Saturday, April 1, 2023

Thorton Jr. Dominates MLRA Opener at Wheatland; Bidinger Controls Modified Field

 It's been a wild week of weather here in the Midwest and coming into this weekend, things were not looking any brighter. A combination of severe storms, both of the Summer and Winter variety were promised, and as the threats got more dire and some of the nasty weather was started to be delivered, tracks starting dropping like flies off the proverbial wall and many events were either postponed or outright cancelled. 

As usual I had my weekly list of potential events, ranked by both their interest to me and the chances of racing actually being accomplished compared to their chances of either being buried under a pile of snowdrifts or getting blown away by violent storms. The strategy, as is usually the case especially for early and late season racing where the trips are usually more substantial in length, is to lump the races by geographical groups, make a decision which group has the best chance of racing and then head in that direction and make a final decision. 

And so it was that after attending a car show at a local mall for a track in Wisconsin that I attend a lot, a quick trip found us in the Des Moines metro on Thursday night, after which I had to make a choice. And for once, Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland Missouri looked to be our best option, if only they could avoid the storms scheduled for Friday morning or perhaps mitigate their damage. And for a track that has had more than their share of spectacular storms since this track was reopened as Lucas Oil Speedway, they were the ones that caught a break with only some minor rains on Thursday night and again on Friday morning and there would be racing at one of the countries' finest facilities on Friday! To be able to even see a race on Friday would be a treat but what an added bonus to be able to do so at a great place like Wheatland and to also caught the MLRA Late Models for their season opener!

And to add to our lucky ending here, because of all the lousy weather in other parts of the Midwest and country, many of the biggest races were postponed and some of the top Late Model drivers were freed up for a weekend of racing. And they were as anxious as I to get some racing in this weekend so the MLRA stars were joined by some of the countries' biggest names, racing to make a buck and also using this weekend to work on set ups for the even bigger shows upcoming here at Lucas. 

The weather was not all roses here however, with an unbelievably strong wind blowing all day but other than a few sprinkles when the last dark clouds blew threw, we would be good to go for racing here. Dodging trash cans and lots of debris flying around on the winds of fifty plus mph gusts, the cars rolled out of their transporters from practice on Thursday night plus more arrived. The wind was so strong that they were even watering the paved pits, just to keep the sand storm for the blowing wind down. 

There would be forty eight Late Models on hand when all were assembled with drivers like Pearson Jr, Hughes, Thornton Jr, Davenport, Sheppard, Martin, Shirley, English, Alberson and Pierce added to the tough already MLRA field. The wind blown track took it on the chin as despite track crews dumping the water in it repeatedly, it would slick and slow up very quickly during qualifying. They actually totally redid the track twice, including once before a race was even held but in the end, the track turned out good for the Late Model feature and I saw drivers moving all around the track's different lines, and that is all one can ask for. Then it is up to the drivers to put on a show. 

The track actually started taking rubber during qualifying and one of the last cars out, Bobby Pierce, turned the quick time at 16.337 seconds. The field was divided into two groups and each group would have two heats so we saw four big twelve car heats and a pair of B Features that would set the field for the forty lap main that would pay five grand to the winner. Normally a five grand to win main wouldn't get a number of these drivers too fired up but the combination of a chance to race, and remember, many of these drivers haven't raced for three weeks and no race, no pay, a chance to be on TV and also a chance to tune up for even bigger races in the future saw everyone deliver their "A" game. 

And Ricky Thornton Jr. would prove to the man among men on this night as he would dominate the MLRA Late Model show, taking the lead on lap fourteen from Dillon McCowan and then leading the rest of the contest. 

McCowan would very impressive himself as he would get the jump on Earl Pearson Jr. to lead those first thirteen laps as the rookie Late Model driver seems to have no qualms about going at it head to head with the best. Pearson Jr. would have a good battle with Thornton Jr. for a number of laps before taking second and then he would quickly move in to challenge McCowan, who as Thornton Jr. would later say, looked like he was uncertain just what line on the track to run. When Ricky caught him, he would make a power move and take over the lead down the front stretch. 

Also on the move was Bobby Pierce Jr. who started sixth and the would move up to third, battling hard with McCowan before taking that spot. Pierce would then close in on the leader as Thorton Jr was struggling a bit as he caught lapped traffic at this point. At the halfway point of the race, those two had pulled away from McCowan, Pearson Jr. and Jonathan Davenport who was up from tenth. 

However, just at it appeared that Pierce would have something for Thornton, Ricky seemed to find another gear and he slowly started marching away from Pierce. Ricky was fantastic in lapped traffic as he worked his way through the large number of back pack cars as the nonstop race would see many go a lap down. One of the best races of the night would see Davenport and Pearson Jr go lap after lap, side by side as they fought for fourth. 

Pierce would start to lose touch with the leader and at the end, the only question was whether or not one of the slower cars would mess him up. However, that did not happen and this race would go green to checkered for forty laps on nonstop action. Thornton Jr. would put six lapped cars between himself and Pierce as he took the checkered flag while Pierce would have another six lapped cars between himself and third running Davenport. McCowan would get passed late by both Davenport and Tanner English but his top five finish was never the less very impressive. Only three cars would not complete the distance but there were only eleven cars on the lead lap at the finish. 

The support division for the LMRA on this night would be the USRA Modifieds. Somewhat surprisingly, Lucas has not been drawing very good numbers for their early season Modified events. Their opener saw only eleven cars in the pits but there was a big conflicting race going on only a couple of hours away that must be considered. However, on this night I know of no others going on within a reasonable distance, yet they only drew eighteen cars for a grand to win and at least two of the entrants were B Mods looking for a pay day and a chance to gain extra laps on the track. 

This race would be dominated by Nic Bidinger who would lead from start to finish. He was chased early by Matt Johnson who would try various lines to gain ground, but he simply couldn't gain any real estate on leader Bidinger. Dustin Sorensen, putting the first laps of the year on his MB house car, would start third and try the high side and while it would gain him a bit of ground initially, after that he kind of settled in too. 

The top drivers would continue to run in their same positions and there was really no big challenges, even when Bidinger reached the back of the pack which he skillfully navigated without losing ground. This race, for twenty laps, would go nonstop also with Bidinger the winner over Johnson and Sorensen. Robbie Reed and Mickey Burrell would complete the top five in what was sort of an anti climatic finish to the evening. It also got bitter cold to go along with the winds with the temperature dropping about thirty degrees from the first green flag. But again I say, we didn't get rained or snowed out, and we got to see a good show of racing so all was good with our work. 

Special thanks to Lisa Dorton for helping me navigate the paper work for admittance. 


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