Ricky Thornton, Jr. scored back-to-back Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victories over the weekend at 300 Raceway on Friday and 34 Raceway on Saturday. Photo: LOLMDS Media
Ricky Thornton, Jr. made a clean sweep in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series competition in the Hawkeye State over the weekend.
He kicked it off on Friday night with a win at 300 Raceway in Farley, Iowa, then duplicated the feat on Saturday night at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa.
On Friday, Thornton Jr. scored a perfect night at 300 Raceway as he was the overall fast qualifier, won his heat, and led all but the first ten laps of the 50-lap main event. It marked Thornton’s fourth series win of the season.
Tim McCreadie came home in second, with Hudson O’Neal in third, Mason Zeigler, who led the first ten laps of the race, in fourth and Tyler Erb in fifth.
Zeigler looked stout from the start as he set a rapid pace at the drop of the green. However, lapped traffic allowed Thornton to close the gap in a hurry on Zeigler as Thornton dove down low entering turn two to take the lead on lap 11.
Zeigler then ran second for several laps until McCreadie, who started third, was able to get by. O’Neal recovered from two restarts and battled with McCreadie near the end as the two were close at the finish line with McCreadie just edging out O’Neal.
Thornton, who started from the pole fell back to second in the early going to Zeigler but bounced back passing Zeigler in traffic to take over a lead he never relinquished.
“I just didn’t get a good enough start and that allowed Mason to get out in front,” Thornton said. “I was just kind of dictating off him how fast I needed to go. We got into lapped traffic, and it was kind of hairy there for a while. It worked out for me.”
“There for a while I thought I couldn’t qualify anymore. It was real good tonight. I didn’t hot lap very good, but we qualified really well. It makes your night way easier when you start up front in the heat races and in front of the feature,” said the 32-year-old Martinsville, Indiana racer. “It’s a lot better than starting 20th and driving my tail off to just to get to fifth or sixth.”
On Saturday, Thornton Jr. went to the lead on lap 18 at 34 Raceway and never looked back to score his fifth series win of the season. With the $15,000 victory Thornton becomes the first series driver to eclipse the $100,000 mark in earnings this season.
Tim McCreadie, who ran second to Thornton on Friday night held the lead for the first 17 laps until Thornton made the pass for the lead and went on unchallenged for the rest of the race.
Evans, Georgia’s Brandon Overton finished second with Spencer Hughes in third, Earl Pearson, Jr. in fourth, and Chris Simpson in fifth.
With Thornton out front, McCreadie maintained the second spot but had lost several car lengths to the leader. A caution with 12 laps to go gave McCreadie a shot at Thornton. On the restart McCreadie jumped to the top groove heading into turns one and two, but his momentum was too much as he slipped off the track which allowed several drivers to get by and he fell to 12th in the running order.
The final caution appeared with nine laps remaining which set up a single-file restart. Thornton again showed his strength as he pulled away from Overton and Hughes as he went on record his tenth career series victory.
Thornton had ridden a wave of emotions after winning on Friday night as he and his family escaped uninjured after his apparel trailer left the highway and flipped en route to 34 Raceway.
“It’s definitely been all over the place (my emotions),” Thornton said. “We won last night at Farley and when we left last night, I barely got the trailer off the road and then it flipped. Luckily me and my family was safe. I didn’t how good we would be here tonight. It’s nice to bounce back from that. I want to thank all the fans who bought stuff today, it helps us out.”
“There at the beginning of the race the track was really better than I thought it was, especially in one and two,” Thornton added. “I was trying to keep my pace and I was trying to keep my tires under me. Once I got to traffic you have to go where they are not. Once Tim committed to the top, I thought I would just stay on the bottom. It worked out for me. I think we went three-wide a couple of times getting through traffic.”
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series returns to action at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri on May 25-27. For more information, visit LucasDirt.com.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
300 Raceway – Farley, IA
Race Results – May 19, 2023
1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton, Jr.
2. 39-Tim McCreadie
3. 1H-Hudson O’Neal
4. 25Z-Mason Zeigler
5. 1T-Tyler Erb
6. 99-Devin Moran
7. 20-Jimmy Owens
8. 76-Brandon Overton
9. 25C-Chad Simpson
10. 18D-Daulton Wilson
11. 46-Earl Pearson, Jr.
12. 7-Ross Robinson
13. 49-Jonathan Davenport
14. 16-Tyler Bruening
15. 49T-Jake Timm
16. 58-Garrett Alberson
17. 11-Spencer Hughes
18. T22-Tegan Evans
19. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck
20. 99B-Boom Briggs
21. 40-Joel Callahan
22. 111B-Max Blair
23. 98-Jason Rauen
24. 4G-Kody Evans
25. 29-Spencer Diercks
26. 17-Tim Simpson
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
34 Raceway – West Burlington, IA
Race Results – May 20, 2023
1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton, Jr.
2. 76-Brandon Overton
3. 11-Spencer Hughes
4. 46-Earl Pearson, Jr.
5. 32-Chris Simpson
6. 1H-Hudson O’Neal
7. 25Z-Mason Zeigler
8. 1T-Tyler Erb
9. 20-Jimmy Owens
10. 111B-Max Blair
11. 58-Garrett Alberson
12. 39-Tim McCreadie
13. 99-Devin Moran
14. 49-Jonathan Davenport
15. 18D-Daulton Wilson
16. 99B-Boom Briggs
17. 7-Ross Robinson
18. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck
19. 49T-Jake Timm
20. 25C-Chad Simpson
21. 16-Tyler Bruening
22. 51-Matt Furman
23. 29-Spencer Diercks
24. 33-Rickey Frankel
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