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Thornton, Jr. captures first night at Ocala; Nothdurft 17th

From DirtOnDirt.com Staff Reports

OCALA, FL (Jan. 30) - Charging underneath Tyler Erb amid lapped traffic, third-starting Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, AZ, seized control and led the final two circuits to win Tuesday's 40-lap Winter Nationals opener at Ocala Speedway. Thornton earned $10,000 for his second straight Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory and the 25th full-field triumph of his career, moving him into sole possession of ninth on the tour's all-time win list.

The second-starting Erb, of New Waverly, Texas, led laps 3-38 before giving way to Thornton and settling for the runner-up spot, 0.448 of a second back at the checkers. Erb turned the race's quickest lap —15.563 seconds — shortly after a mid-race restart.

“[Tyler Erb] got stuck behind that one lapped car once off [turn] four, and really, without that, I don’t think I ever would’ve got to him,” Thornton said. “We got down to two (laps) to go and I feel like I was close, then he got into (turn) three and kinda shoved a little bit, and I knew if I could get under him down the front straightaway … you have to throw a bomb down there (in turn one). I watched him throw a bomb on J.D. (Jonathan Davenport) down there, so it worked out for us.”

Thornton collected his third career five-figure payday at the uniquely shaped 3/8-mile oval in Ocala, FL, after also topping $10,000 openers there in 2021 and '23. Eighth-starter Devin Moran followed Thornton by Jonathan Davenport to take third on a lap-20 restart and went on to complete the podium. The pole-starting Davenport led the first two laps before giving way to Erb and ultimately slipping to finish fourth. Mike Marlar took fifth on lap 29 and rounded out the top-five finishers on his 46th birthday.

Of the WISSOTA-area locals on hand racing with Lucas Oil in Ocala, Renner, South Dakota’s Blair Nothdurft made the feature and finished 17th.

SUMMARY

Lucas Oil Late Model Series:

Ocala A-Main | Night 1 (40 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[8]; 4. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 5. 157-Mike Marlar[4]; 6. 39-Tim McCreadie[7]; 7. 58-Garrett Alberson[11]; 8. 1-Hudson O'Neal[6]; 9. 7T-Drake Troutman[10]; 10. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[13]; 11. 96V-Tanner English[5]; 12. 20-Jimmy Owens[22]; 13. 3S-Brian Shirley[24]; 14. 6-Clay Harris[15]; 15. 111-Max Blair[21]; 16. B5-Brandon Sheppard[17]; 17. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[14]; 18. 19M-Spencer Hughes[16]; 19. 99B-Boom Briggs[23]; 20. 18D-Daulton Wilson[9]; 21. 40B-Kyle Bronson[20]; 22. 66C-Matt Cosner[18]; 23. 17SS-Brenden Smith[28]; 24. 8-Dillon McCowan[25]; 25. 4G-Bob Gardner[26]; 26. 93-Cory Lawler[27]; 27. 7-Ross Robinson[12]; 28. 79-Donald McIntosh[19]

Penske Shocks Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 2. 96V-Tanner English[1]; 3. 18D-Daulton Wilson[3]; 4. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[4]; 5. B5-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 6. 79-Donald McIntosh[7]; 7. 111-Max Blair[6]; 8. 99B-Boom Briggs[8]; 9. 81F-Jadon Frame[9]; 10. 93-Cory Lawler[10]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[4]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[2]; 4. 6-Clay Harris[3]; 5. 3S-Brian Shirley[5]; 6. 81J-Jack Riggs[6]; 7. 5-Mark Whitener[7]; 8. 17SS-Brenden Smith[8]; 9. 4G-Bob Gardner[9]; 10. 0-Ryan Scott[10]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 2. 1-Hudson O'Neal[3]; 3. 7T-Drake Troutman[4]; 4. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[1]; 5. 66C-Matt Cosner[5]; 6. 40B-Kyle Bronson[7]; 7. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 8. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[8]; 9. 8-Dillon McCowan[10]; 10. 28B-Carson Brown[9]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[5]; 3. 7-Ross Robinson[6]; 4. 19M-Spencer Hughes[3]; 5. 174-Ethan Dotson[8]; 6. 20-Jimmy Owens[4]; 7. 75-Daniel Adam[7]; 8. 2*-Logan Hitt[10]; 9. 97-Cody Overton[2]; 10. 128-Kylan Garner[9]

B-Main 1 (10 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 79-Donald McIntosh[3]; 3. 111-Max Blair[5]; 4. 5-Mark Whitener[6]; 5. 81J-Jack Riggs[4]; 6. 81F-Jadon Frame[9]; 7. 17SS-Brenden Smith[8]; 8. 4G-Bob Gardner[10]; 9. 0-Ryan Scott[12]; 10. 93-Cory Lawler[11]; 11. 99B-Boom Briggs[7]; 12. 3S-Brian Shirley[2]

B-Main 2 (10 Laps): 1. 66C-Matt Cosner[1]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[3]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens[4]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[5]; 5. 174-Ethan Dotson[2]; 6. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[7]; 7. 8-Dillon McCowan[9]; 8. 75-Daniel Adam[6]; 9. 2*-Logan Hitt[8]; 10. 28B-Carson Brown[11]; 11. (DNS) 97-Cody Overton; 12. (DNS) 128-Kylan Garner