Ricky
Thornton, Jr. Shines in Dominant Performance
(June
17, 2023) Ricky Thornton Jr. showed why he has been the
hottest driver with a dominating performance in the Lucas Oil
Late Model Dirt Series Mountain Moonshine Classic presented by
FK Rod Ends and East Tennessee Auto Outlet. (MRM
Racing Photo)
Spencer Hughes started the 60-lap race from the pole position
after winning the fast car dash that featured the top 3 finishers
from Friday’s features. Chris Ferguson joined Hughes on
the front row. It was Ferguson that took the initial lead on the
opening lap. Hughes tucked in behind Ferguson. Thornton wasted
no time in taking over the third spot.
Ferguson looked dialed in as the early laps clicked off. When
Thornton got past Hughes for second, the driver of the 20RT machine
ran down Ferguson. Thornton looked under Ferguson for the lead
on lap 22, but Ferguson kept his momentum off turn 2 to maintain
the lead. As Ferguson hugged the bottom, Thornton looked to the
outside of Ferguson and eventually took the lead on lap 26. From
there, Thornton pulled away to finish over 6 seconds ahead of
Hudson O’Neal, who took second from Ferguson in the closing
laps. Thornton's win was worth $50,000.
The sportsman late model feature saw Darren Goins and Terry Poore
starting the race from the front row. Poore looked to have the
early lead until a caution on lap 1 caused the field to lineup
from their starting positions. Another attempted start saw the
same result with Poore taking the lead only to be nullified by
a caution. Once the race got off to a good start, it was Goins
that took the lead and never looked back. Jed Emert passed Poore
with a handful of laps to go to finish second.
The SE4MA mini stocks saw plenty of drama with a number of cautions
and unapproved driver changes. Hayston Collett won the pole position,
but Shane Bullock to the initial lead. Bullock had a tough time
shaking Collett in the early laps of the race. Collett would pull
alongside Bullock several times but could not complete a pass
for the lead. Bullock shook loose of Collett and held on to win
the race. Derik Duggan came from 7th to finish third.
Mountain Moonshine Classic (60 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky
Thornton Jr[4]; 2. 1H-Hudson O'Neal[7]; 3. 22F-Chris Ferguson[2];
4. 49-Jonathan Davenport[5]; 5. 8K-Kyle Strickler[6]; 6. 93-Carson
Ferguson[3]; 7. 1T-Tyler Erb[12]; 8. 11-Spencer Hughes[1]; 9.
20-Jimmy Owens[9]; 10. 39-Tim McCreadie[10]; 11. 18D-Daulton Wilson[8];
12. 111B-Max Blair[11]; 13. 23-Cory Hedgecock[17]; 14. 157-Mike
Marlar[19]; 15. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[16]; 16. 99-Devin Moran[15];
17. 99B-Boom Briggs[14]; 18. 58-Garrett Alberson[23]; 19. 7-Ross
Robinson[22]; 20. 10-Garrett Smith[20]; 21. 16-Tyler Bruening[18];
22. 17M-Dale McDowell[13]; 23. 76-Brandon Overton[21]; 24. 83-Jensen
Ford[24]
Sportsman Late Model Feature (20 Laps): 1. 2D-Darren
Goins[1]; 2. 98-Jed Emert[3]; 3. 2P-Terry Poore[2]; 4. 31-Wes
Tilley[4]; 5. 50-Adam Mitchell[5]; 6. C4-Cameron Hawkins[8]; 7.
C9-Cody Courtney[10]; 8. 11-Tim Bounds[6]; 9. 44-David Beeler[13];
10. 33-Warren McMahan[11]; 11. 5-Curtis Thomas[9]; 12. 21H-Tyler
Haynes[12]; 13. 15-Bryan Cooper[14]; 14. 32G-Cody Gloyne[7]; 15.
J3-Chad McLemore[18]; 16. 2N-Nicky Starnes[16]; 17. 3S-Shane Starnes[15];
18. 556-Malachi Yarger[21]; 19. 4-Jacob Kelso[19]
Mini Stock Feature (20 Laps): 1. 2B-Shane Bullock[2];
2. 21-Hayston Collett[1]; 3. 27D-Derik Duggan[7]; 4. 99-Daniel
Coffey[5]; 5. D1-Nathan Davis[3]; 6. 87-Bryan Hale[18]; 7. 247-Peyton
Merritt[17]; 8. 12-Dustin Stephens[19]; 9. 44-Cordell Collins[20];
10. 17-Daniel Moody[16]; 11. 5-scott russell[11]; 12. B7-Brandon
Phillips[24]; 13. 911-Troy Finley[23]; 14. 94-Matt Jackson[10];
15. S1-John Smartt[4]; 16. 71-Tim Bristol[13]; 17. 27-Stevie Gannon[22];
18. 26-Jason Todd[15]; 19. 3-Justin Farless[21]; 20. (DQ) 62-Kyle
Todd[14]; 21. (DQ) 25G-Gracie Duggan[8]
The next race at Smoky Mountain Speedway will be on Saturday,
July 8 when the Topless Outlaws return for a $3,000 to win race.
They will be joined by the Carolina Sprint Cars and the Tennessee
Mini Late Models.
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