PORT ROYAL, Pa. — Ricky Thornton Jr. swept the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Mid-Atlantic swing, winning on Friday night at Georgetown Speedway in Delaware and Sunday night at Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway.
Thornton led every lap of the Battle in the Borough to score his 33rd career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win.
With the weekend sweep Thornton becomes the first driver to go over $100,000 in season earnings after picking up the $10,000 victory at Port Royal.
It was not easy at Port Royal for Thornton as Mike Marlar stayed within striking distance throughout the race. Marlar ended up in the runner-up spot at the checkers; 1.538 seconds behind the winner.
Garrett Alberson earned his second straight podium finish by taking third. Jonathan Davenport and Devin Moran, who dropped back as far as 15th, rallied to round out the top five.
“I felt like my stuff was really good there,” said Thornton. “I was trying to play it a little in one and two, but I think I let Mikey get a little closer to me. Luckily the yellow came out because I think maybe he would have won. I have got to thank whoever brought out that yellow because it put me back out front. It was starting to get a little treacherous there up top, but I figured if you were going to win you had to be up there.”
Marlar tried several times to pull even with Thornton in turns one and two but could never muster enough to clear him to officially lead a lap.
“That’s just how it goes sometimes,” Marlar said. “Ricky should have won the race here last year, but broke. That’s part of the comings and goings in racing. I’m just glad we were able to race him good. We were horrendous on Friday night. We got rained out last night, so it feels good to head back to Tennessee on a good note. This track is unbelievable. You can race 10 different ways here into the corner. I felt like I drove the car good there and felt like I made good decisions. I got by him, but it didn’t work out.”
Alberson earned his third, third-place finish of the season.
“Hats off to the track crew; that thing was really fun; you could move all over the place. I think we needed to stay green there because they [Thornton and Marlar] started dicing there in lapped traffic and I kind of had a lane that they weren’t running in. I think it could have gotten really good. I am just super stoked to drive this car and I love these big tracks.”
The finish:
Ricky Thornton Jr., Mike Marlar, Garrett Alberson, Jonathan Davenport, Devin Moran, Max Blair, Mason Zeigler, Jimmy Owens, Tyler Erb, Carson Ferguson, Rick Eckert, Tim McCreadie, Drake Troutman, Nick Hoffman, Ross Robinson, Daulton Wilson, Brandon Sheppard, Boom Briggs, Hudson O’Neal, Gregg Satterlee, Justin Weaver, Bryan Bernheisel, Brenden Smith, Clay Harris, Max McLaughlin, Cory Lawler.