Ricky Thornton, Jr. celebrates in victory lane at Brownstown Speedway after winning Saturday night’s Jackson 100 for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. Photo: LOLMDS Media
Ricky Thornton, Jr. regained the lead from Hudson O’Neal with 18 laps remaining and pulled away to win the richest event in the history of Indiana’s Brownstown Speedway on Saturday night.
Thornton’s victory in the 44th Annual Jackson 100 for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series was worth $30,000.
It was Thornton’s first win in the annual event that has been held every year since its inception in 1980. O’Neal who led 28 laps during the mid-point of the race could not hold off Thornton who went on to win by 2.167 seconds.
Devin Moran rounded out the podium in third, with Tim McCreadie in fourth, and Cory Hedgecock in fifth.
Thornton jumped to lead at the start of the race with Mike Marlar and Devin Moran holding down the second and third positions. Marlar was running in the runnerup position and was still within striking distance of Thornton until a flat right rear tire with 54 laps scored ended his hopes.
On the restart, O’Neal exploded to the front on the top side and went to the lead on lap 58 by Thornton. O’Neal would lead until lap 82 when Thornton went back to the top spot. From then, Thornton cruised to his 21st series win of the season.
The Jackson 100 victory was the second for his car owners Todd and Vickie Burns who went to Victory Lane in 2019 with O’Neal.
“Once he (O’Neal) got by me I thought the race was over,” Thornton said. “I moved up to his lane and he just drove off. I just kept my cool. He made one little mistake over there off two and I think it broke his concentration a little bit and then he started searching around. It’s pretty awesome to win this race. I felt like I had a pretty good car early. I didn’t know what to do on the restart whether I needed to be high or low. He got by me, and I thought I just gave this one away. It’s pretty cool for Todd and Vickie to get their second Jackson win here.”
Michael Chilton, Daulton Wilson, Tanner English. Nick Hoffman, and Max Blair rounded out the top 10.
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series next travels to Raceway 7 in Conneaut, Ohio on Friday night before moving to Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway in Imperial, Pennsylvania on Saturday. For more details, visit LucasDirt.com.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Brownstown Speedway – Brownstown, IN
Jackson 100 – September 23, 2023
1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton, Jr.
2. 1H-Hudson O’Neal
3. 99-Devin Moran
4. 39-Tim McCreadie
5. 23-Cory Hedgecock
6. 97-Michael Chilton
7. 18D-Daulton Wilson
8. 96V-Tanner English
9. 9H-Nick Hoffman
10. 111B-Max Blair
11. 76-Brandon Overton
12. 46-Earl Pearson, Jr.
13. 58-Garrett Alberson
14. 11-Spencer Hughes
15. 28-Dennis Erb, Jr.
16. 49-Jonathan Davenport
17. 1T-Tyler Erb
18. 11R-Josh Rice
19. 157-Mike Marlar
20. 13W-David Webb
21. 7-Ross Robinson
22. 99B-Boom Briggs
23. 18-Trevor Landrum
24. 71R-Rod Conley
25. 24-Jared Bailey
26. 12-Jason Jameson
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