The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series drivers have unloaded and brought the drama to Spring Valley, Minnesota. The 3/8-mile dirt track of Deer Creek Speedway is hosting the Gopher 50. The race is a three-day show which will conclude on Saturday with a $50,000 to win feature.
Ricky Thornton Jr and Hudson O’Neal made first contact during the qualifying heat race. O’Neal forced his way inside of Thronton Jr into turn three as they ran three wide. They rubbed doors and O’Neal took the spot away.
When they reached turn one, Thornton Jr drove it deep to the inside of O’Neal. He got him in the door and O’Neal was sent spinning. Ross Robinson was collected as O’Neal went backwards up the banking.
Ricky Thornton Jr is the series point leader. Hudson O’Neal is in 2nd.
But, these two weren’t done running into each other…
Ricky Thornton Jr vs Hudson O’Neal
Second Contact (Feature)
Later in the night, the two drivers found themselves racing for position in the $5,000 to win preliminary feature.
As they raced for 11th and 12th, the two drivers made more contact. O’Neal slid Thornton Jr in turn three and ran him wide. He doored him, sending them both into the turn four wall.
No caution was thrown for the incident in the feature. Both cars were able to continue.
Thornton Jr crossed the finish line with the right rear quarter panel torn off.
However, after the checkered flag, Ricky Thornton Jr pulled alongside Hudson O’Neal and shoved him into the outside wall.
Thornton Jr limped his car to the pit area with a flat left front tire.
The Rocket 1 Team and the SSI Motorsports #20 were parked near each other in the pit area. Apparently, words were exchanged between the teams as well as some shoving.
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series added the following note to their race recap, “Following the checkered flag, Ricky Thornton Jr. made contact with another car resulting in his disqualification.”
This marks the second race in the last few weeks that Thornton Jr was penalized. The $50,000 Show-Me 100 was taken away back in May.
Ricky Thornton Jr stripped of $50k Show-Me 100 win
Deer Creek Speedway
Results
July 6, 2023
Lucas Oil Late Models
View full 2023 results from the dirt track below.
Practice
Hot Laps – Group 1 : 1. 99-Devin Moran, 00:14.622[8]; 2. 25C-Shane Clanton, 00:14.668[3]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:14.756[9]; 4. 46-Earl Pearson Jr, 00:14.765[4]; 5. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:14.771[5]; 6. 11-Spencer Hughes, 00:14.779[2]; 7. 7-Ross Robinson, 00:14.851[7]; 8. 1T-Tyler Erb, 00:14.924[10]; 9. 42-Terry Casey, 00:15.116[6]; 10. 11L-Lance Hofer, 00:15.538[1]
Hot Laps – Group 2 : 1. 25-Chad Simpson, 00:14.460[3]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie, 00:14.549[1]; 3. 1H-Hudson O’Neal, 00:14.579[8]; 4. 5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:14.633[2]; 5. 15-Nick Anvelink, 00:14.835[9]; 6. 28S-Dustin Sorensen, 00:14.869[6]; 7. 1ST-Johnny Scott, 00:14.967[5]; 8. 99B-Boom Briggs, 00:15.421[4]; 9. 10P-Paul Parker, 00:15.589[7]
Hot Laps – Group 3 : 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport, 00:14.475[5]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton, 00:14.597[3]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson, 00:14.761[2]; 4. 111B-Max Blair, 00:14.826[8]; 5. 44-Chris Madden, 00:14.842[6]; 6. 18D-Daulton Wilson, 00:14.938[10]; 7. 15J-Justin Duty, 00:14.943[9]; 8. 77-Jordan Yaggy, 00:15.117[4]; 9. 55C-Chad Mahder, 00:15.186[1]; 10. 90-Lance Matthees, 00:15.428[7]
Hot Laps – Group 4 : 1. 2S-Stormy Scott, 00:14.732[5]; 2. 32C-Chris Simpson, 00:14.901[6]; 3. 16-Tyler Bruening, 00:14.929[2]; 4. 49T-Jake Timm, 00:14.993[8]; 5. 8-Dillon McCowan, 00:15.087[3]; 6. 10-Garrett Smith, 00:15.098[1]; 7. 14G-Trevor Gundaker, 00:15.161[4]; 8. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:15.198[7]; 9. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck, 00:15.286[9]
Qualifying
Qualifying (Group A) : 1. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:14.587[5]; 2. 5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:14.759[12]; 3. 99-Devin Moran, 00:14.764[8]; 4. 11-Spencer Hughes, 00:14.776[2]; 5. 25C-Shane Clanton, 00:14.790[3]; 6. 46-Earl Pearson Jr, 00:14.827[4]; 7. 25-Chad Simpson, 00:14.931[13]; 8. 1T-Tyler Erb, 00:14.960[10]; 9. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:14.961[9]; 10. 39-Tim McCreadie, 00:14.964[11];
11. 7-Ross Robinson, 00:15.062[7]; 12. 15-Nick Anvelink, 00:15.069[19]; 13. 1H-Hudson O’Neal, 00:15.081[18]; 14. 1ST-Johnny Scott, 00:15.147[15]; 15. 42-Terry Casey, 00:15.167[6]; 16. 99B-Boom Briggs, 00:15.284[14]; 17. 28S-Dustin Sorensen, 00:15.329[16]; 18. 11L-Lance Hofer, 00:15.331[1]; 19. 10P-Paul Parker, 00:15.802[17]
Qualifying (Group B) : 1. 18D-Daulton Wilson, 00:14.820[10]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport, 00:14.937[5]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:14.976[17]; 4. 58-Garrett Alberson, 00:15.036[2]; 5. 44-Chris Madden, 00:15.046[6]; 6. 76-Brandon Overton, 00:15.112[3]; 7. 111B-Max Blair, 00:15.244[8]; 8. 15J-Justin Duty, 00:15.299[9]; 9. 49T-Jake Timm, 00:15.361[18]; 10. 77-Jordan Yaggy, 00:15.384[4];
11. 16-Tyler Bruening, 00:15.499[12]; 12. 55C-Chad Mahder, 00:15.504[1]; 13. 32C-Chris Simpson, 00:15.545[16]; 14. 10-Garrett Smith, 00:15.596[11]; 15. 14G-Trevor Gundaker, 00:15.675[14]; 16. 8-Dillon McCowan, 00:15.808[13]; 17. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck, 00:15.849[19]; 18. 90-Lance Matthees, 00:16.416[7]; 19. 2S-Stormy Scott, 00:59.999[15]
Heat Races
Heat 1 (8 Laps – Top 4 Advance): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 3. 25-Chad Simpson[4]; 4. 25C-Shane Clanton[3]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[5]; 6. 28S-Dustin Sorensen[9]; 7. 42-Terry Casey[8]; 8. 10P-Paul Parker[10]; 9. 1H-Hudson O’Neal[7]; 10. 7-Ross Robinson[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps – Top 4 Advance) : 1. 11-Spencer Hughes[2]; 2. 5-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]; 4. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 5. 39-Tim McCreadie[5]; 6. 15-Nick Anvelink[6]; 7. 1ST-Johnny Scott[7]; 8. 99B-Boom Briggs[8]; 9. 11L-Lance Hofer[9]
Heat 3 (8 Laps – Top 4 Advance) : 1. 18D-Daulton Wilson[1]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 3. 44-Chris Madden[3]; 4. 49T-Jake Timm[5]; 5. 111B-Max Blair[4]; 6. 16-Tyler Bruening[6]; 7. 2S-Stormy Scott[10]; 8. 32C-Chris Simpson[7]; 9. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[9]; 10. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[8]
Heat 4 (8 Laps – Top 4 Advance) : 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[3]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[2]; 4. 10-Garrett Smith[7]; 5. 8-Dillon McCowan[8]; 6. 77-Jordan Yaggy[5]; 7. 55C-Chad Mahder[6]; 8. 15J-Justin Duty[4]; 9. 90-Lance Matthees[9]
B-Mains
B-Main 1 (Top 3 Advance) : 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[2]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 3. 1H-Hudson O’Neal[9]; 4. 28S-Dustin Sorensen[3]; 5. 15-Nick Anvelink[4]; 6. 1ST-Johnny Scott[6]; 7. 99B-Boom Briggs[8]; 8. 11L-Lance Hofer[10]; 9. 10P-Paul Parker[7]; 10. (DNS) 42-Terry Casey; 11. (DNS) 7-Ross Robinson
B-Main 2 (Top 3 Advance) : 1. 111B-Max Blair[1]; 2. 32C-Chris Simpson[7]; 3. 8-Dillon McCowan[2]; 4. 2S-Stormy Scott[5]; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening[3]; 6. 77-Jordan Yaggy[4]; 7. 15J-Justin Duty[8]; 8. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[9]; 9. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[11]; 10. 55C-Chad Mahder[6]; 11. (DNS) 90-Lance Matthees
Deer Creek Speedway
Feature Race Results
July 6, 2023
A-Main (25 Laps – $5,000 to win):
Pos | Car | Driver | Start Pos | Race Earnings
1. 99-Devin Moran[5]
2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]
3. 5-Brandon Sheppard[7]
4. 39-Tim McCreadie[17]
5. 1T-Tyler Erb[11]
6. 44-Chris Madden[10]
7. 1H-Hudson O’Neal[21]
8. 111B-Max Blair[18]
9. 28S-Dustin Sorensen[23]
10. 11-Spencer Hughes[3]
11. 58-Garrett Alberson[12]
12. 32C-Chris Simpson[20]
13. 49T-Jake Timm[14]
14. 157-Mike Marlar[6]
15. 76-Brandon Overton[8]
16. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[15]
17. 25-Chad Simpson[9]
18. 8-Dillon McCowan[22]
19. 18D-Daulton Wilson[2]
20. 10-Garrett Smith[16]
21. (DNF) 32-Bobby Pierce[1]
22. (DNF) 25C-Shane Clanton[13]
23. (DNF) 2S-Stormy Scott[24]
24. (DQ) 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[19]
Race Statistics
Entrants: 38
Terminal Maintenance & Construction Pole Sitter: Bobby Pierce
Lap Leaders: Bobby Pierce (Lap 1); Daulton Wilson (Laps 2-11); Devin Moran (Laps 12-25)
Wieland Feature Winner: Devin Moran
Arizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Feature Winner: n/a
Brandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: n/a
Margin of Victory: 2.663 seconds
Gorsuch Performance Solutions Cautions: Shane Clanton (Lap 8); Chad Simpson (Lap 11); Bobby Pierce (Lap 11 Restart)
Fast Time Provisional: n/a
Series Emergency Provisionals: n/a
Track Provisional: n/a
Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Devin Moran, Jonathan Davenport, Brandon Sheppard
Penske Shocks Top 5: Devin Moran, Jonathan Davenport, Brandon Sheppard, Tim McCreadie, Tyler Erb
Todd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race: Hudson O’Neal (Advanced 14 Positions)
Wilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Hudson O’Neal
Deatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: Chris Simpson
Earnhardt Technologies Most Laps Led: Devin Moran (14 Laps)
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Brandon Sheppard
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Ricky Thornton, Jr.
O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: Max Blair
Etchberger Trucking Fastest Lap of the Race: Bobby Pierce (Lap 6 – 15.353 seconds)
MD3 Tough Break of the Race: Daulton Wilson
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Chuck Kimble (Devin Moran)
ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Clements Racing Engines
Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn Chassis
Dirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Chad Simpson (14.460 seconds)
Time of Race: 17 minutes 49 seconds
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Points
Pos | Driver | Points
1. Ricky Thornton Jr
4160
2. Hudson O’Neal
-245
3. Brandon Overton
-450
4. Tim McCreadie
-575
5. Devin Moran
-650
6. Joanthan Davenport
-665
7. Max Blair
-835
8. Daulton Wilson
-840
9. Tyler Erb
-860
10. Spencer Hughes
-960
Ricky Thornton Jr vs Hudson O’Neal
Heat Race Incident
Deer Creek Speedway
Video Highlights
Links
Ricky Thronton Jr | Hudson O’Neal | Deer Creek Speedway | Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
