Story By: BEN SHELTON / SSI MOTORSPORTS – MARTINSVILLE, IN – Ricky Thornton Jr. enjoyed a successful weekend at the 13th annual Silver Dollar Nationals presented by MyRacePass aboard his SSI Motorsports / Coltman Farms / Hoker Trucking No. 20RT Dyno One Inc. / Excel Floor Covering / Sub-Surface of Indiana/ Longhorn Chassis/ Clements Racing Engine Super Late Model.
The Arizona native bagged a $12,000 win in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Go 50 weekend opener before charging from 16th to fourth in Saturday evening’s mega finale. With his performances he further extended his advantage atop the series standings.
“Man, that was wild there. I don’t know, I was really good right through the middle of one and two. It wasn’t clean, but there was just enough traction where you could really get through it,” said Thorton Jr. in Victory Lane on Thursday night. “I feel like this is a really big Sprint Car place and it’s really cool to win here. Bobby’s [Pierce] been really good probably the last two or three months. I know JD [Jonathan Davenport] has been really good lately too. I think I started 12th here last year and got to the lead. I knew I had to get a really good start and not get mired back in the pack.”
Kicking off the 13th annual Silver Dollar Nationals presented by MyRacePass weekend as it transitioned to Huset’s Speedway (Brandon, S.D.), Ricky Thornton Jr. unloaded his SSI Motorsports on Thursday evening for the 1/3-mile oval’s Go 50 opener.
With 40 cars entered for the event spanning over three days, Thornton’s runner-up run in his heat race positioned him on the third row for the feature. Sailing ahead of early pacesetter Jonathan Davenport on lap 19, Ricky led uncontested for the remainder of 50-lapper to claim his 21st win of the season and 13th LOLMDS triumph of 2023.
He banked a $12,000 payday ahead of Bobby Pierce, Jonathan Davenport, Chad Simpson, and Tim McCreadie.
After Mother Nature pushed back Friday’s heat races to Saturday afternoon, Ricky came in third in his first heat before finishing fifth in the second round.
With passing points setting the grid for the $53,000-to-win Silver Dollar Nationals finale later Saturday night, Thonrton charged from the eighth row to bring home a fourth-place finish.
He trailed Brandon Sheppard, Bobby Pierce, and Hudson O’Neal across the line with Tyler Erb fifth.
“We just buried ourselves a little too much in Saturday’s feature. I made some mistakes in the heat races that cost us, but I’m still proud to come out of here with a fourth-place finish. This is a cool place, and I look forward to coming back here next year,” Thornton Jr. commented.
Ricky has built up a 320-point margin atop the latest LOLMDS standings.
Ricky is chasing more big checks this week, starting with the XR Super Series Elkhorn 100 at Off Road Speedway (Norfolk, Neb.) on Monday and Tuesday, which culminates with a $100,000 prize.
On Friday and Saturday, he’ll enter the annual Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway with the World of Outlaws (WoO) Case Late Model Series. The mega weekend includes the field being divided into $5,000-to-win qualifiers on Friday night with a $50,000 winner’s check up for grabs on Saturday. Additionally, each lap of Saturday’s finale posts a $500 leader bonus, making the total winner’s check as much as $100,000.