Thornton Does It Again In All-Tech Lucas LM Run

Ricky Thornton Jr. and crew in victory lane at All-Tech Raceway. (LOLMDS photo)

LAKE CITY, Fla. – Ricky Thornton Jr. took the lead during the second half of the Wieland Winter Nationals Friday night at All-Tech Raceway, then dominated the rest of the way for a $12,000 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series presented by FloRacing victory.

It marked Thornton’s second consecutive series win and his fourth at the Florida dirt track, bringing his career total to 44.

Daulton Wilson continued his strong start to the season, finishing as the runner-up after a hard-fought battle with Spencer Hughes in the final laps. Hughes completed the podium finishers in third after leading a race-high 28 laps from the outside pole.

After taking the lead on lap 29 of the 50-lapper, Thornton paced the final 22 circuits, winning by more than eight seconds.

“My crew was telling me to slow down, but the problem was I was so tight on entry that I really couldn’t slow down,” noted Thornton in victory lane. “I don’t know if we had 900 cautions, but I felt like we did, and with the rain coming, I was hoping to make it to halfway. I was terrible on the one restart. I felt like a ping-pong ball for a little bit there.

“I thought it was an awesome racetrack; you could run around the bottom, the middle, or even Hail Mary around the top. You could do whatever you wanted.”

Wilson, who ran third on Thursday night, came back to finish second after getting past Hughes with six laps to go and staying in the mix the entire race.

“Coming to the white there, the motor cut off. I flipped the ignition box, and it ran around there until coming to the checker, and then it died again. I was lucky it wasn’t 51 laps, I guess,” said Wilson. “We could run on the bottom and the top; it had a little bit of character, but you could race all over it. I tried to give it to Ricky tonight, but I think I just made him mad … so good job to him.”

Hughes led the first 28 circuits and was chasing his first career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win before slipping to third late in the going.

“It means a lot to be up here on the podium,” said Hughes. “We haven’t had the best go at Speedweeks so far. We finally felt like we had something working for us, and we qualified well, won a heat race, and led a little more than half of the race. Anytime you can get up front and race with these guys, it feels good, and it’s a big confidence booster. Hopefully, we can keep tuning on this thing and get a bit better.”

Hudson O’Neal and Devin Moran, who regained the series point lead, finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Tyler Erb, Brandon Sheppard, Brandon Overton, polesitter Garrett Alberson, and Clay Harris closed out the top 10.

The finish:

A-Feature (50 laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr. [3]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson [5]; 3. 19M-Spencer Hughes [2]; 4. 71-Hudson O'Neal [4]; 5. 99-Devin Moran [11]; 6. 1T-Tyler Erb [17]; 7. 1-Brandon Sheppard [27]; 8. 76-Brandon Overton [19]; 9. 58-Garrett Alberson [1]; 10. 6-Clay Harris [25]; 11. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck [10]; 12. 111-Max Blair [9]; 13. 388-Jackson Hise [22]; 14. 76N-Blair Nothdurft [21]; 15. 93L-Cory Lawler [26]; 16. 16-Tyler Bruening [7]; 17. 19R-Ryan Gustin [18]; 18. 157-Mike Marlar [13]; 19. 40B-Kyle Bronson [15]; 20. 74X-Ethan Dotson [6]; 21. 49-Jonathan Davenport [23]; 22. 10-Joseph Joiner [20]; 23. 9-Tim McCreadie [14]; 24. 22*-Drake Troutman [24]; 25. 93-Carson Ferguson [16]; 26. 11-Shane Clanton [12]; 27. 20-Jimmy Owens [8].

Lap Leader(s): Garrett Alberson Grid, Spencer Hughes 1-28, Ricky Thornton Jr. 29-50.

Hard Charger: 1-Brandon Sheppard (+20)