Daulton Wilson, 6. Garrett Alberson, 7. Hudson O’Neal, 8. Max Blair, 9. Spencer Hughes, 10. Boom Briggs, 11. Ross Robinson, 12. Tyler Erb, 13. Brandon Overton, 14. Earl Pearson Jr., 15. Matthew Lux, 16. Bob Dorman, 17. Bump Hedman, 18. Logan Roberson, 19. Darrell Bossard. 20. Logan Jaquay, 21. Kevin Santee, 22. Drake Troutman, 23. Breyton Santee, 24. Dylan Yoder
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