LINCOLN, Ill. — Devin Moran outdueled heavy lapped traffic and a persistent Ricky Thornton Jr. to bank the $20,000 Illinois Speedweek victory with FloRacing Night in America presented by Kubota on Thursday evening at Lincoln Speedway.
Devin Moran fired from the outside-front-row alongside polesitter Garrett Alberson. Entering turn one on the first circuit Moran grabbed a lead that he would never relinquish.
Despite a mid-race caution that erased his over two second lead, Moran paced the field throughout the 50-lap finale.
Withstanding a persistent late race charge from Ricky Thornton Jr., the Dresden, Ohio, racer crossed the finish line 0.550 seconds ahead of Thornton Jr. with eighth-starting Brian Shirley, Ryan Gustin, and Bobby Pierce completing the top five.
“I was in the infield, just looking at the track (before the feature), and my dad (Hall of Famer Donnie Moran) called and he said, ‘Hey, if you’re gonna win in Illinois, you better get up on the wheel and gas that son of a gun,’” Moran said. “And that’s what I did. This is a track I really wasn’t looking forward to, and that’s why you just got to stay positive and have a good mindset, because you never know what can happen.”
The win was the second of Moran’s career with the miniseries and his first since April 2021.
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series now takes over the helm of Illinois Speedweek with events at Farmer City Speedway and Fairbury Speedway on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
The finish:
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[8]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin[6]; 5. 32-Bobby Pierce[7]; 6. 74X-Ethan Dotson[10]; 7. 9-Tim McCreadie[13]; 8. 76-Brandon Overton[4]; 9. 9H-Nick Hoffman[12]; 10. 1-Brandon Sheppard[21]; 11. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 12. 1T-Tyler Erb[5]; 13. 49-Jonathan Davenport[16]; 14. 60-Dan Ebert[9]; 15. 157-Mike Marlar[15]; 16. 25-Jason Feger[14]; 17. 40B-Kyle Bronson[11]; 18. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[19]; 19. 18D-Daulton Wilson[17]; 20. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[23]; 21. 15-Clay Stuckey[22]; 22. 31-Tyler Millwood[20]; 23. 93-Carson Ferguson[18]; 24. (DNF) 38J-Jake Little[24]
