Ricky Thornton Jr. followed his Friday win with a $50,000 triumph on Saturday
Ricky Thornton Jr. was hot coming into the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned Mountain Moonshine Classic weekend at Smoky Mountain Speedway and he left even hotter. The driver of the SSI Motorsports No. 20RT followed his Friday night win with a much more lucrative victory on Saturday night by taking the lead just before the halfway mark then driving away from the field to win by more than six seconds.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Martinsville, Indiana earned $50,000 for his efforts on the track located in Maryville, Tennessee.
A total of 33 cars were signed in for competition.
The top-3 finishers from each of Friday night’s feature races were locked into a Dash race that would set the starting lineup for the Saturday main event. The remaining cars would try to make their way into the feature through heat races and a B-main.
Dash Finish: 1. Spencer Hughes, 2. Chris Ferguson, 3. Carson Ferguson, 4. Ricky Thornton Jr. 5. Jonathan Davenport, 6. Kyle Stricl;er
Heat 1 Finish: 1. Hudson O’Neal, 2. Max Blair, 3. Devin Moran
Heat 2 Finish: 1. Jimmy Owens, 2. Dale McDowell, 3. Cory Hedgecock
Heat 3 Finish: 1. Daulton Wilson, 2. Tyler Erb, 3. Earl Pearson Jr.
Heat 4 Finish: 1. Tim McCreadie, 2. Boom Briggs, 3. Tyler Bruening
B-main Finish: 1. Mike Marlar, 2. Garrett Smith, 3. Brandon Overton, 4. Ross Robinson
Feature Re-cap: The 60-lap feature got underway with Chris Ferguson taking the lead ahead of Hughes, Thornton, Davenport and Carson Ferguson. Ferguson began to pull away from his pursuers in the early going while Thornton had to hold back a challenge from Davenport for third.
Bruening slowed on lap 4 to bring out what would prove to be the only yellow flag of the night. The ensuing restart proved to be a pivotal one as Thornton jumped to second and then set off after leader Chris Ferguson. Meanwhile, Davenport and Carson Ferguson engaged in a fight for fourth.
O’Neal would join that fight and eventually pass by Ferguson to gain the fifth position.
Ferguson and Thornton broke away from the pack and by lap 15 were having to deal with slower traffic. Further back, Hughes was busy trying to hold off Davenport and O’Neal as those two looked to make a move forward.
Just before the halfway point, Thornton took advantage of slower traffic and made his move to get by Ferguson for the lead. At the same time, O’Neal continued his surge by passing both Davenport and Hughes to get up to third.
A few laps later. O’Neal ran down Ferguson and worked toward taking second while Davenport wrested fourth away from Hughes on lap 35. One lap later, O’Neal took the runner-up position from Ferguson.
O’Neal, Ferguson and Davenport would run in tight formation for the rest of the way as they contested positions 2-4. Meanwhile. Thornton was pulling away at the front of the field.
In the end, it was a show of Ricky Thornton Jr. domination as he ultimately sailed under the checkered flag for the win.
Click the play button below to listen to a post-race interview with Ricky Thornton Jr.:
Feature Results: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Hudson O’Neal, 3. Chris Ferguson, 4. Jonathan Davenport, 5. Kyle Strickler, 6. Carson Ferguson, 7. Tyler Erb, 8. Spencer Hughes, 9. Jimmy Owens, 10. Tim McCreadie, 11. Daulton Wilson, 12. Max Blair, 13. Cory Hedgecock, 14. Mike Marlar, 15. Earl Pearson Jr., 16. Devin Moran, 17. Boom Briggs, 18. Garrett Alberson, 19. Ross Robinson, 20. Garrett Smith, 21. Tyler Bruening, 22. Dale McDowell, 23. Brandon Overton, 24. Jensen Ford
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Photos from Friday night’s Lucas Oil action at Smoky Mountain
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