Moran Nips Thornton In Georgetown Lucas LM Thriller

Devin Moran's bumper sneaks ahead of Ricky Thornton Jr. at the checkered flag at Georgetown Speedway. (Heath Lawson photo)

GEORGETOWN, Del. – Devin Moran edged Ricky Thornton Jr. at the finish line by .077 seconds to win Friday night’s Melvin L. Joseph Memorial at Georgetown Speedway.

The two drivers entered the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series‘ third-ever visit to the track tied atop the point standings, but after banking the $20,049 victory, Moran took a 10-point lead over Thornton heading to Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway on Saturday.

Garrett Alberson registered another strong finish, coming from 12th on the grid to third. Fourteenth-starting Brandon Sheppard finished fourth, while Hudson O’Neal recovered from a pit stop to land fifth.

Brandon Overton led the first 21 laps of the 49-lapper from his outside front row starting spot. Overton, who was seeking his first series win of the season, controlled the first 21 laps of the race until a lap-22 restart saw Daulton Wilson bolt to the point.

Wilson stayed in front until Moran, who started sixth, swept by him to become the third and final leader of the race on lap 28. Moran opened a sizable lead over the field until a caution with six laps left bunched the field up.

Another caution with three to go delayed Moran’s trip to victory lane, as he narrowly hung onto the lead with Thornton applying heavy pressure.

With three laps to go in the race, the two fought it out, with Moran nipping Thornton at the finish line after Thornton tried a cross-over move on him that fell just short.

Moran registered his fifth series win of the year and the 20th of his career Friday at Georgetown.

“That took a lot of hard work to win. I was super good early at biding my time, and I knew I had hard tires,” said Moran. “There was a big hole getting into (turn) one, and you could hardly see it until you were right on it. After I got the lead, it was about five laps after I smoked it and demolished the whole right front. I don’t know what was wrong with it. I was hanging on there at the end, without a doubt.

“I knew he (Thornton) was there. I was trying to enter wide and sweep down the hill. I knew with the front end messed up, it was just too tight to run up there on that cushion, so I just committed myself to the bottom,” added Moran. “To be honest, I was just blocking at the end, so that way I could get to the finish line first. I knew it was close because I could see all the fans standing on the frontstretch.

“It was a fun race for sure.”

Thornton, who had captured the previous two Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series wins at Georgetown, was looking for a clean sweep of the night after setting a new track record in time trials and easily winning his heat race to earn the feature pole.

“I don’t know,” said Thornton when asked what he could have done differently. “I tried to dive behind Overton at the start, but I had a bad restart and got buried back to about fifth or sixth. I messed up the next restart and nearly wrecked the field. After that, I started to throw it into the top of one and two.

“I thought in three and four you could move out, but it was so treacherous that you had to hit it right. I didn’t want that last yellow to come out,” Thornton added. “I felt like he (Moran) was stuck behind those two lapped cars, and I was able to get all the way to him.”

Alberson, who ran well at Georgetown a year ago, finished third this time around.

“We just went back to our notes from a year ago here because we had a similar scenario. I think we went from 10th to third,” Alberson noted. “I think we were on the podium with the same guys there, so I don’t know what it is about this track, but I always enjoy coming here and it always races well in the feature.

“I was a little too tight to get in there with them guys, unfortunately, because they were having a heck of a battle. I wish I could have gotten in there to battle with them.”

Wilson, Overton, Rick Eckert, Dan Ebert, and Trevor Collins completed the top 10.

The finish:

Melvin L. Joseph Memorial A-Main (49 laps): 1. 99-Devin Moran [6]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr. [1]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson [12]; 4. 1-Brandon Sheppard [14]; 5. 71-Hudson O'Neal [11]; 6. 18D-Daulton Wilson [3]; 7. 76-Brandon Overton [2]; 8. 24-Rick Eckert [9]; 9. 60-Dan Ebert [17]; 10. 11-Trevor Collins [22]; 11. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck [10]; 12. 2J-Justin Weaver [18]; 13. 66C-Matt Cosner [24]; 14. 4-Amanda Robinson [16]; 15. 49-Jonathan Davenport [5]; 16. 79-Donald McIntosh [15]; 17. 93-Carson Ferguson [8]; 18. 93L-Cory Lawler [23]; 19. 7-Ross Robinson [7]; 20. 19M-Spencer Hughes [13]; 21. 6-Clay Harris [19]; 22. 3-Brent Robinson [21]; 23. 1T-Tyler Erb [4]; 24. 55L-Donald Lingo Jr. [20]