9/23/2023
Ricky Thornton Jr
Ricky Thornton Jr. adds Brownstown 100 to historic 2023 season
Ricky Thornton Jr. added another first-time accomplishment to his trophy case on Saturday night with a maiden trip to Victory Lane in the historic Jackson 100.
Thornton Jr. overcame a battle with Hudson O’Neal to snare the $30,000 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory with his SSI Motorsports / Coltman Farms / Hoker Trucking No. 20RT Dyno One Inc. / Excel Floor Covering / Sub-Surface of Indiana / Longhorn Chassis / Clements Racing Engine Super Late Model.
“Once he (Hudson O’Neal) got by me I thought the race was over. 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,” Thornton Jr. noted. “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 (Burns) to get their second Jackson win here.”
Coming off a complete sweep of the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals, Ricky Thornton Jr. returned to action with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway (Brownstown, Ind.) aboard his SSI Motorsports No. 20RT Super Late Model for Friday’s C.J. Rayburn Memorial.
With 45 Late Models entered, Thornton followed up the second-fastest time in his group with a convincing heat race win. Moving forward one spot in the 40-lap feature, Ricky challenged front-running Mike Marlar late in the closing laps but came 0.802-seconds short at the line of the victory.
On Saturday evening, Ricky outran fellow front-row starter Brandon Overton in his heat race to pick up the eight-lap victory.
Thornton Jr. paced the first 57 laps before Hudson O’Neal shot past for the lead on a restart. Wrestling away the lead back from O’Neal on lap 86 of the feature, Ricky stormed to his first career Jackson 100 victory and his 32nd overall of the season in the 100-lap affair. He banked a $30,000 payday ahead of O’Neal, Devin Moran, Tim McCreadie, and Cory Hedgecock.
Thornton is currently 435 markers ahead of Hudson O’Neal for the lead in the latest LOLMDS point standings.
Full results from the events are available at www.LucasDirt.com.
The team stays this busy with a trio of events. Action opens with the ninth round of the Castrol FloRacing Night in America season on Wednesday night at Tyler County Speedway (Middlebourne, W.Va.), where a $23,023 top prize is on the line. Ricky enters the weekend fourth in the series points.
From there the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) sanctions a $12,000-to-win program on Friday night at Raceway 7 (Conneaut, Ohio) before invading Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway (Imperial, Pa.) on Saturday for the 2023 edition of the Pittsburgher, which posts a $30,000 top prize.
For more information on the events, please visit www.FloSeries.com and www.LucasDirt.com.
Article Credit: Heath Lawson image