PORT ROYAL, Pa. — Ricky Thornton Jr. made it four straight Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victories at Port Royal Speedway, leading all but two laps of Night One of the Rumble by the River presented by FK Rod Ends.
The win earned him $10,000 and marked his 62nd career series victory.
Thornton, who won three times at Port Royal a year ago, went to Wieland Victory Lane for the sixth time this season after taking a 1.392-second victory over Devin Moran. Jonathan Davenport rounded out the Big River Steel Podium in third.
Chris Madden, who led the first two laps, finished fourth, with Max Blair completing the top five.
Making his fifth career visit to Wieland Victory Lane at Port Royal, the defending winner of the $50,000-to-win Rumble by the River set his sights on a repeat victory Saturday night.
“I felt good all night. It’s just hard whenever you are never behind anyone to gain on them,” Thornton said. “That first lap behind Madden, he was just far enough out where I could keep my nose in clean air so I could roll around the bottom, and luckily we got by him. It’s good to be out front. Obviously, it felt like once I got to within about half a straightaway of the lapped cars, I just, like, stalled hard, so I think that’s going to be good for tomorrow.”
Moran, who ran in second place from lap four until the finish, closed on Thornton late in the race.
“Congrats to those guys. They have had the unluckiest year of anybody,” Moran said. “I wish we could have beaten them, but I’m glad they got it done. Ricky was railing that top, and, man, I thought his tires were eventually going to have to slow down. As he was doing that, I was driving a little bit harder. The car wasn’t quite where we needed it to be, but obviously, it was really good to finish second. There are just a couple of things we need to tweak, and my guys are going to work hard to be sure we do that.”
Davenport, who started 13th, charged to third.
“I don’t know what we needed to do. We were really good in the feature,” he said. “The heat race didn’t go our way. Chris (Madden) beat me into turn one, and then he pushed on the first lap. I wasn’t smart enough to follow him into three, so I tried to slide him, and he wasn’t quite clear. I gave him a lane, and that let (Dan) Ebert get a run on us. That put us starting 13th, but we had a really good hot rod.
“I thought we were going to get there when they caught lapped traffic. I could see Ricky and Devin right in front of me, but they scooted through those lapped cars pretty quickly, and I just couldn’t quite get through there. I had melted my stuff by the time I got there.”
Rumble by the River presented by FK Rod Ends – Night 1 | Feature Finish (40 Laps):
Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Earnings
1 – 3 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – $10,000
2 – 2 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $5,500
3 – 13 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – $3,500
4 – 1 – 44M – Chris Madden – Gray Court, SC – $2,700
5 – 8 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – $2,500
6 – 15 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $2,300
7 – 5 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – $2,300
8 – 4 – 25Z – Mason Zeigler – Chalk Hill, PA – $2,100
9 – 12 – 72 – Michael Norris – Sarver, PA – $2,050
10 – 23 – 11 – Josh Rice – Crittenden, KY – $2,000
11 – 7 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – $1,600
12 – 6 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – $1,400
13 – 17 – 3s – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – $1,200
14 – 26 – 24 – Rick Eckert – York, PA – $1,000
15 – 11 – 5T – Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – $950
16 – 21 – 8 – Dillon McCowan – Urbana, MO – $925
17 – 16 – 93F – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $900
18 – 20 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $875
19 – 14 – 7 – Ross Robinson – Georgetown, DE – $850
20 – 25 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – $125
21 – 18 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – $800
22 – 24 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – $800
23 – 10 – 22F – Chris Ferguson – Mt. Holly, NC – $800
24 – 9 – 1C – Alex Ferree – Saxonburg, PA – $800
25 – 19 – 9M – Hayes Mattern – Beavertown, PA – $800
26 – 22 – 48F – Colton Flinner – Allison Park, PA – $800
