July 25, 2024 | By Ben Sheton

Ricky Thornton Jr. Rallies for Castrol FloRacing Night in America Fairbury Win

FAIRBURY, Ill. — Ricky Thornton Jr. rallied late to snare the Castrol® FloRacing Night in America presented by Kubota victory at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway on Wednesday, July 24.

His triumph was worth $20,000 in the fifth annual One For the Road presented by I-Beam Sliding Doors. He piloted the Kevin Rumley Engineering No. 20RT Super Late Model to the win.

After starting 15th on the feature grid, Thornton Jr. overtook Shannon Babb on lap 48 amidst lapped traffic and went on survive a final corner charge from Babb to secure his second series win of the year by a mere 0.111 sec.

“I was running around the bottom and then we had a restart and (Tim McCreadie) actually picked the top and drove through the middle and passed like three or four cars,” Thornton said. “I felt like I could move out (off the bottom) just a little bit and really just get above the hole and there was a lot of traction there from everyone digging it out. I thought I was going over (under the lap-44 bicycle), it got up and I turned right, I’m like ‘Don’t turn too hard, cause then you’re really gonna hurt when you land’ so I just tried to get (the car) back down and get my momentum going again.”

Myles Moos and Garrett Smith brought the field to the green flag, but it was third-starting Shannon Babb who jumped to the lead exiting turn two on the first circuit. He led for two laps before Myles Moos jumped to the lead on the third circuit. Moos was out front until lap 7 when Babb took back control of the lead.

Shannon Babb extended his advantage to as much as 3.3 seconds before seeing it dissipate in lapped traffic. Thornton Jr. edged ahead for the lead coming to the white flag and went on to pace the final two seconds for his fifth-career miniseries win.

Finishing behind the lead duo was 10th-starting Ryan Gustin with Bobby Pierce and Brian Shirley completing the Top-5 finishers.

With the win Ricky Thornton Jr. took back control of the top spot in the points with Bobby Pierce nine markers back in second and Jason Feger 24 points removed from the top spot in third.

Next on tap for the tour is a Wednesday, August 21 visit to Lernerville Speedway (Sarver, Pa.). It will mark the first-ever Castrol® FloRacing Night in America presented by Kubota event at the legendary oval.

The Super Late Model tire rule for the Lernerville Speedway event on Wednesday, August 21 is as follows:

Left Front: Any Tire
Right Front: NLMT2 (90), NLMT3 (90)
Left Rear: NLMT2 (90), NLMT3 (90)
Right Rear: NLMT2 (92), NLMT3 (92), NLMT4 (92)

2024 Castrol FloRacing Night in America presented by Kubota Standard Purse
1)$20,000 2)$10,000 3)$5,000 4)$4,000 5)$3,000 6)$2,750 7)$2,500 8)$2,300 9)$2,200 10)$2,000 11)$1,500 12)$1,250 13)$1,100 $14)1,050 15-24)$1,000
Total - $68,650

Entry Fee: $100 | Non-Qualifier Money: $50

For more information on the facility, please visit www.Lernerville.com.

For complete Castrol® FloRacing Night in America presented by Kubota details, visit the series website at www.FloSeries.com. For other questions, contact Ben Shelton at msrmafia@gmail.com or 901-335-3037.


Castrol® FloRacing Night in America presented by Kubota
Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway
July 24, 2024

A Feature 1 (50 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[15]; 2. 18B-Shannon Babb[3]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[10]; 4. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 5. 3S-Brian Shirley[9]; 6. 99-Devin Moran[6]; 7. 1-Tim McCreadie[17]; 8. 10-Garrett Smith[2]; 9. 18D-Daulton Wilson[12]; 10. 25-Jason Feger[5]; 11. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[22]; 12. 40B-Kyle Bronson[13]; 13. 97X-Cody Overton[7]; 14. 16-Tyler Bruening[18]; 15. 97-Cade Dillard[11]; 16. 84-Myles Moos[1]; 17. 22*-Max McLaughlin[21]; 18. 19M-Spencer Hughes[24]; 19. 58-Garrett Alberson[20]; 20. 89-Mike Spatola[8]; 21. 157-Mike Marlar[23]; 22. 9-Nick Hoffman[19]; 23. 93-Carson Ferguson[14]; 24. 126-Kaede Loudy[16]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[2]; 3. 96-Tanner English[3]; 4. 32S-Chris Simpson[4]; 5. 19-Dustin Sorensen[6]; 6. 99W-Mckay Wenger[5]; 7. 57-Matt Tifft[13]; 8. 18C-Ross Camponovo[16]; 9. 38-Thomas Hunziker[9]; 10. 15B-Bob Sidener[14]; 11. 17SS-Brenden Smith[12]; 12. 25W-Allen Weisser[7]; 13. (DNS) 12-Ashton Winger; 14. (DNS) 111B-Max Blair; 15. (DNS) 66C-Matt Cosner; 16. (DNS) 14JR-Trey Mills

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[3]; 3. 71-Hudson O'Neal[5]; 4. 33-Kye Blight[7]; 5. B5-Brandon Sheppard[4]; 6. 1W-Donny Walden[8]; 7. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[9]; 8. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[6]; 9. 33 4-Billy Hough[10]; 10. 122-Timmy Dick[15]; 11. 9Z-Lyle Zanker[13]; 12. 74X-Ethan Dotson[2]; 13. 75-Daniel Adam[12]; 14. (DNS) 11G-Gordy Gundaker; 15. (DNS) 90-Brian Rickman

B Feature 3 (12 Laps): 1. 22*-Max McLaughlin[1]; 2. 19M-Spencer Hughes[2]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[5]; 4. 22-Chris Ferguson[7]; 5. 24-Ryan Unzicker[4]; 6. 18J-Chase Junghans[10]; 7. M27-Mike Provenzano[8]; 8. 15-Justin Duty[6]; 9. 31-Tyler Millwood[13]; 10. 111-Steven Roberts[11]; 11. 1T-Tyler Erb[3]; 12. 61Z-Kyle Strickler[9]; 13. (DNS) 8-Dillon McCowan; 14. (DNS) 222-Manny Falcon; 15. (DNS) 45-Kyle Hammer; 16. (DNS) 38J-Jake Little

Entries: 65

Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fast Time: Tyler Erb (12.802 sec.)
Sunoco Race Fuels Fast Qualifier Group A & Overall: Nick Hoffman (12.683 sec.)
Sunoco Race Fuels Fast Qualifier Group B: Garrett Smith (12.748 sec.)
Integra Racing Shocks Heat Race #1 Winner: Myles Moos
K1 Race Gear Heat Race #2 Winner: Shannon Babb
Buzze Racing Heat Race #3 Winner: Jason Feger
Eibach Springs Heat Race #4 Winner: Garrett Smith
MD3 Five Star Heat Race #5 Winner: Bobby Pierce
Dave Poske’s Heat Race #6 Winner: Devin Moran
Coltman Farms B-Main Winners: Nick Hoffman, Garrett Alberson, Max McLaughlin
Lap Leaders: Shannon Babb (1-2, 7-48), Myles Moos (3-6), Ricky Thornton Jr. (49-50)
Hoosier Tire Winners: Mike Marlar, Kye Blight
$150 Drawing Winners: Kyle Bronson, Mike Spatola


Castrol FloRacing Night in America presented by Kubota Standings
(Updated 07/24/24)
1) Ricky Thornton Jr. - 240
2) Bobby Pierce – 231
3) Jason Feger – 216
4) Daulton Wilson – 183
5) Myles Moos – 171
6) Garrett Alberson – 168
7) Dennis Erb Jr. – 165
8) Spencer Hughes – 162
9) Shannon Babb – 150
10) Tim McCreadie – 123
11) Carson Ferguson – 123
12) Tyler Erb – 120
13) Brandon Sheppard – 107
14) Garrett Smith – 105
15) Brenden Smith – 90