Ricky Thornton Jr. Wins Dynamic Drivelines Dirt Duel!
Ricky Thornton Jr.
Thursday, July 19, 2018
By Eric Arnold
On a very hot day at the Knoxville Raceway the IMCA Modifieds pounded the historic dirt oval in the third running of the Dynamic Drivelines Dirt Duel featuring the IMCA Hawkeye Dirt Tour! 49 IMCA Modifieds and 33 SportMods entered on this night which closes out the week of the Marion County Fair.
In the IMCA Modified class Ricky Thornton Jr. originally of Arizona who now calls Iowa home led all 25 laps taking the $2,000 winner’s prize! Thornton would beat pole sitter Jacob Murray into turn one on the start and drive out to a 3.5 second lead early. Oskaloosa’s Cayden Carter started sixth and worked his way to second on lap five and began to chase down Thornton. When the leaders caught the tail of the field they found the bottom lane to be the preferred line all the way around making it difficult to pass. Carter would show his nose under Thornton a few times but could not make the pass. A late restart with six laps to go cleared the traffic out of Thornton’s way and he would go on to win his first race at Knoxville Raceway. Thornton has strung together a few terrific seasons racing in the Midwest since making the move here from Arizona.
The 20 lap IMCA SportMod feature was would see Sully’s Cory Van Zante pick up his first win at Knoxville by leading the entire distance. He would hold off challenges from Nebraska’s Cody Olsen and Oskaloosa hot shoe Curtis Van Der Wal.
Join us this Saturday night for 3M Night for the Lucas Oil Knoxville Championship Cup Series! All three classes of sprint cars will be in action. Kids ages 12 and under are free admission and there will be a candy dash on the front stretch thanks to Casey’s General Stores!
RESULTS
Modified A Feature (25 laps): 1. Ricky Thornton Jr. (2); 2. Cayden Carter (6); 3. Richie Gustin (7); 4. Jacob Murray (1); 5. Chris Abelson (3); 6. Hunter Marriott (5); 7. Corey Dripps (4); 8. Kyle Brown (8); 9. Troy Cordes (15); 10. Todd Van Eaton (17); 11. John Parmeley (26); 12. Matt Ryan (12); 13. Al Hejna (14); 14. Kurt Kile (11); 15. Justin Kay (13); 16. Kelly Shryock (25); 17. Carter VanDenBerg (21); 18. Shane DeMay (9); 19. Jason Wolla (16); 20. Derrick Stewart (23); 21. Ethan Dotson (22); 22. Jeremy Thornton (24); 23. Brennan Chipp (18); 24. Joel Rust (10); 25. Jeff Aikey (19); 26. David Brown (20);
Lap Leaders: Thornton Jr. 1-25
Sport Mod A Feature (20 laps): 1. Cory Van Zante (1); 2. Cody Olsen (5); 3. Curtis Van Der Wal (3); 4. Cory Rose (7); 5. Dusty Masolini (9); 6. Thomas VanDyke (2); 7. Johnathan Logue (6); 8. Ethan Braaksma (4); 9. Brayton Carter (0); 10. Thomas Egenberger (8); 11. Colton Livezey (11); 12. Jack Housley (13); 13. Adam Shelman (21); 14. Frank Packer (19); 15. Tony Olsen (12); 16. Hunter Longnecker (15); 17. Sam Wieben (18); 18. Danny Brau (22); 19. Tim Plummer (14); 20. Shane Paris (16); 21. Billy Dyer (23); 22. Charlie Weber (20); 23. Scott Brau (24); 24. Michael Carter (17);
Lap Leaders: Van Zante 1-20
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