OCALA, Fla. — Reigning Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champion Ricky Thornton Jr. led from start to finish Friday night at the Wieland Winter Nationals at Ocala Speedway, earning $12,000 for his 45th career series victory.
Hudson O’Neal took the second spot on lap 17 from Devin Moran and held it for the rest of the race, securing his best tour finish of the year.
Moran rounded out the podium in third, with Bobby Pierce finishing fourth and Jonathan Davenport completing the top five.
Thornton moved for the lead on the opening lap, passing Moran for the top spot. Thornton and Moran then ran 1-2 until Brian Shirley, who started third, moved into the runner-up spot on lap five. A flat right-rear tire on lap 16 ended his hopes for his first career series win.
Moran had moved into second place, ahead of Shirley before his flat tire. On lap 17, Moran saw O’Neal pass him to take the second position. O’Neal, Moran, and Bobby Pierce battled fiercely for the next several laps while Thornton maintained a healthy lead over that trio, crossing the finish line in first by 2.503 seconds.
“I I was more frustrated that I lapped Jimmy (Owens) during that lap when I was approaching the caution,” Thornton said. “I really didn’t want to see the yellow; I felt like I had a great pace going, and after that, it was like I needed to drive hard for a bit. I mean, it really highlights how good this Longhorn/Bilstein car is. I feel like we are picking up right where we left off last year. So hopefully, we can maintain this speed and have a solid run tomorrow.”
O’Neal was on the pPodium for the first time in 2025.
“It’s It’s great to have this run,” O’Neal said. “Like I said earlier, I felt like we’ve had some speed, but we just haven’t really been able to do anything with it. We don’t qualify very well, and it makes it really tough. I especially felt that if we ever got in the position to start up front, we would run up front, and we did tonight. Ricky was a little better than us. It was a good first night to be here on the podium, so we’ll go back and work on it to see if we can improve a bit for tomorrow night.”
Moran continued his consistent performance this season by taking the third spot.
“I we need to restart better,” Moran said. “I felt like we had a really good car. I don’t know if we could have kept up with Ricky and the others every single restart; I would have to work to pass them. Hudson was good enough that I couldn’t get by him again. You can’t complain about a third-place finish, especially with these guys. It seems like there are different winners almost every night, and someone goes on a streak. We need to work on it a little bit. We picked up our qualifying game tonight, and we just have to keep working on it restarts.”
The finish:
Ricky Thornton Jr., Hudson O’Neal, Devin Moran, Bobby Pierce, Jonathan Davenport, Kyle Bronson, Drake Troutman, Daulton Wilson, Brandon Sheppard, Max Blair, Garrett Alberson, Tyler Erb, Carson Ferguson, Brandon Overton, Jimmy Owens, Donald McIntosh, Tim McCreadie, Clay Harris, Ross Robinson, Brian Shirley, Dennis Erb Jr., Wil Herrington, Blair Nothdurft, Boom Briggs, Chase Junghans, Tyler Bruening, Derrick Stewart.
