2/10/2024
Ricky Thornton Jr
Fourth-place finish in Wieland Winternationals prelim at East Bay
With Monday’s Wieland Winternationals opener rained out, Ricky Thornton Jr. took the opportunity to pilot a pair of Driven Performance Midwest Micros at Marion County Speedway (Ocala, Fla.) for the opening night of the Florida Micro Funfest.
After a mechanical issue sidelined his Wing Outlaw entry for the main event, Thornton climbed five positions in the Non-Wing Outlaw feature to finish fourth.
Back at East Bay Raceway Park (Tampa, Fla.) on Tuesday for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) sanctioned program, Ricky followed up a second-place finish in his heat with a ninth-place outing in the feature.
With a hurt motor during his second lap of his time trial session on Wednesday bringing an early end to his night, Thornton stormed into Thursday’s $10,000-to-win A-Main with a second-place finish in his heat. Cracking the top-five from the sixth row, Ricky passed seven cars to register a fourth-place finish.
Using a provisional into Friday night’s feature after missing a transfer spot by two cars in his B-Main, Ricky advanced through the field 19 positions in the 50-lapper, reeling in a sixth-place finish.
His weekend concluded on Saturday with a 20th-to-8th run in the final Wieland Winternationals A-Main at the Florida oval.
Ricky leaves East Bay Raceway Park with a five point lead over Hudson O'Neal atop the LOLMDS point standings.
Full results from the events are available at www.MarionCountySpeedway.com and www.LucasDirt.com.
Article Credit: Heath Lawson image