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Thornton dominates opener at Lucas Oil Speedway's CMH Diamond Nationals

2025-07-12 14:22

WHEATLAND, MO. (July 11, 2025) - It was all Ricky Thornton Jr. on Friday night at Lucas Oil Speedway, as the 19th annual CMH Diamond Nationals Presented by Wieland kicked off.

Thornton, of Chandler, Ariz., led all 40 laps to earn his 10th Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series feature victory of the season for the $15,000 prize. Jonathan Davenport was second and Clay Harris came home in third as 36 cars checked into the pits for Night One.

The stakes will be even higher on Saturday night with $25,000 going to the Night 2 Diamond Nationals winner. A total of 36 Late Models checked into the pits for the opener and the series' top two drivers battled it out from the start of the night.

Scoring his first series win since May, Thornton was coming off a 20th-place finish in a feature he did not finish a night earlier at 34 Raceway in Iowa. Thornton said his 52nd career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory was a much-needed boost to his Koehler Motorsports team.

"They busted their butts. We drove here all night and got here at 4 this morning," Thornton said. "They slept a few hours, then back up at 8:30. They had the motor and a little bit of front suspension was about the only thing on it. Worked all day, just trying to give ourselves a chance.

"Yesterday the driver screwed up cost us a lot of parts. I just have to thank them for all their hard work."

Thornton set fast qualifying time with a lap of 15.012 seconds in Group A with Davenport, of Blairsville, Ga., posting fast time in Group B at 15.073. Those two won their heat races to earn front-row starting positions for the main event and they set a blazing pace at the start.

Thornton led Davenport raced mostly side by side through three laps with Thornton clinging to the lead. Caution waved on lap four for Kayden Clatt's spin in turn two. Thornton continued to hug the bottom groove after the restart as Brandon Overton slid past Davenport for second, but Davenport was back in second two laps later.

That would be the race's lone caution and that was good news for Thornton who covered the 40 laps in just 13 minutes, 51 seconds. Davenport, the series points leader over Thornton, was a hefty 3.2 seconds behind the winner at the checkers.

"I was on (softer) tires than he was," Thornton said of Davenport, "and I'm like man, he's so good here, did I really make a bad decision? Then we took off and he was a little better than I was. It kind of surprised me. I felt like I should have been better on the bottom and I think I almost over-driving the straightaways and wheel-spinning real bad.

"That yellow came out and kind of saved me. It let me calm back down and think of what I needed to do."

Looking ahead to Saturday, Thornton said "hopefully we can have a quiet day. No rain or anything like that hits us and we can be up here again."

Thornton stretched his margin to more than two seconds by lap 10 with Davenport a second and a half in front of third-running Overton. The extended green-flag run saw Thornton continue to pull away, his lead hitting 3.2 seconds by lap 17. That's about the time Thornton caught lapped traffic and Davenport was able to cut the margin to 2.9 seconds at the halfway point on lap 20.

But it didn't take long for Thornton to again push his lead to more than three seconds and he was never challenged from there. Davenport wound up having to fend off a hard-charging Harris, who came from 11th, to hold onto second.

Davenport, with eight Lucas Oil Speedway feature wins since the spring of 2023, said he was surprised that his choice of a harder compound tire did not pay off.

"You think you know a little bit about tires and something like tonight happens," Davenport said. "Clay done an awesome job coming from wherever he did on as soft as you could put on and Ricky done a good job, too, and he had on soft tires.

"I really thought we were in the catbird's seat. Me and the 1 car (Brandon Sheppard) were the only ones who had all hard tires on. Just a little bit different of a night. That's what we love about Lucas Oil Speedway. It's always something a little bit different."

Davenport still leads Thornton by 50 points in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship race.

Harris, of Jupiter, Fla., finished third just .037 seconds behind Davenport. Garrett Alberson, who started 10th, was fourth and Moran settled for fifth.

"It means a lot," Harris said of his season-best series finish. "Our guys have been working their (butts) off. We didn't think we were gonna finish racing the Lucas season because we broke a motor last night, but they stepped up and bought us a motor today and we run good, so I'm happy about it."

Fennewald wins in Hickamo Super Stocks: Johnny Fennewald zoomed from a sixth-starting position to grab the lead by lap five and ran away from there for the Hickamo Super Stocks victory in the CMH Diamond Nationals support division.

Fennewald, of Appleton City, earned $650 for the win as 31 Super Stocks were on hand. He grabbed the lead from early pacesetter Kyle Davis and set sail from there in a race slowed by only one caution. Fennewald won by a 4.6-second-margin, his second Super Stocks triumph of the season.

"It's a really growing class," Fennewald said of the Super Stocks. "I didn't know how it would be, from a Stock Car to this. It's a learning curve for sure. It's a whole lot different deal, but we're starting to figure it out."

Tim Brown finished third with Terry Schultz fourth and Tony Anglin fifth.

The Hickamo Super Stocks will compete for $1,000 to win on Saturday as grandstands open at 4 p.m. with hot laps at 6:30 followed by Late Model time trials.

LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (July 11, 2025)

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series

A Feature - 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 3. 6-Clay Harris[11]; 4. 58-Garrett Alberson[10]; 5. 99-Devin Moran[7]; 6. 76-Brandon Overton[3]; 7. 18D-Daulton Wilson[6]; 8. 71-Hudson O'Neal[12]; 9. 97-Cade Dillard[14]; 10. 1-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 11. 79-Donald McIntosh[15]; 12. 93-Carson Ferguson[16]; 13. 50-Kayden Clatt[19]; 14. 11-Gordy Gundaker[17]; 15. 60-Dan Ebert[24]; 16. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[23]; 17. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[9]; 18. 19M-Spencer Hughes[8]; 19. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[4]; 20. 93L-Cory Lawler[13]; 21. 98-Justin Wells[21]; 22. 56-Tony Jackson Jr[20]; 23. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[18]; 24. 15L-Payton Looney[22]

Fast Shafts B Main 1 - 1. 11-Gordy Gundaker[4]; 2. 50-Kayden Clatt[1]; 3. 98-Justin Wells[6]; 4. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[2]; 5. 4W-Tyler Wolff[3]; 6. 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel[10]; 7. 15-Clay Stuckey[5]; 8. 65-Jon Binning[7]; 9. 96-Dalton Imhoff[9]; 10. 31C-Cole Henson[8]

UNOH B Main 2 - 1. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[1]; 2. 56-Tony Jackson Jr[3]; 3. 15L-Payton Looney[5]; 4. 60-Dan Ebert[2]; 5. 0-Jake O'Neil[7]; 6. 3W-Brennon Willard[8]; 7. 7J-Ryan Johnson[6]; 8. 87-Darron Fuqua[4]; 9. (DNS) 28-Jim Greenway; 10. (DNS) 805-Rob Hough

Penske Shocks Heat 1 - 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard[6]; 3. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[2]; 4. 93L-Cory Lawler[5]; 5. 50-Kayden Clatt[3]; 6. 4W-Tyler Wolff[9]; 7. 15-Clay Stuckey[7]; 8. 65-Jon Binning[8]; 9. 96-Dalton Imhoff[4]

Summit Racing Heat 2 - 1. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[1]; 3. 6-Clay Harris[3]; 4. 79-Donald McIntosh[4]; 5. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[5]; 6. 11-Gordy Gundaker[6]; 7. 98-Justin Wells[9]; 8. 31C-Cole Henson[7]; 9. 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel[8]

Cool It Thermo Tec Heat 3 - 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson[3]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[4]; 4. 97-Cade Dillard[2]; 5. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[6]; 6. 56-Tony Jackson Jr[5]; 7. 15L-Payton Looney[8]; 8. 0-Jake O'Neil[7]; 9. 28-Jim Greenway[9]

Simpson Race Products Heat 4 - 1. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[2]; 2. 19M-Spencer Hughes[1]; 3. 71-Hudson O'Neal[3]; 4. 93-Carson Ferguson[4]; 5. 60-Dan Ebert[5]; 6. 87-Darron Fuqua[7]; 7. 7J-Ryan Johnson[6]; 8. 3W-Brennon Willard[8]; 9. (DNS) 805-Rob Hough

Qualifying Group A - 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:15.012[16]; 2. 99-Devin Moran, 00:15.200[4]; 3. 1XM-Aaron Marrant, 00:15.345[1]; 4. 76-Brandon Overton, 00:15.352[12]; 5. 50-Kayden Clatt, 00:15.367[18]; 6. 6-Clay Harris, 00:15.373[2]; 7. 96-Dalton Imhoff, 00:15.397[10]; 8. 79-Donald McIntosh, 00:15.439[7]; 9. 93L-Cory Lawler, 00:15.443[11]; 10. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck, 00:15.571[14]; 11. 1-Brandon Sheppard, 00:15.687[15]; 12. 11-Gordy Gundaker, 00:15.715[5]; 13. 15-Clay Stuckey, 00:15.959[6]; 14. 31C-Cole Henson, 00:16.012[3]; 15. 65-Jon Binning, 00:16.022[8]; 16. 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel, 00:16.028[17]; 17. 4W-Tyler Wolff, 00:16.047[13]; 18. 98-Justin Wells, 00:16.048[9]

Qualifying Group B - 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport, 00:15.073[15]; 2. 19M-Spencer Hughes, 00:15.301[1]; 3. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:15.351[9]; 4. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall, 00:15.419[18]; 5. 18D-Daulton Wilson, 00:15.459[6]; 6. 71-Hudson O'Neal, 00:15.546[11]; 7. 58-Garrett Alberson, 00:15.586[4]; 8. 93-Carson Ferguson, 00:15.597[8]; 9. 56-Tony Jackson Jr, 00:15.650[5]; 10. 60-Dan Ebert, 00:15.736[12]; 11. 11T-Trevor Gundaker, 00:15.765[3]; 12. 7J-Ryan Johnson, 00:15.845[16]; 13. 0-Jake O'Neil, 00:15.858[7]; 14. 87-Darron Fuqua, 00:16.208[13]; 15. 15L-Payton Looney, 00:16.213[17]; 16. 3W-Brennon Willard, 00:16.299[2]; 17. 28-Jim Greenway, 00:16.342[14]; 18. (DNS) 805-Rob Hough

Hickamo Super Stocks

A Feature - 1. 21-Johnny Fennewald[6]; 2. 10K-Kyle Davis[1]; 3. 111-Tim Brown[3]; 4. B4-Terry Schultz[10]; 5. G1-Tony Anglin[4]; 6. KEG1-Jeremy Russell[14]; 7. 4G-Gary Clark[2]; 8. 94-Kenny Carroll[9]; 9. 26M-Donnie Miller[22]; 10. 94C-JT Carroll[19]; 11. 164-Michael Muskrat[5]; 12. 25-Aaron Murry[12]; 13. 35-Johnny Coats[18]; 14. 3P-Aaron Poe[16]; 15. 73-Francisco Escamilla[11]; 16. 64-Luke Leatherman[15]; 17. 23N-Jase Nelson[8]; 18. 20-Robbie Jones[23]; 19. 18-Jon Hays[7]; 20. X15-Bobby Ruff II[21]; 21. 08-Scott Pullen[13]; 22. (DNF) 8N-Colby North[24]; 23. (DNF) 04-Blaine Ewing[17]; 24. (DNS) 53-Danny O'Neal

B Feature - 1. 04-Blaine Ewing[2]; 2. 35-Johnny Coats[3]; 3. 94C-JT Carroll[14]; 4. 53-Danny O'Neal[5]; 5. X15-Bobby Ruff II[1]; 6. 26M-Donnie Miller[6]; 7. 20-Robbie Jones[9]; 8. 8N-Colby North[11]; 9. 27B-Jerett Evans[4]; 10. 06-Morgan Campbell[7]; 11. 28-Chris Kircher[8]; 12. (DNF) 77-Jeff Douty[13]; 13. (DNF) 69T-Tony Bowman[12]; 14. (DNF) 26-Wyatt Woods[10]; 15. (DNS) 27D-Derek Henson

Heat 1 - 1. 4G-Gary Clark[3]; 2. 18-Jon Hays[1]; 3. 25-Aaron Murry[2]; 4. 64-Luke Leatherman[4]; 5. X15-Bobby Ruff II[7]; 6. 53-Danny O'Neal[8]; 7. 26-Wyatt Woods[6]; 8. (DNS) 27D-Derek Henson

Heat 2 - 1. G1-Tony Anglin[1]; 2. 94-Kenny Carroll[2]; 3. 21-Johnny Fennewald[7]; 4. 3P-Aaron Poe[4]; 5. 04-Blaine Ewing[6]; 6. 06-Morgan Campbell[3]; 7. 20-Robbie Jones[8]; 8. (DNF) 77-Jeff Douty[5]

Heat 3 - 1. 111-Tim Brown[3]; 2. 23N-Jase Nelson[1]; 3. 08-Scott Pullen[2]; 4. 73-Francisco Escamilla[8]; 5. 27B-Jerett Evans[5]; 6. 26M-Donnie Miller[7]; 7. (DNF) 69T-Tony Bowman[4]; 8. (DNF) 94C-JT Carroll[6]

Heat 4 - 1. 10K-Kyle Davis[6]; 2. 164-Michael Muskrat[4]; 3. B4-Terry Schultz[5]; 4. KEG1-Jeremy Russell[2]; 5. 35-Johnny Coats[1]; 6. 28-Chris Kircher[3]; 7. 8N-Colby North[7]

Grandstands open at 4 p.m. Saturday with hot laps at 6:30 and racing to follow for both the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and Hickamo Super Stocks.

Saturday admission:

Adults (13 and up) - $30

Seniors (62 and up)/Military - $27

Youth (ages 6-12) - $10

Kids (5 and under) - FREE

Family Pass - $70

Pit Pass - $45

For information on admission or camping for any Lucas Oil Speedway event in 2025, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-6119 or (417) 295-6043 or email her at nmcmillan@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.

CONTACT:

Danny Lorton

Lucas Oil Speedway General Manager

Office: (417) 282-5984

DLorton@lucasoilspeedway.com



# # #

Lucas Oil Speedway is located at Highways 83 and 54 in Wheatland, Missouri. A campground with shower and bathroom facilities is available. With its entrance located just outside the pit gate, this sprawling scenic camping facility will continue to enhance the racing experience.

For ticket and camping information and everything about the Show-Me 100 event, visit www.LucasOilSpeedway.com for all the information and detailed directions to the speedway or call the Track Hotline at (417) 282-5984.

In addition, fans can get social with Lucas Oil Speedway by following @LucasSpeedway on X, clicking "Like" at www.facebook.com/LucasOilSpeedway and on www.youtube.com/LucasOilSpeedway

Complete Lucas Oil Speedway event information, archived race recaps, previews and driver features, along with ticket information and schedules can be found by visiting LucasOilSpeedway.com.

About Lucas Oil Speedway

Lucas Oil Speedway is considered by fans, drivers and industry insiders to be one of the top racing facilities in the nation. Located in Wheatland, Mo., approximately an hour from Springfield and just an hour and a half from the Kansas City metro area, the "Diamond of Dirt Tracks" lives up to its title.

Twenty-One VIP Luxury Suites, HD Jumbo-Tron Screen, Stadium Style Musco Sports Lighting, a Bose Sound System, Go-Kart Slick Track, The Diamond Bar, Track Treasures Gift Shop, the best track food in the country and paved pits are a few of the spectacular amenities setting the Diamond of Dirt apart. This year marks the 12th season for the Liquid Quarter Mile Drag Racing Lake, "Lake Lucas." New for 2017 was all-purpose built Off Road facility featuring a host of regional events.

Lucas Oil Speedway's dirt oval track plays host to some of the largest and most-popular events in the Midwest with national and regional touring series appearing frequently including: The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, United States Modified Touring Series and the High Limit Sprint Racing Series, POWRi Sprint Cars and POWRi WAR Sprints.

In addition to the special events, the Lucas Oil Speedway Weekly Racing Series features the Late Models, USRA Modifieds, USRA Stock Cars, USRA B-Mods and Super Stocks.

2025 Official Lucas Oil Speedway Marketing Partners

Bill Roberts Chevrolet

"The Official Truck" of Lucas Oil Speedway

Dixie Chopper

"The Official Mowers of Lucas Oil Speedway"

Iconic Apparel

"The Official Merchandise Provider of Lucas Oil Speedway"



Lucas Oil Products

"The Official Oil" of Lucas Oil Speedway

Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr. Pepper

"The Official Soft Drink" of Lucas Oil Speedway

Rugged Radios

"The Official 2-Way Communications Provider" of Lucas Oil Speedway

Summit Racing Equipment

"The Official Sponsor" of Lucas Oil Speedway

Sunoco Race Fuels

"The Official Fuel" of Lucas Oil Speedway

2025 Lucas Oil Speedway Supporters Include:

AM Pyrotechnics, Alliance Sport Marketing, Arctic Food Equipment, Berry Tractor and Equipment Co., Big Adventure RV, Bill Roberts Chevrolet, Bolivar Auto Sales & Detailing, Bolivar Farmers Exchange-MFA, Boubin Tire/American Racer, Bridal Cave, BWI Sanitation, Candlelight Creations-Dick's Wild Root Horseradish, Casey's, Citizens Memorial Healthcare, City Magnet, Clear Creek Golf Cars, Clearlight Inn, Dixie Chopper, Eibach Springs, Encounter Ministry Inc., FSE Fire Systems, Fast Shafts by Axle Exchange, Foley Equipment-Cat Rental Store, Golden Valley Memorial Healthcare, Henry's Towing Service, Heritage Tractor, Hermitage Lumber, HICKAMO Country Store, Hobbytime Motorsports, Iconic Apparel, Impact Signs Awnings Wraps, In the Garden of Eden, Kluhsman Racing Components, Kona Ice, Lucas Cattle Company, MD3, Midwest Sheet Metal, Miller Welding, Missouri Division of Tourism, MyRacePass, Nutrien Ag Solutions, OakStar Bank, O'Bannon Bank, O'Reilly Auto Parts, Outerwears Performance Products, Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr. Pepper, Ozarks Community Health Center, PEM, Pitts Homes, Pitts Realty, Pitts Cattle, RACEceiver, RacinDirt.com, RCR Designs, Real Racing Wheels, Rod End Supply, Rugged Radios, Ryan E. Murphy Law Firm LLC, SBU Athletics, Safety Kleen, Scott Furniture, Sidetrack RV Park, SMSI, Southwest Electric Cooperative, State Tech, Summit Racing Equipment, Sunoco Race Fuels, Super 8 Bolivar Mo., US Army Corps of Engineers-Pomme de Terre, Vietti Marketing Group, WacoBill.com, Wheatland Motel, White's Marine Center, Wieland, Woods Supermarkets.