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Ricky Thornton Jr. Makes History at IMCA Super Nationals

Ricky Thornton Jr. became a four-time IMCA Super Nationals Champion over the weekend at Boone (Iowa) Speedway. Thornton also became the first driver in the 38-year history of the event to win two features in the same week.

Ricky Thornton Jr. kicked off the 38th Annual IMCA Super Nationals on Monday night in triumphant fashion. Piloting the Todd Cooney-owned No. 30 entry, Thornton overtook Jeff Aikey to win the opening night Late Model championship for the second consecutive year, pocketing $3,000 for his efforts.

Trailing Thornton to the finish line was Richie Gustin, Aikey, Andy Nezworski, and Jesse Sobbing.

“Aikey kind of drove away in the middle and I moved down and all I could see was rubber,” Thornton said. “I was hoping I could get a good run around the top and I got by him and then I screwed up and I let him back by. I don’t think he quite knew there was so much rubber on the bottom of three and four. He kind of kept going out and I was able to sneak by him there. It was pretty awesome.”

On Thursday, Ricky Thornton Jr. charged from the 12th starting position to win his Modified qualifier. The Top-4 finishers from the 25-lap feature earned a guaranteed starting position in the championship feature. Thornton drove to the victory over Justin O’Brien, Clay Hale, and James Goodson.

In the Stock Car ranks on Saturday, Thornton led wire-to-wire in his qualifying feature to lock into Sunday’s finale. Transferring behind Thornton were Curt Lund, Derek Green, and Ryan Harris.

The Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational for the Modified, which feature 30 eligible drivers selected by the fans, also took place on Saturday. Thornton started inside of the fourth row for the three-wide start. He’d made his way into third on the opening lap. Tracking down race leader Jeff Aikey in lapped traffic, Thornton took command with eight laps remaining and held on for the win. Aikey finished second, followed by Jason Wolla, Tim Ward, and Ethan Dotson.

“I was kind of glad I started on the bottom. They all kind of took off in the slime and I was able to get all the way down by the tires and get up to third,” Thornton said. “I knew once we got to traffic there were going to be so many cars on top of each other and it was going to slow Jeff down.”

Ricky Thornton Jr. ended the 38th Annual IMCA Super Nationals Sunday in the same place he started Monday – in Victory Lane.

With 17 laps complete in the Modified finale, Thornton charged by Cody Laney on the outside to take control. Working through traffic, Thornton pulled away and would lead the remainder of the distance to earn his second Super Nationals championship of the week. Laney held off Ethan Dotson to finish second, with Tom Berry Jr. and Todd Shute completing the Top-5.

“I kind of took off there and I was a little too loose,” said Thornton, who earned $7,000 for his victory. “I was loose and the dryer the track got the car actually came to me, which doesn’t make sense. I was hoping we didn’t have a yellow there at the end. I was kind of hanging on there at the top and my signal guy Nick let me know I had a decent sized lead.”

In the Stock Car finale, Thornton finished 17th after being collected in a late-race wreck.

For complete results from the week, please visit www.IMCA.com.

Thornton will return to the seat of the SSI Motorsports No. 20 Late Model this week as the team heads to I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb. for a tripleheader with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. The I-80 Nationals – which filled the void of the Knoxville Late Model Nationals that was postponed to 2021 – includes $7,000-to-win programs on Thursday and Friday. The preliminary action leads up to a $30,000-to-win finale on Saturday.

To learn more about these upcoming events, please visit www.LucasDirt.com.

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