BRANDON, S.D. — Ricky Thornton Jr. and Kelly Shryock were victorious at Huset’s Speedway on Wednesday during Bargain Barn Tire Center Night, which kicked off the 14th annual Silver Dollar Nationals.
Thornton dominated the $6,000-to-win Ben Nothdurft Memorial, lapping into the top 10 and winning by more than five seconds to score the triumph during the non-stop, 35-lap RepairableVehicles.com Tri-State Late Models main event.
Thornton chased Bill Leighton for the first 15 laps before threading the needle in traffic with a pass to take the lead on lap 16. He quickly pulled away and built more than a three-second lead within the next 10 laps before ending the race with a 5.174-second margin of victory.
“I love coming to this place,” he said. “It was pretty awesome. I’m not sure exactly how I could roll the middle like I did. I really didn’t know if I needed to be on the bottom or the top off the get-go. Leighton really took off and I tried to keep pace. I found the middle in (turns) three and four and could stay next to him. It was try not to do something dumb and take myself out after that.”
Leighton posted a runner-up result with Tad Pospisil finishing third. Justin Zeitner hustled from 17th to fourth and Josh Leonard ended fifth.
Chanse Hollatz led the first 26 laps of the IMCA Dirt Crown Stock Cars $3,000-to-win feature that endured three cautions within the first 10 laps as well as three cautions and a red flag in the final 10 laps. Unfortunately for Hollatz, he was involved in the final caution after he had been passed for the top spot.
Shryock started 10th and drove into the lead following a late-race caution. He then held off 14th-starting Kyle Vanover during a green-white-checkered finish.
“Chanse is so good on the bottom there,” Shryock said. “The last thing I’d want to do is hit him or move him out of the way and I think that’s what it would have taken. It’s not really an old guy kind of track, but we got up on that cushion and made it happen.”
Jeffrey Larson, who started 13th, rounded out the podium with Dustin Larson placing fourth and Derek Green fifth.
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr (1); 2. 24-Bill Leighton (2); 3. 04-Tad Pospisil (5); 4. 62-Justin Zeitner (17); 5. 85-Josh Leonard (3); 6. 37-Scott Ward (10); 7. 76-Blair Nothdurft (11); 8. 26JR-Corey Zeitner (6); 9. 44-Cole Schill (12); 10. 10CO-AJ Diemel (15); 11. 07-Ben Sukup (4); 12. 22-Gary Brown Jr (8); 13. 20-Trevor Anderson (19); 14. 10C-Chad Olsen (21); 15. 1H-Jake Bridge (9); 16. 4J-Lee Grosz (13); 17. 8-Lane Brenden (7); 18. 7X-Jesse Glenz (18); 19. 87-Curt Kranz (16); 20. 15C-Curt Schroeder (14); 21. C5-Chris Palsrok (20); 22. 15M-Shane DeMey (25); 23. 14-Chase Alves (22); 24. 24M-Cody Martin (24); 25. (DNF) 4B-Justin Boomsma (23).