Finishes Second in Castrol FloRacing Night in America Standings
MARTINSVILLE, Ind. (11/14/22) – Ricky Thornton Jr. decimated the Castrol FloRacing Night in America field on Saturday night to claim the $53,053 Peach State Classic victory aboard his SSI Motorsports No. 20RT Dyno One Inc./ Excel Floor Covering/ Sub-Surface of Indiana/ Longhorn Chassis/ Clements Racing Engine Super Late Model.
Against a talent-laden field he crossed the finish line more than 10 seconds in front of his nearest pursuer in the 75-lap affair to bag his sixth win of the year.
“My crew guy was jumping up and down, telling me to slow down, so I knew (my lead) was pretty good,” Thornton said. “I got to Ricky Weiss and I kinda got stuck and I just didn’t know what I needed to do, finally once I got by him, then I felt like I picked my pace back up. We tried (a suspension setup) that (Anthony) Burroughs (crew chief) wanted to do, and it was really good for us. With the finish we also locked up second in the series point standings, so that’s another nice bonus here late in the year.
“A big thank you goes out to SSI Motorsports and all of our great sponsors for making all of this possible. I’m going to head out West to race the Modified the next few weeks before we come back to the Dome (Gateway Dirt Nationals) in December.”
Ricky Thornton Jr. returned to the driver’s seat of the SSI Motorsports No. 20RT Late Model on Friday afternoon as the Castrol FloRacing Night in America miniseries wrapped up the 2022 campaign at Senoia Raceway (Senoia, Ga.) with the Peach State Classic.
With 52 Late Models entered for the doubleheader weekend, Ricky followed up the 17th-fastest qualifying effort in his group with a sixth-to-third run in his heat race.
Earning the 15th-starting position for Friday’s $20,000-to-win preliminary feature, Thornton advanced forward six spots in the 50-lapper to register a ninth-place finish.
On Saturday, Thornton stopped the clock third-fastest in his group before placing first in his heat race.
Earning the pole for the Peach State Classic finale, Ricky blasted into the lead at the drop of the green flag and never looked back, soaring to a flag-to-flag victory in the 75-lap affair.
Winning by more than a 10-second margin, Thornton earned a $53,053 payday ahead of Hudson O’Neal, Devin Moran, Ashton Winger, and Chris Madden.
On the heels of a successful weekend, Ricky Thornton Jr. finished second in the Castrol FloRacing Night in America point standings, which comes with a $15,000 prize.
SUPER LATE MODEL
A Feature 1 (75 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 71X-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 3. 99M-Devin Moran[5]; 4. 12-Ashton Winger[10]; 5. 44-Chris Madden[6]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[8]; 7. 7W-Ricky Weiss[4]; 8. 157-Mike Marlar[9]; 9. 40B-Kyle Bronson[14]; 10. 58-Garrett Alberson[13]; 11. 19-Ryan Gustin[15]; 12. 1T-Tyler Erb[16]; 13. B5-Brandon Sheppard[17]; 14. 14M-Morgan Bagley[2]; 15. 16-Austin Horton[20]; 16. (DNF) 19M-Wil Herrington[18]; 17. (DNF) 9Z-Mason Zeigler[7]; 18. (DNF) 93-Carson Ferguson[12]; 19. (DNF) 18X-Michael Page[22]; 20. (DNF) 3S-Brian Shirley[19]; 21. (DNF) 66K-Dylan Knowles[21]; 22. (DNF) 11-Spencer Hughes[23]; 23. (DNF) 17M-Dale McDowell[11]; 24. (DNF) 10-Joseph Joiner[24]
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[3]; 3. 66K-Dylan Knowles[5]; 4. 11-Spencer Hughes[2]; 5. 44D-Dalton Cook[4]; 6. 22*-Payton Freeman[7]; 7. 148-Booger Brooks[6]; 8. 9C-Jason Croft[9]; 9. 55-Matt Long[15]; 10. 99-JR Moseley[8]; 11. 17-Bailey Williams[11]; 12. 50V-Montie Vaughn[12]; 13. (DNS) 17H-Lamar Haygood; 14. (DNS) 17K-Kyler Haygood; 15. (DNS) 24-Tanner Collins; 16. (DNS) 71-Cody Haskins
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 19M-Wil Herrington[2]; 2. 16-Austin Horton[1]; 3. 18X-Michael Page[3]; 4. 10-Joseph Joiner[4]; 5. 22E-Russell Erwin[7]; 6. 6JR-Parker Martin[8]; 7. 1N-Jordy Nipper[5]; 8. 31-Tyler Millwood[12]; 9. 22-Will Roland[6]; 10. 71K-Jim Rogers[16]; 11. 05C-Corey Roulette[9]; 12. 42-Cla Knight[14]; 13. (DNS) 121-Pearson Williams; 14. (DNS) 711-Morgan Alexander; 15. (DNS) 0-Scott Bloomquist; 16. (DNS) 888-Dennis Hale
Integra Shocks and Springs Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 2. 99M-Devin Moran[3]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar[4]; 4. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 5. B5-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 6. 3S-Brian Shirley[6]; 7. 66K-Dylan Knowles[8]; 8. 22*-Payton Freeman[9]; 9. 9C-Jason Croft[7]; 10. 17-Bailey Williams[11]; 11. 17H-Lamar Haygood[10]; 12. 55-Matt Long[12]
Pit Stop USA Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 71X-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 2. 9Z-Mason Zeigler[3]; 3. 17M-Dale McDowell[2]; 4. 19-Ryan Gustin[4]; 5. 11-Spencer Hughes[6]; 6. 44D-Dalton Cook[8]; 7. 148-Booger Brooks[7]; 8. 99-JR Moseley[5]; 9. 17K-Kyler Haygood[10]; 10. (DNF) 50V-Montie Vaughn[11]; 11. (DNF) 24-Tanner Collins[9]; 12. (DNS) 71-Cody Haskins
PFC Brakes Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 14M-Morgan Bagley[1]; 2. 44-Chris Madden[3]; 3. 12-Ashton Winger[4]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 5. 16-Austin Horton[6]; 6. 18X-Michael Page[8]; 7. 1N-Jordy Nipper[9]; 8. 22E-Russell Erwin[2]; 9. 05C-Corey Roulette[11]; 10. 711-Morgan Alexander[12]; 11. (DNF) 0-Scott Bloomquist[7]; 12. (DNF) 888-Dennis Hale[10]
Buzze Racing Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 7W-Ricky Weiss[1]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[2]; 3. 93-Carson Ferguson[3]; 4. 1T-Tyler Erb[7]; 5. 19M-Wil Herrington[4]; 6. 10-Joseph Joiner[8]; 7. 22-Will Roland[5]; 8. 6JR-Parker Martin[9]; 9. 121-Pearson Williams[6]; 10. 31-Tyler Millwood[10]; 11. 42-Cla Knight[11]; 12. 71K-Jim Rogers[12]
Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 58-Garrett Alberson, 00:13.964[4]; 2. 71X-Hudson O’Neal, 00:14.116[16]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:14.141[7]; 4. 17M-Dale McDowell, 00:14.253[12]; 5. 99M-Devin Moran, 00:14.346[14]; 6. 9Z-Mason Zeigler, 00:14.376[2]; 7. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:14.392[22]; 8. 19-Ryan Gustin, 00:14.562[8]; 9. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:14.568[21]; 10. 99-JR Moseley, 00:14.595[13]; 11. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:14.631[10]; 12. 11-Spencer Hughes, 00:14.633[20]; 13. 9C-Jason Croft, 00:14.667[1]; 14. 148-Booger Brooks, 00:14.672[9]; 15. 66K-Dylan Knowles, 00:14.725[17]; 16. 44D-Dalton Cook, 00:14.808[6]; 17. 22*-Payton Freeman, 00:14.894[23]; 18. 24-Tanner Collins, 00:15.108[3]; 19. 17H-Lamar Haygood, 00:15.243[18]; 20. 17K-Kyler Haygood, 00:15.431[15]; 21. 17-Bailey Williams, 00:15.445[5]; 22. 50V-Montie Vaughn, 00:15.472[24]; 23. 55-Matt Long, 00:15.609[19]; 24. (DNS) 71-Cody Haskins, 00:15.609
Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 14M-Morgan Bagley, 00:14.453[4]; 2. 7W-Ricky Weiss, 00:14.478[13]; 3. 22E-Russell Erwin, 00:14.542[15]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:14.549[5]; 5. 44-Chris Madden, 00:14.636[6]; 6. 93-Carson Ferguson, 00:14.672[9]; 7. 12-Ashton Winger, 00:14.770[7]; 8. 19M-Wil Herrington, 00:14.883[1]; 9. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:14.894[23]; 10. 22-Will Roland, 00:14.927[16]; 11. 16-Austin Horton, 00:14.971[12]; 12. 121-Pearson Williams, 00:14.998[2]; 13. 0-Scott Bloomquist, 00:15.042[17]; 14. 1T-Tyler Erb, 00:15.059[19]; 15. 18X-Michael Page, 00:15.151[21]; 16. 10-Joseph Joiner, 00:15.154[18]; 17. 1N-Jordy Nipper, 00:15.173[10]; 18. 6JR-Parker Martin, 00:15.286[11]; 19. 888-Dennis Hale, 00:15.307[14]; 20. 31-Tyler Millwood, 00:15.357[20]; 21. 05C-Corey Roulette, 00:15.382[22]; 22. 42-Cla Knight, 00:15.557[8]; 23. 711-Morgan Alexander, 00:15.601[24]; 24. 71K-Jim Rogers, 00:15.745[3]
This Friday through Sunday “RTJ” will travel west to Central Arizona Raceway (Casa Grande, Ariz.) for a triple header. The Showdown event features three days of IMCA Modified racing with a $1,000 winner’s check on the line on Friday and Saturday, while Sunday’s finale posts a $3,000 top prize.
Ricky Thornton Jr. would like to thank all of his marketing partners, which include: SSI Motorsports, Dyno One, Excel Floor Covering, Hoker Trucking, Certified Inspection Service (CSI), High Performance Lubricants, Big River Steel, Van Meter Insurance Group, Varsitee Screen Printing, West Side Tractor Sales Co., Sub-Surface of Indiana, Midwest Sheet Metal, D&E Outside Services, Lethal Chassis, Dylan Earven Foundation, EMD Wraps, Brembo, Keyser Manufacturing, Wiles Driveshafts, Barnes Systems, Strange Oval, Schoenfeld Headers, The Joie of Seating, Earnhardt Technologies, FK Rod Ends, BMRS, Wilwood Disc Brakes, Hoosier Tire, Performance Bodies, Jones Racing Products, Simpson Racing Products, NAPA (Morgantown – Bargersville), Swift Springs, Penske Racing Shocks, Winning Edge Carburetion, Longhorn Chassis, Clements Racing Engines, and MyRacePass Marketing Services.
Visit the team’s official website at www.TwentyRT.com often for the latest team information. You can also stay connected with Ricky Thornton Jr. on social media at https://www.facebook.com/rickythorntonjrracing on Facebook, and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RThornton20rt.