SENOIA, Ga. — Fresh off a $20,000 victory in Friday night’s opener, Ricky Thornton Jr. stormed into Saturday’s Peach State Classic finale and raced to the $30,000 victory and ultimately the $75,000 Castrol FloRacing Night in America presented by Kubota 2024 championship.
His clean sweep of the weekend netted him over $125,000 along with his first miniseries title. He led all 75 laps of the finale.
“We set out with a goal coming into this weekend and knew that if we gave 110-percent effort to all the factors that we controlled, that we’d put ourselves in a position to not only win races but also contend for the championship,” Thornton said. “Ricky (Arnold) had a different idea on what direction to go with the tires for the feature than I was thinking and man it worked perfectly. This car was great from the drop of the green, and I could go anywhere I needed to.
“Hats off to Bubba Pollard and everybody here at Senoia (Raceway) for all the hard work they put into giving us a great track tonight. A huge shoutout to Bobby and Jessica Koehler for the opportunity to drive for them. They are just the best.
“I wish my wife and kids could’ve been here tonight because this is so special. Thank you to my team and all our sponsors for all they do.”
Zack Mitchell and Thornton brought the field to the green flag for the 75-lap finale with Thornton edging ahead down the backstretch on the opening circuit to take control of a lead he’d never surrender.
Meanwhile, the second position was contested for much of the feature with Mitchell, Garrett Alberson and Jonathan Davenport all taking their turns in the position before Mitchell eventually took control of the possession late in the feature. He crossed the finish line 2.880 seconds behind Thornton.
Tenth-starting Davenport finished third with Hudson O’Neal fourth and Alberson fifth.
The win was Thornton’s fourth with the miniseries this year and seventh all time.
Bobby Pierce entered the night with a 21-point advantage atop the series standings, but struggles in qualifying, heat race, and B-Main action forced him to utilize a series provisional to start the main event in the 26th position. Going to a backup car, Pierce rallied to finish 11th but still fell short of keeping Thornton behind him in the final standings.
Pierce finished second in the final points with Daulton Wilson, Jason Feger, Alberson, Spencer Hughes, Tyler Erb, Hudson O’Neal, Dennis Erb Jr. and Carson Ferguson rounding out the final Top 10 in the standings.
Feature Finish (75 Laps)
1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 2. 57-Zack Mitchell[1]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[10]; 4. 71-Hudson O’Neal[5]; 5. 58-Garrett Alberson[4]; 6. 44-Chris Madden[3]; 7. 18X-Michael Page[7]; 8. 1T-Tyler Erb[6]; 9. 9-Nick Hoffman[18]; 10. 76-Brandon Overton[9]; 11. 32-Bobby Pierce[26]; 12. 25-Jason Feger[12]; 13. 10-Joseph Joiner[8]; 14. 44D-Dalton Cook[14]; 15. 18D-Daulton Wilson[25]; 16. 23-Cory Hedgecock[17]; 17. 38-Wil Herrington[11]; 18. 14JR-Trey Mills[15]; 19. 66K-Dylan Knowles[22]; 20. (DNF) 19M-Spencer Hughes[13]; 21. (DNF) 40B-Kyle Bronson[24]; 22. (DNF) F1-Payton Freeman[21]; 23. (DNF) 11-Austin Smith[19]; 24. (DNF) 16H-Austin Horton[20]; 25. (DNF) 12-Ashton Winger[16]; 26. (DNF) 25C-Shane Clanton[23]