WHEATLAND, Mo. (May 23, 2024) – Ricky Thornton Jr. took full advantage of a late race caution, passing race leader Garrett Alberson with two laps to go to win the 11th Annual Cowboy Classic on Thursday night at Lucas Oil Speedway. The race was co-sanctioned by the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and the Lucas Oil MLRA.
Alberson was in control of the 45-lap $10,000 to win event until the only caution of the race came out for second place running Chad Simpson with three laps to go. On the restart Thornton, who was running second, passed Alberson for the lead heading into turn three as the duo headed to the white flag. Thornton went on to earn his seventh Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season.
Alberson had his best career finish with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, coming home in second with Devin Moran rounding out the Big River Steel Podium in third after having one of the fastest cars on the track at the finish. Chris Simpson, who led the first seven laps of the race was fourth with Spencer Hughes completing the top five drivers.
In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for 35th time in his career, Thornton was also celebrating his 400th overall career victory.
“I knew I was the only one on a softer right rear. I didn’t know if we were going to get any yellows or not. Really, he [Alberson] fired off better than I did. He missed the bottom those two laps in a row, and whenever he slid high on the backstraightaway I knew he would be in the slick and I tried to get far enough by him so he knew where I was going to be down there getting into three. I am sure he was watching the board there a little bit. We touched a little bit getting into three. It feels pretty special this is my 400th career win. It’s been a lot of hard work and dedication to get to this point of my career.”
Alberson appeared to be on his way to his first career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory, but Thornton would take the point after the caution with three laps to go and lead the final two circuits to deny Alberson the win.
“To be bummed out with a second-place finish is a good thing. I am super proud of this Roberts Motorsports team; they have been working so hard. We’ve had a really good race car; this is actually our best finish. I kind of needed more speed and momentum and I was a little too tight on the bottom. I didn’t know what to do on that restart. Congrats to Ricky, he did the right things right there when he needed to. This car is really good. I think the long race is gonna fit it better.”
Moran, who won last year’s Show-Me 100 made a late-race charge on the top to take home third. “I don’t know if we will get this exact track again the next two nights. So, we will just see. We learned some stuff on this Double Down Motorsports car. So, we will take that into tomorrow and Saturday and see what happens.”
The winner’s Todd and Vickie Burns, SSI Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Big River Steel, Hoker Trucking, Coltman Farms, Dyno One Inc., West Side Tractor sales, Bilstein Shocks, Sunoco Race Fuels, EMD Wraps, and Murty Farms.
Completing the top ten were Daulton Wilson, Brian Rickman, Max Blair, Jonathan Davenport, and Gordy Gundaker.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
11th Annual Cowboy Classic
Thursday, May 23, 2024
Lucas Oil Speedway – Wheatland, MO
Allstar Performance Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Garrett Alberson| 14.443 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Chris Simpson | 14.803 seconds
Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[4]; 4. 15C-Clayton Stuckey[6]; 5. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[7]; 6. 8-Dillon McCowan[8]; 7. 93-Cory Lawler[5]; 8. 11-Jeff Herzog[9]; 9. 7-Ross Robinson[10]; 10. 21W-Chris Wilhite Jr[11]; 11. 93F-Carson Ferguson[3]
Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 36-Logan Martin[2]; 3. 90-Brian Rickman[3]; 4. 74X-Ethan Dotson[4]; 5. 777-Jared Landers[5]; 6. 1S-Jeremy Shaw[6]; 7. 6-Clay Harris[7]; 8. 78S-Steve Stultz[8]; 9. 14R-Jeff Roth[9]; 10. 26P-Glen Powell[10]; 11. (DNS) 96X-Dalton Imhoff
Earnhardt Technologies Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O'Neal[4]; 3. 12-Scott Crigler[5]; 4. 18D-Daulton Wilson[3]; 5. 77-Jeremy Petty[2]; 6. 1X-Aaron Marrant[6]; 7. 20-Jimmy Owens[7]; 8. 128-Kylan Garner[8]; 9. 67-Jimmy Vanzandt[9]; 10. (DNS) 15-Payton Looney
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 32X-Chris Simpson[1]; 2. 25C-Chad Simpson[2]; 3. 17SS-Brenden Smith[4]; 4. 49W-Justin Wells[3]; 5. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[5]; 6. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[6]; 7. 3-Brennon Willard[7]; 8. 93O-Mason Oberkramer[9]; 9. 82-Jace Parmley[10]; 10. 0X-Jason Sivils[8]; 11. (DNS) 24-Kenny Green
Lucas Oil Heat Race #5 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 10-Garrett Smith[1]; 2. 1-Tim McCreadie[6]; 3. 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel[3]; 4. 7T-Drake Troutman[4]; 5. 7D-Dusty Leonard[2]; 6. 96-Tanner English[8]; 7. 7J-Ryan Johnson[5]; 8. 65-Jon Binning[9]; 9. USA1-Chris Hawkins[10]; 10. 6H-Al Humphrey[7]
Lucas Oil Heat Race #6 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 19M-Spencer Hughes[1]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 3. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[7]; 4. 22H-Dustin Hodges[3]; 5. 111-Max Blair[8]; 6. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[6]; 7. 2-Tyler Stevens[5]; 8. 10M-Jacob Magee[4]; 9. 26M-Matt Menzie[10]; 10. (DNS) 7W-Cole Wells
Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 74X-Ethan Dotson[2]; 2. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[3]; 3. 93F-Carson Ferguson[15]; 4. 8-Dillon McCowan[5]; 5. 1S-Jeremy Shaw[6]; 6. 6-Clay Harris[8]; 7. 78S-Steve Stultz[10]; 8. 21W-Chris Wilhite Jr[13]; 9. 15C-Clayton Stuckey[1]; 10. 11-Jeff Herzog[9]; 11. 7-Ross Robinson[11]; 12. 93-Cory Lawler[7]; 13. 14R-Jeff Roth[12]; 14. 26P-Glen Powell[14]; 15. 777-Jared Landers[4]; 16. (DNS) 96X-Dalton Imhoff
UNOH B-Main Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 18D-Daulton Wilson[1]; 2. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[4]; 3. 49W-Justin Wells[2]; 4. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[6]; 5. 20-Jimmy Owens[7]; 6. 3-Brennon Willard[8]; 7. 128-Kylan Garner[9]; 8. 1X-Aaron Marrant[5]; 9. 15-Payton Looney[14]; 10. 82-Jace Parmley[12]; 11. 77-Jeremy Petty[3]; 12. 67-Jimmy Vanzandt[11]; 13. 0X-Jason Sivils[13]; 14. 93O-Mason Oberkramer[10]; 15. (DNS) 24-Kenny Green
MyRacePass B-Main Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 7T-Drake Troutman[1]; 2. 111-Max Blair[4]; 3. 7D-Dusty Leonard[3]; 4. 96-Tanner English[5]; 5. 2-Tyler Stevens[8]; 6. 10M-Jacob Magee[10]; 7. 7W-Cole Wells[14]; 8. USA1-Chris Hawkins[11]; 9. 7J-Ryan Johnson[7]; 10. 26M-Matt Menzie[12]; 11. 22H-Dustin Hodges[2]; 12. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[6]; 13. (DNS) 65-Jon Binning; 14. (DNS) 6H-Al Humphrey
11th Annual Cowboy Classic Feature Finish (45 Laps):
Race Statistics
Entrants: 63
Victory Fuel Pole Sitter: Garrett Alberson
Lap Leaders: Chris Simpson (Laps 1-9); Garrett Alberson (Laps 10-43); Ricky Thornton, Jr. (Laps 44-45)
Wieland Feature Winner: Ricky Thornton, Jr.
Arizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Feature Winner: n/a
Brandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: n/a
Margin of Victory: 0.154 seconds
Dave Warren Powersports Cautions: Chad Simpson (Lap 42)
LOLMDS Series Provisionals: n/a
MLRA Series Provisionals: n/a
Fast Time Provisional: n/a
LOLMDS Emergency Provisionals: n/a
MLRA Emergency Provisionals: n/a
Track Provisional: n/a
Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Ricky Thornton, Jr., Garrett Alberson, Devin Moran
Penske Shocks Top 5: Ricky Thornton, Jr., Garrett Alberson, Devin Moran
Todd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race: Max Blair (Advanced 16 Positions)
PEM 4th Place Feature: Chris Simpson
Wilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Max Blair
Deatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: Chad Simpson
MD3 Most Laps Led: Garrett Alberson (34 Laps)
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Ricky Thornton, Jr.
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Ricky Thornton, Jr.
O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: n/a
Slicker Graphics Slickest Move of the Race: Ricky Thornton, Jr.
Miller Welders Hard Luck Award: Jonathan Davenport
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Anthony Burroughs (Ricky Thornton, Jr.)
ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Clements Racing Engines
Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn Chassis
Dirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Garrett Smith (14.9867 seconds)
Time of Race: 16 minutes 17 seconds
32nd Annual Show-Me 100 Point Standings:
