Ricky Thornton Jr. expressed his frustration with Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series officials over the initial start over the Rumble by the River finale at Port Royal Speedway on Saturday night.
After finishing in second behind Jonathan Davenport, Thornton told FloRacing’s Chris Moore in his podium interview, “I was pry more mad that we didn’t have a yellow the first lap. I don’t know. I’ll have to go back and watch it. But usually when second place arcs out and beats you to the cone and fires way before you they call it back. I don’t know. Maybe Flo needs to hire a couple guys to watch over in turn 4.”
To Thornton’s point, on the initial start, Jonathan Davenport appears to have his entire front end ahead of Thornton by the time they get to the chalk line in turn 4. However, Thornton does appear to be the one firing off first, but Davenport fires shortly after him, but had already gained the precious advantage with the track position as they drag raced down the front stretch and into turn 1.
While Thornton was upset that the initial start was not called back, he was satisfied with second telling Moore, “Obviously, JD was really good as soon as he got out front. It started to clean up across the middle and prob halfway through it started to rubber. We’ll take second. And looking forward to my fun week here next week.”
He and his team also shared on Facebook, “P2 tonight- really happy with that weekend for our Koehler Motorsports team! The yellow flag was untimely tonight but that’s racing. We locked into the top 5 chase for the $100,000 bonus. Lucas Oil is off next weekend but the 20RT will be in action.. somewhere 
“
As he and his team noted, he locked himself into the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series’ Big River Steel Bonus Program for the top five in points. Thornton was sixth in the points heading into this weekend, 30 points behind Max Blair. However, after winning on Friday night and finishing second on Saturday night, he moved into fifth and gapped Blair by 80 points.
The Big River Steel Bonus Program sees the top five in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points compete in a mini series during the Saturday night programs for the Knoxville Late Model Nationals at Knoxville Raceway, the Jackson 100 at Brownstown Speedway, the Pittsburgher at Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway, Eldora Speedway, and the Dirt Track World Championship at West Virginia Motor Speedway. The driver that earns the most points across the five races will win $100,000. Second through fifth will earn $40,000, $30,000, $20,000, and $10,000 respectively.
There is a Bonus Program for drivers in 6th through 15th in points as well. They will also compete in the Saturday night features at the aforementioned races. It awards $25,000 to the winner, $15,000 to second, and $10,000 to third.
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will take a brief hiatus as the Dirt Late Model turns its eyes towards the World 100 at Eldora Speedway. It won’t be back in action until the Knoxville Late Model Nationals, which starts on September 17th and runs through the 19th.
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