Thornton Comes from Eighth for Third Straight Lucas Oil Triumph
FARMER CITY, ILLINOIS (May 10, 2024) – It wasn’t an easy win for Ricky Thornton Jr. who from the eighth starting spot to take the lead on the 71st circuit after race leader Shannon Babb slowed on the track. From there, Thornton led the remaining four laps of the Farmer City 74 on Friday night to take the victory.
Thornton was the third different leader of the race as he went on to win his third straight Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event, earning $25,000 out of the $85,800 feature purse for his 34th career series win. It was the second ever visit to the Illinois bullring for the series as the event drew a stout 55-car field.
Jonathan Davenport came home in the runner-up spot followed by the third straight Big River Steel Podium finish for Garrett Alberson. Dennis Erb Jr. finished fourth followed by 16th-place starter Jimmy Owens, who rounded out the top five finishers.
Davenport jumped to the early lead with former Dirt Track World Championship winner Garrett Smith holding down the second spot. Smith held the runner-up position until Thornton, who started on the outside of the fourth row, moved in second around Smith on lap 24.
Davenport and Thornton dueled it out for the lead until Babb joined the party, as the veteran Illini racer and fan favorite, came from ninth and powered to the lead of the race on lap 55. Thornton moved by Davenport to take over second as he challenged Babb for the lead up until lap 70 when Babb suddenly slowed on the track and headed to the pit area out of the event. Thornton then went on to lead the final four laps for the win.
In Lucas Oil Victory Lane, for the sixth time in 2024, Thornton was relieved the race was over where 21 of the 30 starters finished the race as traffic played a huge role in the event.
“I got second to JD and I’m like man it was going to be a real good night for us. We got to traffic, and I closed up on him a little bit and I thought man I‘ve got a shot here, but I don’t want to do something dumb and put myself in the wall in three and four. I moved him up a little bit and it really killed my line. I really wanted to go to the top on those restarts and I‘m like if I give Babb the bottom, he was going to drive right by me and if JD gets the top he was going to get by me. I don’t know but that’s probably the hardest we have drove in a while. I want to thank JD for leaving us a lane every time and the same with Shannon there. It was a wild one.”
Davenport, who is seeking a record-tying fourth Lucas Oil championship came home in the runner-up position after leading the most laps of any driver with 54.
“That’s the best we have been here by far. It just wasn’t good enough. I probably should have got up and run the top a little bit more. I just couldn’t steer getting in. We changed a few things and went a lot stiffer on the front. I just couldn’t steer good enough to run the top like I wanted to. I just stayed straight and run the middle there. I was pretty good. Man, I hate that for Babb because after he passed me, I was cheering him on.”
Alberson, who won a regular show last Friday night at Famer City got his third straight and fourth of the year Big River Steel Podium finish as he continues to show improvement though the season.
“We have learned some things in the last month or so that seems to have really worked on our car up here. I am just super proud of the team. It’s super cool to run here in front of these fans at a track I love to race on. I hadn’t had a good finish here in a long time before last week and tonight.”
The winner’s Todd and Vickie Burns, SSI Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Big River Steel, Hoker Trucking, Coltman Farms, Dyno One Inc., West Side Tractor Sales Company, Bilstein Shocks, EMD Wraps, and Sunoco Race Fuels.
33 entries
DIRTCAR UMP MODIFIEDS
A Feature 1 (24 Laps): 1. 99-Blake Brown[1]; 2. 37L-Michael Ledford[2]; 3. 18L-Michael Long[3]; 4. 96M-Mike McKinney[8]; 5. 777-Trevor Neville[7]; 6. 22-Josh Harris[12]; 7. 89-Austin Friedman[4]; 8. 77-Ray Bollinger[5]; 9. 24-Zeke McKenzie[6]; 10. 66-Cole Falloway[11]; 11. 45-Chase Holland[16]; 12. 21-Lyndon Whitfill[9]; 13. 24T-Trevor Ringle[18]; 14. 5-Steven Brooks[17]; 15. 14-Caden McWhorter[10]; 16. 20-Tanner Sullivan[19]; 17. 88S-Alan Stipp[13]; 18. 8K-Levi Kissinger[14]; 19. (DNF) 05-Dave Wietholder[15]; 20. (DNF) 110-Landen Miller[20]
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 45-Chase Holland[3]; 2. 5-Steven Brooks[5]; 3. 24T-Trevor Ringle[1]; 4. 20-Tanner Sullivan[6]; 5. 110-Landen Miller[2]; 6. B5-Matthew Baker[8]; 7. 4UW-Bobby Regot[14]; 8. D98-Danny Smith[4]; 9. 81P-Austin Phelps[9]; 10. 3-Carson Friedman[10]; 11. 21W-Wes Ricketts[16]; 12. (DNF) 11-Bryce Cunningham[12]; 13. (DNF) 1A-Steve Myers Jr[11]; 14. (DNF) 17D-Degan Dozard[7]; 15. (DNS) 242-Evan Fink; 16. (DNS) K9-Will Krup; 17. (DNS) 73-Mark Rhoades; 18. (DNS) 35-Brandon Roberts
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Blake Brown[2]; 2. 89-Austin Friedman[1]; 3. 777-Trevor Neville[6]; 4. 14-Caden McWhorter[3]; 5. 88S-Alan Stipp[5]; 6. 24T-Trevor Ringle[9]; 7. D98-Danny Smith[10]; 8. 17D-Degan Dozard[8]; 9. 3-Carson Friedman[7]; 10. K9-Will Krup[4]; 11. 21W-Wes Ricketts[11]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 37L-Michael Ledford[1]; 2. 77-Ray Bollinger[3]; 3. 96M-Mike McKinney[2]; 4. 66-Cole Falloway[4]; 5. 8K-Levi Kissinger[8]; 6. 110-Landen Miller[7]; 7. 5-Steven Brooks[6]; 8. B5-Matthew Baker[11]; 9. 1A-Steve Myers Jr[5]; 10. (DNF) 4UW-Bobby Regot[10]; 11. (DNF) 35-Brandon Roberts[9]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 18L-Michael Long[2]; 2. 24-Zeke McKenzie[3]; 3. 21-Lyndon Whitfill[1]; 4. 22-Josh Harris[5]; 5. 05-Dave Wietholder[6]; 6. 45-Chase Holland[4]; 7. 20-Tanner Sullivan[7]; 8. 81P-Austin Phelps[10]; 9. 11-Bryce Cunningham[9]; 10. (DNF) 242-Evan Fink[8]; 11. (DNS) 73-Mark Rhoades
Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 89-Austin Friedman, 00:14.101[11]; 2. 37L-Michael Ledford, 00:14.204[31]; 3. 21-Lyndon Whitfill, 00:14.223[12]; 4. 99-Blake Brown, 00:14.242[5]; 5. 96M-Mike McKinney, 00:14.283[20]; 6. 18L-Michael Long, 00:14.328[13]; 7. 14-Caden McWhorter, 00:14.375[10]; 8. 77-Ray Bollinger, 00:14.402[18]; 9. 24-Zeke McKenzie, 00:14.434[30]; 10. K9-Will Krup, 00:14.455[15]; 11. 66-Cole Falloway, 00:14.466[14]; 12. 45-Chase Holland, 00:14.471[3]; 13. 88S-Alan Stipp, 00:14.479[16]; 14. 1A-Steve Myers Jr, 00:14.521[32]; 15. 22-Josh Harris, 00:14.528[28]; 16. 777-Trevor Neville, 00:14.535[4]; 17. 5-Steven Brooks, 00:14.545[22]; 18. 05-Dave Wietholder, 00:14.559[6]; 19. 3-Carson Friedman, 00:14.585[9]; 20. 110-Landen Miller, 00:14.606[24]; 21. 20-Tanner Sullivan, 00:14.714[1]; 22. 17D-Degan Dozard, 00:14.729[17]; 23. 8K-Levi Kissinger, 00:14.764[21]; 24. 242-Evan Fink, 00:14.787[2]; 25. 24T-Trevor Ringle, 00:14.895[29]; 26. 35-Brandon Roberts, 00:15.149[26]; 27. 11-Bryce Cunningham, 00:15.251[25]; 28. D98-Danny Smith, 00:15.508[8]; 29. 4UW-Bobby Regot, 00:15.573[23]; 30. 81P-Austin Phelps, 00:15.636[19]; 31. 21W-Wes Ricketts, 00:15.787[27]; 32. B5-Matthew Baker, 00:17.010[33]; 33. 73-Mark Rhoades, 00:59.999[7]
55 entries
DIRT SUPER LATE MODELS
Farmer City 74 A-Main (74 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[8]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[6]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[7]; 5. 20-Jimmy Owens[16]; 6. 32X-Chris Simpson[11]; 7. 71-Hudson O’Neal[25]; 8. 97-Cody Overton[4]; 9. 19R-Ryan Gustin[15]; 10. 1-Tim McCreadie[18]; 11. 1T-Tyler Erb[27]; 12. 10-Garrett Smith[2]; 13. 18D-Daulton Wilson[21]; 14. 7T-Drake Troutman[3]; 15. 7-Ross Robinson[17]; 16. 157-Mike Marlar[5]; 17. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[19]; 18. 17SS-Brenden Smith[29]; 19. 99B-Boom Briggs[13]; 20. 111-Max Blair[28]; 21. 93F-Carson Ferguson[20]; 22. 18-Shannon Babb[9]; 23. 99-Devin Moran[12]; 24. 40B-Kyle Bronson[24]; 25. 25F-Jason Feger[14]; 26. 3S-Brian Shirley[23]; 27. 9-Nick Hoffman[10]; 28. B5-Brandon Sheppard[26]; 29. 89-Mike Spatola[22]; 30. 93-Cory Lawler[30]
Fast Shafts B-Main 1 (10 Laps): 1. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[1]; 2. 89-Mike Spatola[4]; 3. 31-Kye Blight[2]; 4. 6-Clay Harris[6]; 5. 75-Daniel Adam[3]; 6. 74-Mitch McGrath[5]; 7. 8L-Jeffrey Ledford[7]; 8. 122-Timmy Dick[10]; 9. C8-Cole Perine[8]; 10. 33 4-Billy Hough[9]; 11. 1T-Tyler Erb[11]; 12. (DNS) 27-Colby Sheppard; 13. (DNS) 2M-Matthew Mickelson
UNOH B-Main 2 (10 Laps): 1. 93F-Carson Ferguson[2]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 3. 24-Ryan Unzicker[6]; 4. B5-Brandon Sheppard[8]; 5. 71-Hudson O’Neal[4]; 6. 33-Mike Harrison[3]; 7. 162-Logan Moody[5]; 8. 81-Jason Riggs[10]; 9. 51-Matt Furman[7]; 10. 93-Cory Lawler[9]; 11. 33H-Roben Huffman[12]; 12. (DNS) 45-Kyle Hammer
MyRacePass B-Main 3 (10 Laps): 1. 18D-Daulton Wilson[1]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]; 3. 32P-Bobby Pierce[3]; 4. 99W-Mckay Wenger[6]; 5. 25W-Allen Weisser[4]; 6. 96-Tanner English[5]; 7. 11-Gordy Gundaker[7]; 8. 111-Max Blair[9]; 9. 17SS-Brenden Smith[10]; 10. M14-David Marlow[12]; 11. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[8]; 12. (DNS) 7W-JC Waller
Penske Shocks Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[2]; 3. 99B-Boom Briggs[4]; 4. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[5]; 5. 75-Daniel Adam[6]; 6. 74-Mitch McGrath[7]; 7. 8L-Jeffrey Ledford[8]; 8. 33 4-Billy Hough[9]; 9. 1T-Tyler Erb[3]; 10. (DNS) 2M-Matthew Mickelson
Summit Racing Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7T-Drake Troutman[1]; 2. 18-Shannon Babb[3]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[6]; 4. 31-Kye Blight[2]; 5. 89-Mike Spatola[4]; 6. 6-Clay Harris[7]; 7. C8-Cole Perine[5]; 8. 122-Timmy Dick[8]; 9. 27-Colby Sheppard[9]
Earnhardt Technologies Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 2. 32X-Chris Simpson[2]; 3. 7-Ross Robinson[6]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[3]; 5. 33-Mike Harrison[4]; 6. 162-Logan Moody[7]; 7. 51-Matt Furman[8]; 8. 93-Cory Lawler[9]; 9. (DNS) 45-Kyle Hammer
Simpson Race Products Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Garrett Smith[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 3. 25F-Jason Feger[3]; 4. 93F-Carson Ferguson[6]; 5. 71-Hudson O’Neal[4]; 6. 24-Ryan Unzicker[7]; 7. B5-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 8. 81-Jason Riggs[9]; 9. 33H-Roben Huffman[8]
Lucas Oil Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Cody Overton[1]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[2]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens[3]; 4. 18D-Daulton Wilson[5]; 5. 32P-Bobby Pierce[4]; 6. 96-Tanner English[6]; 7. 11-Gordy Gundaker[7]; 8. 111-Max Blair[8]; 9. 7W-JC Waller[9]
Lucas Oil Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 3. 1-Tim McCreadie[3]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 5. 25W-Allen Weisser[7]; 6. 99W-Mckay Wenger[4]; 7. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[6]; 8. 17SS-Brenden Smith[8]; 9. M14-David Marlow[9]
Qualifying | GROUP A: 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport, 00:12.578[3]; 2. 7T-Drake Troutman, 00:12.808[4]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:12.887[11]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:12.956[5]; 5. 31-Kye Blight, 00:12.998[17]; 6. 32X-Chris Simpson, 00:13.055[22]; 7. 1T-Tyler Erb, 00:13.084[2]; 8. 18-Shannon Babb, 00:13.108[12]; 9. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:13.125[13]; 10. 99B-Boom Briggs, 00:13.191[1]; 11. 89-Mike Spatola, 00:13.200[15]; 12. 33-Mike Harrison, 00:13.259[20]; 13. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 00:13.273[18]; 14. C8-Cole Perine, 00:13.285[26]; 15. 45-Kyle Hammer, 00:13.321[6]; 16. 75-Daniel Adam, 00:13.346[28]; 17. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:13.349[25]; 18. 7-Ross Robinson, 00:13.355[8]; 19. 74-Mitch McGrath, 00:13.405[16]; 20. 6-Clay Harris, 00:13.409[27]; 21. 162-Logan Moody, 00:13.410[9]; 22. 8L-Jeffrey Ledford, 00:13.416[19]; 23. 122-Timmy Dick, 00:13.546[24]; 24. 51-Matt Furman, 00:13.578[21]; 25. 33 4-Billy Hough, 00:13.582[10]; 26. 27-Colby Sheppard, 00:13.629[23]; 27. 93-Cory Lawler, 00:13.796[14]; 28. 2M-Matthew Mickelson, 00:59.999[7]
Qualifying | GROUP B: 1. 10-Garrett Smith, 00:12.639[1]; 2. 97-Cody Overton, 00:12.802[4]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson, 00:12.841[10]; 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:12.915[15]; 5. 9-Nick Hoffman, 00:12.956[14]; 6. 99-Devin Moran, 00:12.974[18]; 7. 25F-Jason Feger, 00:12.986[22]; 8. 20-Jimmy Owens, 00:13.003[3]; 9. 1-Tim McCreadie, 00:13.032[20]; 10. 71-Hudson O’Neal, 00:13.062[25]; 11. 32P-Bobby Pierce, 00:13.097[27]; 12. 99W-Mckay Wenger, 00:13.130[21]; 13. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:13.150[17]; 14. 18D-Daulton Wilson, 00:13.154[13]; 15. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:13.178[12]; 16. 93F-Carson Ferguson, 00:13.211[9]; 17. 96-Tanner English, 00:13.212[23]; 18. 11T-Trevor Gundaker, 00:13.283[6]; 19. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 00:13.305[16]; 20. 11-Gordy Gundaker, 00:13.313[24]; 21. 25W-Allen Weisser, 00:13.374[5]; 22. 33H-Roben Huffman, 00:13.406[2]; 23. 111-Max Blair, 00:13.422[11]; 24. 17SS-Brenden Smith, 00:13.646[7]; 25. 81-Jason Riggs, 00:13.745[8]; 26. 7W-JC Waller, 00:13.934[19]; 27. M14-David Marlow, 00:14.204[26]
Hot Laps | GROUP 1: 1. 1T-Tyler Erb, 00:13.283[2]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport, 00:13.482[3]; 3. 7T-Drake Troutman, 00:13.570[4]; 4. 45-Kyle Hammer, 00:13.748[6]; 5. 99B-Boom Briggs, 00:14.847[1]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:15.044[5]; 7. 2M-Matthew Mickelson, 00:15.179[7]
Hot Laps | GROUP 2: 1. 162-Logan Moody, 00:14.106[2]; 2. 7-Ross Robinson, 00:14.673[1]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:15.002[4]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:15.019[6]; 5. 18-Shannon Babb, 00:15.047[5]; 6. 33 4-Billy Hough, 00:16.050[3]; 7. 93-Cory Lawler, 00:17.407[7]
Hot Laps | GROUP 3: 1. 33-Mike Harrison, 00:14.001[6]; 2. 89-Mike Spatola, 00:14.121[1]; 3. 74-Mitch McGrath, 00:14.215[2]; 4. 51-Matt Furman, 00:14.348[7]; 5. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 00:14.427[4]; 6. 31-Kye Blight, 00:15.091[3]; 7. (DNS) 8L-Jeffrey Ledford
Hot Laps | GROUP 4: 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:13.548[4]; 2. 32X-Chris Simpson, 00:13.631[1]; 3. 75-Daniel Adam, 00:13.883[7]; 4. 27-Colby Sheppard, 00:13.993[2]; 5. 122-Timmy Dick, 00:14.135[3]; 6. 6-Clay Harris, 00:14.189[6]; 7. C8-Cole Perine, 00:14.366[5]
Hot Laps | GROUP 5: 1. 97-Cody Overton, 00:13.429[4]; 2. 25W-Allen Weisser, 00:13.529[5]; 3. 10-Garrett Smith, 00:13.613[1]; 4. 20-Jimmy Owens, 00:13.680[3]; 5. 11T-Trevor Gundaker, 00:13.947[6]; 6. 33H-Roben Huffman, 00:14.263[2]; 7. 17SS-Brenden Smith, 00:14.264[7]
Hot Laps | GROUP 6: 1. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:13.173[5]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman, 00:13.263[7]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson, 00:13.365[3]; 4. 93F-Carson Ferguson, 00:13.410[2]; 5. 111-Max Blair, 00:13.428[4]; 6. 18D-Daulton Wilson, 00:13.509[6]; 7. 81-Jason Riggs, 00:13.658[1]
Hot Laps | GROUP 7: 1. 1-Tim McCreadie, 00:12.895[6]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:12.993[3]; 3. 99-Devin Moran, 00:13.033[4]; 4. 99W-Mckay Wenger, 00:13.141[7]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:13.216[1]; 6. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 00:13.521[2]; 7. 7W-JC Waller, 00:13.683[5]
Hot Laps | GROUP 8: 1. 32P-Bobby Pierce, 00:12.679[6]; 2. 25F-Jason Feger, 00:12.840[1]; 3. 96-Tanner English, 00:12.944[2]; 4. 71-Hudson O’Neal, 00:13.001[4]; 5. 11-Gordy Gundaker, 00:13.147[3]; 6. M14-David Marlow, 00:13.529[5]
Category: Farmer City, Illinois
