Ricky Thornton Jr. captures 1st Firecracker 100 title at Lernerville Speedway

Ricky Thornton Jr.’s breakout season continued with a win at the Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway on Saturday night, but he had to earn it.

Thornton had an epic battle with Hudson O’Neal, exchanging the lead several times before taking the lead for good on lap 75 and pulling away for a $50,000 payday and his first Firecracker victory.

He ended up winning by more than four seconds and lapped up to sixth place to earn his ninth win on the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series tour this season and extend his series points lead.

It was an important win for Thornton, because his major sponsor, Big River Steel, was the presenting sponsor of the race.

“I guess I just saved my stuff long enough where when I really need to use it I could,” Thornton said. “I know there’s a ton of Big River Steel people here, so it’s really cool to win it.”

O’Neal settled for second. Jonathan Davenport was third. Indiana, Pa., native Gregg Satterlee finished fourth, and Devin Moran was fifth. Sarver native Michael Norris placed seventh to pace the Lernerville regulars, and fellow Sarver native Kenny Schaltenbrand finished right behind him in ninth, scoring his first top 10 in the event. Schaltenbrand started 21st after moving from sixth to second in a B Main to earn a starting spot.

Thornton took the lead from Davenport, who started on the pole, on lap 44. O’Neal quickly went past Davenport as well, and the three were nose to tail at the halfway point.

O’Neal took the lead for the first time on lap 53, but after a side-by-side battle for several laps Thornton pulled ahead four laps later.

The two continued to wage war while slicing through lapped traffic, and O’Neal went back to the front on lap 71.

O’Neal was on a softer tire compound, so he continued to run the bottom of the track behind lapped cars and Thornton eventually got back by on lap 75.

“I felt like I gave the race away when he got by me,” Thornton said. “He was behind (lapped car) Earl (Pearson), and I just decided to kick it into another gear and Hail Mary the top and it stuck. Then I was able to run there for a long time before I moved back to the middle. My car was good all night and all weekend, really.”

From there Thornton turned up the wick and drove off. O’Neal, who started ninth, had to settle for the runner-up spot.

“I was married to the bottom, and it was hard to deal with some of the lapped cars because I couldn’t quite get enough of a run on them,” O’Neal said. “Then that bottom got so thin; that made it even harder. Ricky had hard tires on, so he was able to move out a little more on the racetrack. We come here to win and we want to be where that 20 car is, but we’re happy with a second tonight.”

Davenport still is searching for his first Firecracker win, one of the few major dirt late model events that has eluded him.

“We were just a little too tight, and as it got slicker and slicker it showed up more and more,” Davenport said. “I couldn’t turn down the corner like I needed to, but it was a brand new car and this is the best we’ve ever been here by far, so we’ll take it.”

Thornton is the 12th different Firecracker 100 winner in the 17 years of the event.

Davenport, Thornton, Brandon Overton, Tim McCreadie, Norris and Moran won the six heat races.

Local drivers fared well in the heat races. Colton Flinner and Levi Yetter, a rising junior at Knoch, finished second and third behind Norris in the fifth heat, giving Lernerville regulars all three qualifying spots.

Logan Zarin, Alex Ferree and John Garvin Jr. also qualified out of heat races.

Dalton Wilson won the first B Main. Tyler Erb won the second B Main.

Mason Zeigler went from last to third to take the final qualifying spot. He charged from 24th to ninth in the 100-lapper.

Max Blair earned a $20,000 payday with a win in the Bill Emig Memorial Rush crate late model feature. It was his third Emig Memorial win.