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

 

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

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Category: Missouri