Ricky Thornton, Jr. Survives Late Restarts For Topless 100 Prelim Win
Ricky Thornton, Jr. Survives Late Restarts For Topless 100 Prelim Win
Ricky Thornton, Jr. survived a slew of late-race restarts to win Friday night's Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Topless 100 preliminary feature.
Powering around the outside of Jonathan Davenport on lap 17, second-starting Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., outlasted several late-race restarts and led the final 14 laps to win Friday's $5,000 Comp Cams Topless 100 preliminary feature at Batesville Motor Speedway. Thornton tallied his 15th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory and his series-best 11th full-field win of the season.
Sixth-starting Tim McCreadie went from fourth-to-second on a lap-25 restart and finished 0.327 of a second back. After leading the first 16 laps from the pole, Davenport, of Blairsville, Ga., settled for third. Dale McDowell ran as high as second in the early laps before giving way to Thornton and fading to finish fourth. Eighth-starting Devin Moran made a bold move to take third on a lap-24 restart before contact with Davenport on the following restart relegated him to finish fifth
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Topless 100 Prelim Highlights
Winning Quote From Ricky Thornton, Jr.
“I actually got a really good run out of (turn) four and I was just going too fast and I couldn’t slow down. I’m glad (the contact) was minor as it is, I thought it could be really bad there for a second. I felt like J.D. and Dale (McDowell) kinda took off and I just didn’t take off as good as they did and once we got about 10 laps in, I felt like they kinda slowed down and my stuff picked up.”
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Topless 100 Friday Results
1. Ricky Thornton Jr.
2. Tim McCreadie
3. Jonathan Davenport
4. Dale McDowell
5. Devin Moran
6. Jared Landers
7. Stormy Scott
8. Hudson O'Neal
9. Earl Pearson Jr.
10. Spencer Hughes
11. Garrett Alberson
12. Daulton Wilson
13. Garrett Smith
14. Cade Dillard
15. Brandon Sheppard
16. Hunter Rasdon
17. Billy Moyer
18. Logan Martin
19. Morgan Bagley
20. Billy Moyer Jr.
21. Scott Crigler
22. Brian Rickman
23. Brandon Overton
24. Tyler Erb
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Point Standings
Ricky Thornton, Jr. leads the point standings by 330 points over Hudson O'Neal. Jonathan Davenport holds down the third spot, while Brandon Overton currently sits in the all-important fourth position.
Last Race: North/South 100 at Florence Speedway - August 12
Next Race: Topless 100 at Batesville Motor Speedway - August 19