Ricky Thornton Jr. and Max Blair won two exciting feature events on Friday night at Lernerville Speedway. Thornton, the current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship points leader won the first 25-lap main event and Max Blair, who currently sits atop the O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Year chase earned his first career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win by taking the 25-lap nightcap main event.
Thornton regained the lead from Jonathan Davenport with three laps to go to take the first feature which went down to the wire. Brandon Overton got by Davenport at the end to take the runner-up spot. Davenport crossed the finish line in third followed by Gregg Satterlee, and Hudson O’Neal.
Thornton led the first 21 laps until Davenport seized the point on lap 22. Thornton rebounded coming off turn four on lap 23 as he went on to pick up his first-ever win at Lernerville and his ninth this season with the series. “I just didn’t know where to be,” said Thornton in Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 14th time in his career. “The lapped cars were all running around the bottom. I heard JD on the bottom, and I knew he was going to slide me. I about ruined his night over there in turn two. I didn’t really want to slide him. I just wanted to get alongside of him and then my right rear caught his left front. Hopefully I didn’t really ruin his night. I saw he ended up third.”
Thornton rebounded from a DNF in the first 25-lap feature of the day to post the win. “I mean it was my own fault earlier. I should have just settled for where I was at and instead, I made it a really long night for us tonight. I really had to perform tonight to put us in a good spot for tomorrow night.”
Overton made his second Big River Steel Podium of the day with his runner-up finish. “It was a heck of race. I got to watch a lot of it. Congrats to Ricky and JD. We are getting closer. We were a little bit better today and will try again tomorrow. The track just hasn’t gotten slow,” said the driver seeking his third-career Firecracker 100 win on Saturday night. “This place is always slow and slick. We haven’t seen that yet, so we are just going to have to get a good game plan for tomorrow and hopefully the rain stays away and it get slick.”
Davenport, who earlier in the day won one of the 25-lap features came home in third in his Friday night main event. “I got run off the track over there pretty much. I thought I cleared him [Thornton] pretty clean down here. It’s all right, it’s 50 grand tomorrow. But it is what it is. He’s got a fast car. We have been trying to throw everything at him to beat him. He’s been doing a good job. He was probably clear from his vantage point.”
The winner’s Todd and Vickie Burns-owned, SSI Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Big River Steel, Hoker Trucking, Coltman Farms, Sub-Surface of Indiana, Dyno One Inc., West Side Tractor Sales, D&E Outside Services, Certified Inspection Service Company, Inc., Sunoco Race Fuels, Bilstein Shocks, Midwest Sheet Metal, and Murty Farms.
Completing the top ten in the 25-lap Group A feature were Tyler Erb, Spencer Hughes, Darrell Bossard, Trevor Collins, and Chub Frank.
Like the first feature the second came down to the end with Blair holding off a hard-charging Daulton Wilson for the win. Devin Moran, who led the first 19 laps was third at the finish with Michael Norris passing Tyler Bruening on the final lap for fourth.
The 33-year-old Blair, a third-generation racer from Centerville, Pennsylvania, became the 15th different winner of the season with the series and the 89th different driver in series history to win a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series race.
“Man, this is awesome. I don’t even know what to say. I started running Devin down a little bit there and I thought no way I was going to pass him – then I was thinking I was a little better than him and then I passed him. I messed up every corner for the next three laps so then I finally calmed myself down and just rode it to the end. I can’t thank Boom and Steve Briggs enough for giving me this opportunity of a lifetime. This is a great partnership and I think it’s going to be a really good fit.”
“I didn’t feel secure until I crossed the checkered flag. I felt like I had a car capable winning all day. We have been pretty good all weekend. Everybody thinks this is like my local racetrack it’s not. We have raced the Firecracker and I have been to the Stampede a couple of times, but I do love this place. I love coming here. Hats off to Lernerville they have worked their tails off to get these races in. There is a lot of places that wouldn’t have done what they did. We sure appreciate that too.”
Wilson equaled his best career finish with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series by coming home in second behind Blair. “We got hung up there on the outside and didn’t really know where to be. I finally got down on that bottom and I got to rotating around there pretty good. I didn’t realize what lap we were on until I seen the white. Hats off to Max he drove a good race and Devin, too.”
Moran rounded out the podium for the second time on Friday by taking home third in the last feature of the day. “I mean cautions just killed me right there. I felt like I could make really good time the whole race and then the top just slowly started going away. I got my tires a little hot, but Max and those guys did a great job and so did Daulton. I mean two third-place finishes today, were happy with that.”
The winner’s Briggs Transport-owned, Rocket Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Excess Storage, Corry Rubber Corporation, Meridien Hardwoods, Valvoline, Penske Racing Shocks, Creekside Auto Sales, Tucker Drums, Murphy’s Logging, C&J Dairy, Northeast Bus Service, Three Rivers Karting, Chub Frank Racing, and Privity Auto Wrecking.
Completing the top ten in the 25-lap Group B feature were Tim McCreadie, Colton Flinner, Garrett Alberson, Ryan Montgomery, and Logan Zarin.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
17th Annual Firecracker 100 Presented by Big River Steel Night #2
Friday, June 23, 2023
Lernerville Speedway – Sarver, PA
Allstar Performance Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Brandon Overton | 15.736 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Michael Norris | 16.417 seconds
Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 – Group A Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 3. 22B-Darrell Bossard[4]; 4. 1T-Tyler Erb[3]; 5. 1*-Chub Frank[6]; 6. 11T-Trevor Collins[5]; 7. 20N-Nicholas Eck[8]; 8. 96-Mike Smith[7]
Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 – Group A Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 22-Gregg Satterlee[2]; 3. 1H-Hudson O’Neal[4]; 4. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[6]; 5. 3RK-Daryl Charlier[3]; 6. 1C-Alex Ferree[7]; 7. B22-Bump Hedman[5]; 8. AUS1-Brent Vosbergen[8]
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 – Group A Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 11-Spencer Hughes[1]; 2. 29-Ken Schaltenbrand[2]; 3. 7-Ross Robinson[3]; 4. 77-Tyler Dietz[6]; 5. 55-Benji Hicks[8]; 6. 10L-Gary Lyle[5]; 7. 8K-Kyle Strickler[4]; 8. 20D-Doug Eck[7]
Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 – Group B Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 2. 10-Michael Norris[1]; 3. 15K-Cody Overton[3]; 4. 9Y-Levi Yetter[4]; 5. J4-John Garvin Jr[5]; 6. 11P-Joshua Powell[6]; 7. 01-Ron Hall[7]; 8. 14A-Dan Angelicchio[8]
Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 – Group B Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 18D-Daulton Wilson[1]; 2. 1Z-Logan Zarin[4]; 3. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[2]; 4. 25S-Cory Sines[6]; 5. 9-Breyton Santee[8]; 6. 4S-Ryan Montgomery[3]; 7. 55C-Chris Schneider[7]; 8. 97-Kevin Smith[5]
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 – Group B Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 111B-Max Blair[1]; 2. 16-Tyler Bruening[2]; 3. 39-Tim McCreadie[5]; 4. 99B-Boom Briggs[4]; 5. 58-Garrett Alberson[3]; 6. 48-Colton Flinner[6]; 7. 14-Braeden Dillinger[7]; 8. 1L-Chuckie Lepsch[8]; 9. 66-Todd Bachman[9]
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series PR
