Photo Credit - Todd Boyd
Story and Results from Lucas Oil Speedway
WHEATLAND, MO. (May 24, 2024) - Ricky Thornton Jr. continued his dominance at the 32nd annual Lucas Oil Show-Me 100 Presented by Missouri Division of Tourism, winning Friday night's Tribute to Don and Billie Gibson.
Thornton led all 40 laps on the heels of his Thursday night triumph in the Cowboy Classic at Lucas Oil Speedway. Both wins were worth $10,000 and just as important, the Martinsville, Ind., driver is assured the pole for Saturday night's $50,000-to-win 100-lap finale.
"It worked out for us and I have to thank my boys; they busted their butts," Thornton said after his eighth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory of the season and 31st of his career. He beat runner-up and reigning Show-Me 100 champ Devin Moran by about four car lengths.
The race honored Don and Billie Gibson, who created the Show-Me 100 in 1993 as owners of West Plains Motor Speedway.
A total of 59 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series/MLRA Late Models checked into the pits while 19 Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models were on hand.
Thornton set himself up for a chance to go for the weekend sweep - and win his first Show-Me 100 - with another outstanding performance. He crossed the finish line first in last year's Show-Me 100, but was disqualified in post-race inspection for a deck height infraction on his car.
The key moment of Gibson Tribute might have been on lap one when the fourth-starting Thornton split front-row starters Jonathan Davenport and Garrett Alberson in turns one and two.
"I didn't expect it," Thornton said of the bold move. "We got a good start and I was able to get next to Garrett down the front straightaway. I really didn't think I was going to get a good enough run to get it next to 'JD' but it took off a lot better than I was anticipating."
Thornton grabbed the lead when he and Davenport crossed the start-finish line side-by-side and traded bumps the first coming from Thornton on the inside. Thornton’s lead was .011 of a second at the line and Davenport bounced off the wall and back into Thornton, who took the blame for the contact.
"That was definitely all my fault. I thought I cleared him in (turn) three," Thornton said. "I hit the slime off four and I thought I left him enough room, but clearly I didn't, so I'm just glad it didn't wreck both of us. It was 100 percent my fault.
"This thing was really good. We went with a little bit different tire than those other guys again and I think it paid off for us."
Davenport said the early action was awfully aggressive for the start of a 40-lapper.
"It was just the first lap. I thought he was gonna give me room," Davenport said. "I guess he just misjudged or whatever. I was as far as I could get up. I hit the outside wall and him at the same time. It knocked the wheel out of my hands, which is the reason I run down the racetrack on him.
"Any way, (stuff) happens, I guess. Just thankful to be up here in the top three. I was trying hard to get back by (Max) Blair. With the run we had last night, coming from the back, we needed all the points we could get to get a good starting spot for tomorrow."
Thornton held a .761-second lead when the race’s first caution flew on lap-10 for debris from Dillon McCowan’s car. Thornton was able to quickly open up a three-quarter second lead after the restart as Davenport, Blair and Moran tussled for second.
At the halfway point, Thornton led Moran by just under a second with Blair and Davenport giving chase as the leaders caught lapped traffic. That worked in Thornton’s favor was his lead grew to 1.5 seconds by lap 27.
But Moran, hugging the low groove, began to cut into the margin and was within two car lengths by lap 31. Thornton kicked it back into fast mode and built some breathing room by lap 35 as the long green-flag run continued.
Thornton had to battle his way through more heavy traffic on the final laps, but held off Moran by .618 seconds. Moran finished third on Thursday.
“We just can't catch this dude," Moran said. "They do a great job and they've done a great job for the last couple of years. Congrats to them, but we're one step in the right direction."
Thornton said in the late stages, he could see how big a gap he had on Moran by checking out the video board overlooking turn three.
"Without that, I probably would have drove a little harder through traffic," Thornton said. "But I felt like I had a decent gap. On the last lap, I saw him go to the top in (turns) one and two. If he was on me going into three, I was going to have to really drive into three hard, but it worked out for us."
Davenport passed Blair on the final circuit to grab third. Jimmy Owens, a four-time Show-Me 100 champ, wound up fifth.
"Call a friend and bring 'em tomorrow, it's gonna be one hell of a show," Davenport said.
Davenport had the fast qualifying lap, circling the oval at 14.864 seconds in Group B. Alberson, the fast qualifier on Night One, paced Group A at 14.872.
LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (May 24, 2024)
32nd annual Lucas Oil Show-Me 100 Presented by Missouri Division of Tourism
Lucas Oil Late Models
Tribute to Don and Billie Gibson - 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[4]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[3]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 4. 111-Max Blair[8]; 5. 20-Jimmy Owens[7]; 6. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 7. 93F-Carson Ferguson[10]; 8. 1-Tim McCreadie[6]; 9. 157-Mike Marlar[20]; 10. 19M-Spencer Hughes[12]; 11. 32X-Chris Simpson[5]; 12. 18D-Daulton Wilson[16]; 13. 7-Ross Robinson[11]; 14. 71-Hudson O'Neal[18]; 15. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[19]; 16. 25C-Chad Simpson[21]; 17. 6-Clay Harris[13]; 18. 49W-Justin Wells[14]; 19. 90-Brian Rickman[17]; 20. 1X-Aaron Marrant[22]; 21. 15-Payton Looney[15]; 22. 10-Garrett Smith[9]; 23. 7T-Drake Troutman[24]; 24. 8-Dillon McCowan[23]
Fast Shafts B Main 1 - 1. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[2]; 2. 1X-Aaron Marrant[5]; 3. 17SS-Brenden Smith[3]; 4. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[1]; 5. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[4]; 6. 78S-Steve Stultz[6]; 7. 12-Scott Crigler[9]; 8. 7W-Cole Wells[12]; 9. 3-Brennon Willard[13]; 10. 65-Jon Binning[8]; 11. 82-Jace Parmley[7]; 12. 26P-Glen Powell[14]; 13. 93-Cory Lawler[10]; 14. (DNS) 10M-Jacob Magee
UNOH B Main 2 - 1. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 2. 8-Dillon McCowan[3]; 3. 96-Tanner English[6]; 4. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[7]; 5. 22H-Dustin Hodges[2]; 6. 0X-Jason Sivils[12]; 7. 36-Logan Martin[4]; 8. 7D-Dusty Leonard[5]; 9. 15C-Clayton Stuckey[8]; 10. USA1-Chris Hawkins[11]; 11. 14R-Jeff Roth[10]; 12. 6H-Al Humphrey[13]; 13. 26M-Matt Menzie[14]; 14. (DNS) 777-Jared Landers
MyRacePass B Main 3 - 1. 25C-Chad Simpson[1]; 2. 7T-Drake Troutman[3]; 3. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[5]; 4. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[4]; 5. 1S-Jeremy Shaw[6]; 6. 128-Kylan Garner[8]; 7. 93O-Mason Oberkramer[11]; 8. 2-Tyler Stevens[7]; 9. 11-Jeff Herzog[9]; 10. 74X-Ethan Dotson[2]; 11. 67-Jimmy Vanzandt[13]; 12. 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel[12]; 13. 7J-Ryan Johnson[10]
Penske Shocks Heat 1 - 1. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens[4]; 3. 6-Clay Harris[2]; 4. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[3]; 5. 17SS-Brenden Smith[5]; 6. 1X-Aaron Marrant[7]; 7. 82-Jace Parmley[10]; 8. 12-Scott Crigler[6]; 9. 10M-Jacob Magee[9]; 10. 3-Brennon Willard[8]
Summit Racing Heat 2 - 1. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 2. 10-Garrett Smith[1]; 3. 15-Payton Looney[6]; 4. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[3]; 5. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[5]; 6. 78S-Steve Stultz[4]; 7. 65-Jon Binning[9]; 8. 93-Cory Lawler[7]; 9. 7W-Cole Wells[8]; 10. 26P-Glen Powell[10]
Earnhardt Technologies Heat 3 - 1. 32X-Chris Simpson[1]; 2. 7-Ross Robinson[4]; 3. 90-Brian Rickman[2]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar[5]; 5. 8-Dillon McCowan[6]; 6. 7D-Dusty Leonard[3]; 7. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[8]; 8. 777-Jared Landers[10]; 9. USA1-Chris Hawkins[7]; 10. 6H-Al Humphrey[9]
Simpson Race Products Heat 4 - 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 111-Max Blair[3]; 3. 49W-Justin Wells[7]; 4. 22H-Dustin Hodges[2]; 5. 36-Logan Martin[4]; 6. 96-Tanner English[5]; 7. 15C-Clayton Stuckey[6]; 8. 14R-Jeff Roth[8]; 9. 0X-Jason Sivils[9]; 10. 26M-Matt Menzie[10]
Lucas Oil Heat 5 - 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 93F-Carson Ferguson[2]; 3. 18D-Daulton Wilson[5]; 4. 25C-Chad Simpson[8]; 5. 7T-Drake Troutman[6]; 6. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[4]; 7. 2-Tyler Stevens[3]; 8. 11-Jeff Herzog[7]; 9. 93O-Mason Oberkramer[10]; 10. 67-Jimmy Vanzandt[9]
Lucas Oil Heat 6 - 1. 1-Tim McCreadie[2]; 2. 19M-Spencer Hughes[1]; 3. 71-Hudson O'Neal[3]; 4. 74X-Ethan Dotson[7]; 5. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[4]; 6. 1S-Jeremy Shaw[5]; 7. 128-Kylan Garner[8]; 8. 7J-Ryan Johnson[6]; 9. 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel[9]
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