BOONE, Iowa — Ricky Thornton Jr. successfully defended his IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s late model championship with an impressive victory Monday evening at Boone Speedway.
Thornton, driving a car owned by Todd Cooney for the second-straight year, started seventh in the 50-lap feature while Cory Dumpert led from the pole early on. Thornton went to work right away, quickly moving to fourth before the first caution flag after seven laps were complete.
When the green flag waved Jeff Aikey made a huge move to take fourth, with Thornton on his bumper. The duo quickly dispatched Richie Gustin for third and fourth before Thornton snuck past Aikey with 10 laps complete.
Two laps later the caution flag waved again, this time for two cars stopped in turn four. On the ensuring Delaware double-file restart Thornton got a big run on the top, allowing him to rocket up to second. Aikey was close behind him, moving into third.
The caution waved again with 15 laps complete for debris with Dumpert still in the lead, but he wouldn’t stay there for very long. Aikey used a great restart to go from third to first on the bottom in turns one and two, with Dumpert in second and Thornton in third.
Another caution flag with 19 laps complete for a car stopped at the top of turn three gave Thornton another shot to challenge Aikey, but first he had to dispatch Dumpert. Thornton and Dumpert battled for second, with the duo making contact exiting turn four.
The contact sent Dumpert into the wall at the exit of the corner and he spun in turn one to bring out the caution flag. Before retiring for the night, Dumpert drove his car around the track to give Thornton a shot in the back bumper to express his displeasure with him.
The green flag waved again with 30 laps left as Aikey led Gustin and Thornton back into turn one. Thornton quickly moved by Gustin for second before setting off in pursuit of six-time Super Nationals late model champion Aikey.
Utilizing the top, Thornton was able to make up ground on Aikey every lap. Finally, with 23 laps complete, Thornton used a big run on the top out of turn four to take the lead from Aikey.
Aikey, however, wasn’t done as he returned the favor at the halfway mark coming out of turn four to regain the lead. Thornton stayed right with Aikey for the next five laps before Thornton moved back to the point down the backstretch with 20 laps left.
The final caution flag of the night would wave with 15 laps left following a spin by Greg Krohn in turn four. Thornton made short work of the field on the restart, pulling away to a comfortable lead while Aikey and Gustin battled for second.
Thornton would go on to claim his second-straight Super Nationals late model crown, pocketing $3,000 for his efforts. He’ll now turn his attention to the stock car and modified divisions in an effort to become the first driver to win a Super Nationals title in three divisions in the same year.
“Aikey kind of drove away in the middle and I moved down and all I could see was rubber,” Thornton said. “I was hoping I could get a good run around the top and I got by him and then I screwed up and I let him back by. I don’t think he quite knew there was so much rubber on the bottom of three and four. He kind of kept going out and I was able to sneak by him there. It was pretty awesome.”
Gustin was able to get by Aikey for second late in the race, but he admitted he had nothing for Thornton.
“He took off good,” Gustin said of Thornton during the last restart. “I felt like once we were able to start arching off into the corners and stuff we were just as good and at times maybe better, but you never know how much he (Thornton) was holding back. It was a lot of fun. It was a good time.”
Aikey finished third, followed by Andy Nezworski and Jesse Sobbing.
The finish:
Ricky Thornton Jr., Richie Gustin, Jeff Aikey, Andy Nezworski, Jesse Sobbing, Darrel DeFrance, Justin Kay, Nick Marolf, Charlie McKenna, Gary Webb, Curtis Glover, Jacob Waterman, Andrew Tilley, Greg Kastli, Logan Duffy, Curt Schroeder, Kaleb Jasperson, Joe Zrostlik, Greg Krohn, Darren Mish, Cory Dumpert, Zach Zentner, Joel Callahan, Jon Passick.
All six nights of the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s on Sept. 7-12 will be broadcast live via SPEED SPORT TV affiliate IMCA.TV.