Ricky Thornton Jr. had a solid night going in the Hawkeye 100 at Maquoketa Speedway with the World of Outlaws Late Models, but it all ended when he slowed and pulled off the track on lap 16.
Thornton started the race in fifth and fell back to sixth after Jason Feger got by him on an early restart. However, after a heated battle with Tim McCreadie for the sixth position, both he and McCreadie were able to work underneath Feger on lap 9 to reclaim the fifth spot. After clearing Feger, Thornton began to close in on fourth place running Jonathan Davenport. However, a caution for Ryan Gustin reracked the field.
On the restart, Thornton started to the outside of Davenport and battled him for a couple laps even getting to his inside. However, instead of continuing to challenge Davenport for the position he dove to the infield and ended his night while also drawing the caution.
During the DIRTVision broadcast, announcer Ruben Mireles stated, “The report over the World of Outlaws radio powered by Racing Electronics, the 20RT, well, blew an engine.”
Thornton confirmed it in a post to Facebook following the conclusion of the race. He wrote, “Unfortunately we had an engine failure last night while running 5th.”
“On the up side, we had a really great car all week- finishing inside the top 5 each night of the Iowa Speedweek except for last night’s mechanical DNF,” he added. “We felt the love from our Iowa/ Midwest people at the merch trailer & got to support our longtime sponsor Hoker Trucking LLC.”
“Our hard working crew is heading to Cornett to get some repairs made & then we will make our way to Port Royal to return to Lucas Oil action this Friday & Saturday!”
As Thornton noted, he and his team will head to Port Royal Speedway for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series’ two night Rumble by the River event that begins on August 28th and concludes on August 29th.
Thornton currently sits sixth in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points standings. He is 630 points behind current leader Brandon Sheppard. He is only 30 points behind fifth place Max Blair. He is 155 points behind Brandon Overton, who sits in 4th.
That fifth spot is important for the Big River Steel Bonus Program that takes place over the final five Saturday night events on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series schedule. The top five in the championship chase will be eligible for the $200,000 miniseries bonus program.
How it works is that the driver who accumulates the most points across the final five Saturday night races which include the Knoxville Late Model Nationals, the Jackson 100 at Brownstown Speedway, the Pittsburgher at Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway, the October 10th race at Eldora Speedway, and the Dirt Track World Championship at West Virginia Motor Speedway will take home $100,000. Second through fifth will receive $40,000, $30,000, $20,000, and $10,000, respectively.
Those in 6th through 15th in the points standings will compete for a $50,000 program. The high points earner will receive $25,000. Second through third will collect $15,000 and $10,000, respectively.
Thornton has been hit or miss at The Rumble by the River at Port Royal over the years. However, he is the defending champion of the event after sweeping both nights last year and taking home the $50,000 to-win feature on Saturday night. In 2021, he finished 3rd on Friday and then 17th on Saturday. In 2022, he finished 7th in his preliminary night where they split the field in two and 2nd in the main event on Saturday. In 2023, he finished 8th in his split field prelim on Friday night and 22nd on Saturday after suffering a mechanical failure. He finished 5th in his Friday prelim in 2024 and 2nd in the Saturday finale. His average finish in the Saturday main event over the last five years is 8.8.
0 Comments