Ricky Thornton Jr. was one of over a dozen cars and one of six who had been running in the top five who failed to finish the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Atomic on July 4th.
Thornton started the race on the pole but fell to second after Carson Ferguson was able to get around him on the opening lap. Brandon Sheppard then got him around a couple laps later. After the first caution came out with 46 laps to go, Ferguson exited the race with a mechanical failure. On Facebook, following the race Paylor Motorsports shared, “Carson Ferguson was forced to the infield due to terminal mechnical trouble.”
With Ferguson out of the race, Thornton moved back up to second. As noted above, he would not be the first who was running in the top 5 to exit the race. With 43 laps to go Tyler Carpenter, who was running in fifth, lost a motor and even caught fire.
Next to exit the race would be Brandon Overton with 40 laps to go. He was running in third. With 28 laps to go Garrett Alberson, who had just worked his way up into fifth, exited the race. A lap later and Thornton exited the race while he was running second and had been closing the gap on Sheppard.
During the FloRacing broadcast pit reporter Earl Hoon Jr. reported that Thornton damaged his radiator causing his exit. He reported that Thornton “knocked the radiator out of it” and “lost all water pressure.”
On Facebook following the race, Thornton shared, “The motor said baby I’m a fiiiiirework & blew up tonight.”
However, his team added in the comments, he added, “don’t think it was a motor issue by any means tonight, Ricky loves Clements.”
In another comment he responded to a fan questioning whether it was indeed the radiator. His team responded, “I’m not sure. Ricky just said he blew up. He may have originally thought it was the radiator and then found something more after the race.”
Thornton would not be the final driver to exit the race while in the top 5. Devin Moran brought his car to the infield with 5 laps to go. Only 11 of the 24 cars that started the feature finished the race.
Brandon Sheppard would outlast everyone and bring home the win. Josh Rice worked his way into second and Jonathan Davenport finished third to take over the points lead.
Davenport now has a 55 point lead over Thornton, who ended up finishing in 16th, as the series heads to Muskingum tonight. Moran is 255 points behind in third while Hudson O’Neal, who finished 6th, holds on to the fourth spot. He’s 415 points behind Davenport, but has a 195 point advantage over Garrett Alberson and 225 point lead over Brandon Sheppard. Brandon Overton has fallen farther behind. He’s 320 points out of fourth place.
What did you make of the race of attrition at Atomic?
0 Comments