ROSSBURG, Ohio — Ricky Thornton Jr. passed Brandon Sheppard with four laps remaining to win the opening night of the UNOH Clash on the Wabash at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway, earning $10,000 for the victory.
Thornton, last year’s World 100 winner at Eldora, started fourth and collected his 63rd career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory.
The third different leader of the 40-lap race, Thornton beat Sheppard to the finish line by 1.065 seconds.
Sheppard led a race-high 20 laps and maintained his championship points lead heading into Saturday’s $50,000-to-win feature.
Sheppard holds a 65-point lead over Hudson O’Neal, who earned Hoker Trucking Hard Charger of the Race honors by rallying from 21st to fifth. Devin Moran finished third after starting 11th, rounding out the podium, and sits 75 points behind Sheppard. Kyle Bronson debuted a new Longhorn race car and finished fourth.
Thornton led the fewest laps of the race’s three leaders—Sheppard, Chris Madden, and himself—but made the decisive move in lapped traffic on lap 37.
“I didn’t think I was going to get back to him (Sheppard). I knew he was running across the middle to the bottom, and if I was able to get to him, I would have to move up and try to carry speed and momentum,” Thornton said. “It was really kind of weird. There wasn’t a curb up there. You could roll it straight, and it was smooth enough where you could just carry speed. I tore the right side of the car up when I got into Madden there in three. He got in like he was going to slide in the middle, and he started coming back down, but I was committed at that point. We hit pretty good there, and I definitely didn’t want that to happen.”
Sheppard, who is pursuing his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship, felt a victory had slipped away after he led the most laps Friday night.
“We were kind of running off of that brown a little bit when we were leading the race. It got real shiny,” Sheppard said. “The two lapped cars in front of me were swinging out so wide, so I didn’t think I could get a good run on the top. Obviously, that is where I needed to be, and Ricky did that. We always race hard and clean together. I definitely felt I gave that one up in lapped traffic there, but we were a little bit different on tires than these other two guys in the top three. I got to where I couldn’t steer a little bit at the end. If I could have gotten to the top, it would have been at least a little harder for them to get by me.”
Moran followed his dominant Pittsburgher victory last weekend with a third-place finish at Eldora.
“Honestly, I didn’t really want to see that last caution because I knew Brandon was on a little bit different tire than us. We were way back, and both Ricky and I reeled him in. All in all, for how fast the track was, it was so hard to pass until about the last 15 or 20 laps. With the cool air, it just made it a little faster than they expected. It was not a horrible night for us. We are still within reach. I think we caught a little bit up on Hud, but we definitely lost a little bit to Shepp.”
The UNOH Clash on the Wabash | Night 1 | Feature Finish (40 Laps):
Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Earnings
1 – 4 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – $10,000
2 – 6 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – $5,600
3 – 11 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $3,500
4 – 10 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – $2,700
5 – 21 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $2,500
6 – 3 – 11 – Josh Rice – Crittenden, KY – $2,300
7 – 13 – 32 – Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – $2,200
8 – 2 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – $2,100
9 – 1 – 44M – Chris Madden – Gray Court, SC – $2,050
10 – 7 – 9H – Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – $2,000
11 – 8 – 17M – Dale McDowell – Chickamauga, GA – $1,600
12 – 12 – 1T – Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – $1,400
13 – 19 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – $1,200
14 – 17 – 10 – Garrett Smith – Madison, GA – $1,000
15 – 18 – 8S – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – $950
16 – 24 – 8 – Dillon McCowan – Urbana, MO – $925
17 – 23 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $900
18 – 20 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – $875
19 – 25 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – $150
20 – 9 – 93F – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $825
21 – 14 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – $800
22 – 5 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – $800
23 – 16 – 95 – Boom Briggs – Bear Lake, PA – $800
24 – 15 – 22F – Chris Ferguson – Mt. Holly, NC – $800
25 – 22 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – $800
