SARVER, Pa. — No one in the 18-year history of the Firecracker 100 Presented by Big River Steel had ever won the crown jewel event in back-to-back years until Saturday night.
Ricky Thornton Jr. led the last 55 laps to win the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned event earning $50,000 for his 11th series win of the season.
In a race that saw six lead changes among three different drivers, Thornton dominated the last half of the race finishing more than 12 seconds ahead of Devin Moran, who started 16th and passed Mike Marlar for second on lap 97.
Marlar came home in third followed by Jonathan Davenport and Drake Troutman, who ran inside the top three until the waning laps of the race.
Thornton grabbed the lead at the start of the race, leading the first two laps as he and Troutman ran door-to-door until Troutman, who was starting his first Firecracker 100 cleared Thornton to take over the lead for two circuits.
Troutman’s spot at the top was short-lived as Marlar went to the lead on lap five.
Marlar held off Troutman and Thornton as back-to-back cautions slowed the field on laps 10 and 11. On what would be the final restart of the race Thornton cleared Troutman for second and set his sights on regaining the lead from Marlar.
Marlar held the point until lap 38 when Thornton edged ahead, but a lap later Marlar would retake the lead which he held until lap 45 when Thornton again got by Marlar for the lead that he never relinquished.
In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 39th time in his career Thornton led 59 laps to make Firecracker 100 history by winning the event in consecutive seasons for the first time since it started in 2007.
“There were a few times I would get to a lapped car and could never drive hard enough to get by him, and it would really slow my pace down,” Thornton explained. “One time I tried to slow down in three and four and actually about went off the top, so I got into a good rhythm from there on. When this track is fast it’s really fast, but once it’s slick it’s probably slicker than East Bay. It kind of reminds me of All-Tech, where for some reason we are really good there. I think our package suits this style of racetrack once it gets super clean and really slick and it got it done for us.”
Moran’s brilliant charge needed to include a caution flag to have any shot at Thornton, but that never happened as the race went the final 89 laps without a yellow flag.
“I was mainly just bummed when I messed up in the heat race and that’s why we had to start 16th and when Ricky’s on the front row it makes it almost impossible,” Moran related. “Good job and congrats to those guys. Good job to my crew I shouldn’t be bummed that I ran second, but I just know how good of a race car we had, and I didn’t give ourselves a chance. They did an awesome job with the race track, I didn’t expect it to be that wet I ran out of tear offs after about ten laps. We didn’t have that many cautions and to come up there without many cautions is pretty cool and we will take it.”
Marlar, who was seeking his first career Firecracker 100 victory, finished third.
“I just can’t complete the corner. Ricky and Devin’s cars from the center out can turn left and get the straight line down the straightaway better than me and I am headed the wrong way all the time in that area. I have to bend the car and manipulate it too much. I knew I was in trouble. I just tried to do what I could do, but I was struggling pretty bad there, and those guys were just better. Ricky raced me really good, and Devin did too, and it was fun racing on this track.”
The finish:
Ricky Thornton Jr., Devin Moran, Mike Marlar, Jonathan Davenport, Drake Troutman, Tim McCreadie, Garrett Alberson, Mason Zeigler, Hudson O’Neal, Gregg Satterlee, Daulton Wilson, Max Blair, Ross Robinson, Tyler Wyant, Clay Harris, Cory Lawler, Carson Ferbuson, Tyler Dietz, Boom Briggs, Logan Zarin, Brenden Smith, Michael Norris, Colton Flinner, John Garvin Jr., Spencer Hughes, Jimmy Owens, Trevor Collins, Ken Schaltenbrand.