Race for Hope
Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., opened defense of his title at the Mark Martin Race for Hope 74 by winning Wednesday night’s preliminary feature at Batesville Motor Speedway.
LOCUST GROVE — Ricky Thornton Jr. picked up right where he left off at Batesville Motor Speedway.
Thornton led all 30 laps Wedesday night to win the opening preliminary feature of the Mark Martin Race for Hope 74. Thornton, of Chandler, Ariz., won last year’s inaugural event. With Wednesday’s victory, he secured the pole position for Saturday night’s main event, which is the nation’s richest in IMCA modified racing, paying $20,000 to win.
“The car was really good tonight,” Thornton said. “I was able to jump out front and really run my own race. We’ll probably make a few small changes for Saturday, but we are excited to roll from the pole.”
On Wednesday, Thornton started on the outside of the three-wide front row and passed pole sitter Drew Armstrong of Alexander and No. 2 starter Justin Kay of Wheatland, Iowa, for the lead at the green flag. Armstrong stayed in second place until Jason Hughes of Watts, Okla., took the spot on a lap 12 restart.
Thornton built a comfortable lead, but Hughes and Cayden Carter of Oskaloosa, Iowa, closed in as he entered lapped traffic in the closing laps. But just as Hughes pulled underneath with four laps remaining, Thornton cleared the lapped traffic and pulled away for the victory.
Carter passed Hughes on the final lap to take the runner-up spot. Kay was fourth and Armstrong rounded out
the top five.
The top eight finishers secured spots in Saturday night’s main event. Also qualifying were former NASCAR star Ken Schrader of
Concord, N.C., who finished sixth, and Zack VanderBeek of New Sharon, Iowa, who was seventh after starting 13th. The other qualifier was Joel Rust of Grundy Center,
Iowa. Sheridan’s Timothy Culp just missed a transfer spot, finishing ninth.
The event continues tonight with another preliminary card.