OCALA, Fla. – Ricky Thornton Jr. came from the 10th starting spot to take the lead on a lap 14 restart on his way to victory in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned K&N Filters Winter Nationals presented by OPTIMA Batteries Monday at Bubba Raceway Park.
Thornton recorded his second series victory and became the seventh different winner in the first eight races of the new season.
Mike Marlar had his best series finish of the season by finishing second, with Hudson O’Neal crossing the line in third. Devin Moran was fourth and current series point leader Brandon Overton rounded out the top five.
Brian Shirley grabbed the lead and held it for the first 11 laps of the race until Jonathan Davenport passed him on lap 12. Davenport’s lead was short-lived as he had trouble on a lap 13 restart when his engine stalled heading into turn one. Thornton took over the lead with O’Neal and Marlar behind him on the Delaware double-file restart. Thornton carried his momentum to the checkers to take the win by 1.1 seconds over Marlar.
In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the second time in his career, Thornton was elated with how well his year was going as he attempts the full Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series schedule for the first time.
“The cautions helped quite a bit and cleared out traffic for us,” Thornton said. “We struggled at All-Tech and the first part of East Bay, though it was probably more me than the car. The ending at East Bay was a confidence booster and to come here and run as good as we did tonight definitely feels great and says a lot about our team.”
Marlar, like Thornton, is competing in his first season with the series and came home in second.
“That last caution pretty well did me in as far as a chance to win the race,” Marlar said. “Ricky was good. Congratulations to him, and thank you to my team and everyone that helps us out. We couldn’t do this without all of them.”
O’Neal recorded his fourth top-five finish of the season with a third-place result.
“We’ve had success early and it’s great being up front and competing for wins,” O’Neal said. “Thanks to Roger Sellers for giving me this opportunity and my team for giving me such as great race car.”
The finish:
Ricky Thornton Jr., Mike Marlar, Hudson O’Neal, Devin Moran, Brandon Overton, Mark Whitener, Kyle Bronson, Bobby Pierce, Tanner English, Tim McCreadie, Tyler Bruening, Shane Clanton, Josh Richards, Brandon Sheppard, Billy Moyer Jr., Earl Pearson Jr., Jonathan Davenport, Dennis Erb Jr., Ross Robinson, Tony Jackson Jr., Tyler Erb, Kyle Strickler, John Baker, Rick Eckert, Frank Heckenast Jr., Jeff Mathews, Brian Shirley, Jimmy Owens.