WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa — Ricky Thornton Jr. went to the lead on lap 18 of the CRST – The Transportation Solution 50 at 34 Raceway and never looked back to score his fifth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory of the season.
Thornton, who was also victorious on Friday night has now retaken the Big River Steel Chase for the Championship presented by ARP points lead heading into the Show-Me 100 weekend at Lucas Oil Speedway May 25-27.
With the $15,000 victory Thornton becomes the first series driver to eclipse the $100,000 mark in earnings this season.
Tim McCreadie, who ran second to Thornton on Friday night held the lead for the first 17 laps until Thornton made the pass for the lead and went on unchallenged for the rest of the race. Brandon Overton finished second with Spencer Hughes rounding out the Big River Steel Podium in third.
The remainder of the top five finishers were Earl Pearson Jr. and Chris Simpson.
With Thornton out front, McCreadie maintained the second spot but had lost several car lengths to the leader. A caution with 12 laps to go gave McCreadie a shot at Thornton. On the restart McCreadie jumped to the top groove heading into turns one and two, but his momentum was too much as he slipped off the track which allowed several drivers to get by and he fell to 12th in the running order.
The final caution appeared with nine laps remaining which set up a single-file restart. Thornton again showed his strength as he pulled away from Overton and Hughes as he went on record his 10th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory.
Thornton has ridden a wave of emotions after winning on Friday night as he and his family escaped uninjured after his apparel trailer left the highway and flipped en route to 34 Raceway. “It’s definitely been all over the place [my emotions]. We won last night at Farley and when we left last night, I barely got the trailer off the road and then it flipped. Luckily me and my family was safe. I didn’t how good we would be here tonight. It’s nice to bounce back from that. I want to thank all the fans who bought stuff today, it helps us out.”
“There at the beginning of the race the track was really better than I thought it was, especially in one and two,” Thornton added. “I was trying to keep my pace and I was trying to keep my tires under me. Once I got to traffic you have to go where they are not. Once Tim committed to the top, I thought I would just stay on the bottom. It worked out for me. I think we went three-wide a couple of times getting through traffic.”
Overton, who sits third in the championship standings came home in the runner-up spot.
“I have never been to these places so what to adjust or not adjust we weren’t sure. I couldn’t run down in there and steer, cause I would shove up the hill,” Overton said. “That was a pretty good race from second on back. Congrats to those guys. It was an awesome track; it was my first time here. You could run through the bottom or middle.”
Hughes rounded out the podium with his third-place finish.
“You definitely had to be real patient tonight. I wasn’t quite as good as Ricky and Brandon in the slick. I had to catch that last little bit of moisture down by the tires. I was able to do that. I caught some breaks on a couple of those restarts. We will take this finish and head to Wheatland with some momentum.”
The finish:
Ricky Thornton Jr., Brandon Overton, Spencer Hughes, Earl Pearson Jr., Chris Simpson, Hudson O’Neal, Mason Zeigler, Tyler Erb, Jimmy Owens, Max Blair, Garrett Alberson, Tim McCreadie, Devin Moran, Jonathan Davenport, Daulton Wilson, Boom Brigs, Ross Robinson, Daniel Hilsabeck, Jake Timm, Chad Simpson, Tyler Bruening, Matt Furman, Spencer Diercks, Rickey Frankel.