Ricky Thornton Jr. just keeps winning
Ricky Thornton Jr. has won all season long and on Friday night in the preliminary event for Saturday’s North-South 100 he continued that trend at Florence Speedway. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points leader earned his 14th series win of the 2023 season.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Martinsville, Indiana earned $5,000 from the track located in Union, Kentucky in a race aired live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 59 cars were signed in for competition
Qualifying Results:
Group A Results- 1. Ricky Thornton Jr.(16.229), 2. Garrett Smith, 3. Mike Harrison, 4. Dale McDowell, 5. Chris Ferguson
Group B Results- 1. Daulton Wilson(16.472), 2. Ryan Gustin, 3. Mike Marlar, 4. Brian Shirley, 5. Kyle Strickler
Heat Race Results:
Heat 1 Finish- 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Chris Ferguson, 3. Mike Harrison, 4. Logan Roberson, 5. Eddie Carrier Jr.
Heat 2 Finish- 1. Garrett Smith, 2. Max Blair, 3. Dale McDowell, 4. Jason Jameson, 5. James Rice
Heat 3 Finish- 1. Daulton Wilson, 2. Mike Marlar, 3. Earl Pearson Jr., 4. Kyle Strickler, 5. Tim McCreadie
Heat 4 Finish- 1. Ryan Gustin, 2. Brian Shirley, 3. Garrett Alberson, 4. Tyler Bruening, 5. Vic Hill
B-main Results: 1. Josh Rice, 2. Tyler Erb, 3. Trevor Landrum, 4. Jesse Lay
Feature Re-cap: When the 25-lap feature got underway it was Wilson who jumped out to the lead with Thornton, Gustin, Marlar and Smith in arrears but a lap 1 caution for debris slowed the pace. Ferguson moved into the top-5 on the restart pushing Smith back to sixth.
Ferguson passed Marlar for fourth on lap 4 with Wilson, Thornton and Gustin still making up the top-3. Marlar would regain fourth on lap 10. Then Thornton wrested the lead away from Wilson on lap 12.
After that, the No. 20RT began to slip away from the field. Although Wilson kept pace over the closing laps, Thornton sealed another victory leading into the crown jewel main event on Saturday night.
Feature Results: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Daulton Wilson, 3. Ryan Gustin, 4. Mike Marlar, 5. Chris Ferguson, 6. Tim McCreadie, 7. Garrett Smith, 8. Earl Pearson Jr., 9. Garrett Alberson, 10. Max Blair, 11. Dale McDowell, 12. Tyler Bruening, 13. Kyle Strickler, 14. Tyler Erb, 15. Josh Rice, 16. Eddie Carrier Jr., 17. Logan Roberson, 18. Trevor Landrum, 19. Brian Shirley, 20. Jesse Lay, 21. Vic Hill, 22. Mike Harrison, 23. James Rice, 24. Jason Jameson
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