Hudson O’Neal and Rocket1 Racing Claim $50,000 in Rumble by the River
Team Collects 12th Victory of 2023 in Port Royal LOLMDS Thriller

SHINNSTON, W.Va. (08/28/23) – Hudson O’Neal rallied on Saturday night to bank the $50,000 victory in the fourth annual Rumble by the River aboard in his Rocket1 Racing / Valvoline / Seubert Calf Ranches No. 1 Ace Metal Works / XR1 Rocket Chassis / Durham Racing Engine Super Late Model.

He took the lead with six laps remaining on his way to the mega win at Port Royal Speedway. One night earlier he picked up a $5,000 preliminary feature win.

“It’s awesome. I had to get up on the wheel. I was just so tight against that cushion I was afraid to run it. It just came down to the last ten laps, and I knew I had a shot at it if I could run it hard enough if I could get enough of a run down the straightaways,” O’Neal shared in Victory Lane on Saturday evening. “The crew gave me a great race car all weekend. We were able to get back into Victory Lane last night, and I knew coming into today we had a great piece we just needed to play our cards right. I just want to thank all those guys and everyone who supports this team.”

Following the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) on an eastern swing that kicked off at Georgetown (Del.) Speedway, Rocket1 Racing and Hudson O’Neal invaded the half-mile oval on Thursday for the 2023 edition of the Melvin Joseph Memorial.

Starting the $18,049-to-win A-Main in the 13th position via a fourth-place run in his heat race, O’Neal was up to the sixth position early in the feature before a flat front tire forced him pitside. After rejoining the tail of the field he muscled forward to register a ninth-place finish in the 49-lap affair.

On Friday the team entered the opening night of the Rumble by the River at Port Royal Speedway (Port Royal, Pa.), and Hudson swept his 26-car preliminary group to pick up his 11th win of the season and a $5,000 payday. He followed up the fastest time and a heat race win with a flag-to-flag victory in the 25-lap feature.

Rolling off from the pole position for his heat race on Saturday, O’Neal outdueled Michael Norris in the eight-lapper to secure a front-row starting spot for the main event.

After setting a consistent pace for the first half of the race, Hudson stole third with 10 laps remaining and went on to overtake Mike Marlar for second three circuits later. Powering ahead of Jonathan Davenport for the lead on lap 45, O’Neal fended off Marlar and Davenport after a handful of late-race restarts en route to his second win in as many nights and $50,000 prize.

He recorded his sixth LOLMDS triumph of 2023 ahead of Marlar, Davenport, Matt Cosner, and Brandon Overton.

Hudson continues to sit second in the latest LOLMDS points.

Full results from the events are available at www.LucasDirt.com .

A pair of LOLMDS events await Rocket1 Racing this week. Action opens on Saturday at Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park with the $15,000-to-win River Days Rumble before shifting to Tyler County Speedway (Middlebourne, W.V.) on Sunday for the 55th annual Hillbilly Hundred, which posts a $30,000 to win feature.

Rocket1 Racing would like to thank all of their marketing partners, which include Valvoline, Seubert Calf Ranches, Rocket Chassis, Ace Metal Works, Durham Racing Engines, Five Star RaceCar Bodies, Gunter’s Honey, Performance Grading, Hoosier Racing Tire, Integra Racing Shocks, Keyser Manufacturing, Petroff Towing, Slavic Custom Racing Shirts & Decals, WR1 Sim Chassis, O’Neal’s Salvage & Recycling, Sweet Manufacturing, Sunoco Race Fuels, Accu-Force Shock Service, ATL Fuel Cells, Aurora Rod Ends, Barnes Dry Sump Oil Systems, Bazell Race Fuels, Beyea Custom Headers, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Brinn Transmissions, Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, CP Carrillo, Dohm Cycles, Edelbrock, Fibreworks Composites, Hardrock Powder Coating, Howe Racing Enterprises, Jones Racing Products, Kenny’s Components, Maxima Racing Oils, MSD, E3 Spark Plugs, Tel Tac, Performance Bodies, Peterson Fluid Systems, Powers Performance, Performance Rod & Custom, Quarter Master, QuickCar Racing Products, Rocket Pre-Owned Motors, Safecraft, Show Trucks Unlimited, Simpson, Stealth Carburetors, Strange Oval, Suave Talk, Total Power Valvoline Pro-V Racing, Walker Performance Filtration, Weld Racing, Wiles Driveshafts, Wilwood Brakes, Winters Performance Products, Wrisco Aluminum, Xceldyne Valvetrain, and MyRacePass Marketing Services.

For the latest information on Rocket1Racing please visit the team website at www.Rocket1Racing.com as well as their social media channels at www.facebook.com/Rocket1Racing, www.twitter.com/Rocket1_Racing, and www.instagram.com/rocket1racing .

PR Contact:
Ben Shelton (ben.shelton@myracepass.com)

Brandon Sheppard Banks $30,000 Victory in WoO Quad Cities 150 Finale
Mississippi Thunder Speedway and Deer Creek Speedway on Deck

NEW BERLIN, Ill. (August 28, 2023) — Brandon Sheppard and Sheppard Riggs Racing continued their recent momentum with a $30,000 World of Outlaws (WoO) Case Late Model Series win on Saturday night in the finale of the Quad Cities 150 at Davenport Speedway behind the wheel of his Valvoline / TrueTimber No. B5 WYLD GEAR / Riggs Drilling Solutions / Bilstein / Longhorn Chassis / Cornett Racing Engine Super Late Model.

The victory was his fourth main event win of the year and marked his first WoO win of the season.

"Fortunate for me, I was at the right place at the right time," Sheppard said after going past fellow Illinois driver Dennis Erb Jr. on a lap-59 restart and leading the rest of the way. "You know, I hate to see that for Bobby [Pierce], but everything's been going his way and it's about time we got a little love ourselves.

“My team’s been working really hard. Everything has been starting to come our way a little bit. We’ve been starting to show consistency in the past couple of months, and Longhorn has been super easy to work with. It’s been a trying year with a bunch of ups and downs, but nobody’s given up on me one bit or questioned me one bit. It just feels good, and it means the world to be standing here.”

For a three-race weekend with the World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series in the Hawkeye State, Sheppard Riggs Racing and Brandon Sheppard made the quick trip across the Illinois border on Thursday to visit Davenport (Iowa) Speedway for the My Place Hotels Quad Cities 150.
Drawing 35 entries for Thursday’s opener, Sheppard followed up a second-place showing in his heat race with a sixth-to-third run in the 35-lap preliminary feature.

Notching another podium finish in Friday night’s $10,000-to-win prelim, Brandon finished  second in his heat before passing five cars in A-Main to finish third, which came behind Bobby Pierce and Chris Madden.

Earning a front-row starting spot for his heat race on Saturday evening, Sheppard raced his way into the My Place Hotels Quad Cities 150 finale with a 10-lap victory.

Waiting patiently to make his move to the front, Brandon stole the lead from Dennis Erb Jr. on lap 59 with a pass on the bottom and led the remainder of the 80-lapper to register his fourth win of the season and his series-best 82nd-career WoO triumph.

He pocketed a $30,000 payday ahead of Tanner English, Ryan Gustin, Chris Madden, and Brian Shirley.

Brandon sits 22 markers behind Chris Madden for second in the latest World of Outlaw point standings.

Full results from the events as well as the complete latest standings are available at www.WorldofOutlaws.com .

A pair of $20,000-to-win WoO shows dot Sheppard’s calendar this week with a Friday evening at Mississippi Thunder Speedway (Fountain City, Wisc.) and a Saturday night showdown at Deer Creek Speedway (Spring Valley, Minn.).

Sheppard Riggs Racing (SRR) would like to thank their marketing partners, which include Valvoline, TrueTimber, Longhorn, Bilstein, WYLD GEAR, Riggs Drilling Solutions, Sheppard Salvage, Denny Woodworth Attorney At Law, Allgaier Performance, Keyser Manufacturing, Aftershock Graphics, Sunoco Race Fuels, Corrigan Race Fuels, SpeedStampz, Veteran Golfers Association, Guse’s Pub & Eatery, Simpson Race Products, Silo USA, FK Rod Ends, Ultra Shield, Stussy Construction / Paulson Rock Products, Gorsuch Performance Solutions, Speedwerx, COAST, Storm Auto, Wilwood Disc Brakes, 34 Raceway, Hoosier by Zoo, Bert by Budda, Accu-Force, Nightowl Designs, Off Axis Paint, and MyRacePass.com PR & Website Services.

For more information and updates on Brandon Sheppard and Sheppard Riggs Racing, please visit www.sheppardracing.com, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or Twitter.
********

MEDIA CONTACT:
Ben Shelton, My Race Pass, ben.shelton@myracepass.com

TEAM CONTACT:
Justin Cook, Justin Cook Management, justin@jcookmgmt.com

Ricky Thornton Jr. Rallies for $18,049 Melvin L. Joseph Memorial Win
Ready for Labor Day Weekend LOLMDS Action

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. (08/28/23) – Racing through a weekend that had more than its fair share of highs and lows, Ricky Thornton Jr.’s highwater mark was a $18,049 triumph on Thursday night in Georgetown Speedway’s Melvin L Joseph Memorial behind the wheel of his SSI Motorsports / Coltman Farms / Hoker Trucking No. 20RT Dyno One Inc. / Excel Floor Covering / Sub-Surface of Indiana / Longhorn Chassis / Clements Racing Engine Super Late Model.

On Friday at Port Royal Speedway during prelims for the fourth annual Rumble by the River Thornton Jr. raced to a podium finish, but mechanical woes on Saturday night plagued the Arizona native.

“The first half of the feature at Georgetown [Speedway] on Thursday we battled the handle a little, but this hot rod came to life late and we went from sixth to the lead in the closing laps to get the big win. We had a fast car to start the weekend at Port Royal Speedway on Friday, and even won our heat on Saturday despite a mechanical issue. We changed motors for the feature and had come from 25th to third before we ran into more mechanical issues that knocked us out. I hate it for Todd and Vicky Burns because it was an expensive night. I know it’s part of the deal sometimes, but I just hate that it was such a costly night,” Thornton Jr. said. “We’re getting ready for Portsmouth [Raceway] and Tyler County [Speedway] this week, and hopefully the mechanical gremlins are behind us.”

SSI Motorsports and Ricky Thornton Jr. embarked on an eastern swing with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) on Thursday afternoon as the series invaded Georgetown (Del.) Speedway for the Melvin L. Joseph Memorial.

Amongst a field of 30 cars, Thornton secured his spot into the main event with an eight-lap heat race victory. After losing ground early in the race, Ricky found the high groove to his liking as he went from sixth-to-third on lap 36.

Powering ahead of pacesetter Brandon Overton five circuits later, Thornton paced the final nine laps to claim the $18,049 Melvin Joseph Memorial payday and record-breaking 16th Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory in a single season. He finished 2.84 seconds ahead of Overton with Mike Marlar rounding out the podium.

For the doubleheader Rumble by the River on Friday and Saturday at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway, Ricky’s third-place finish in his heat race positioned him on the fourth row for Friday's preliminary feature.

With $5,000 on the line, Thornton rebounded after losing ground in his heat with an eighth-to-third charge in the 25-lapper.

On Saturday, Thornton Jr. started the night with a heat race win but discovered a motor issue before the main event that forced him to the tag the tail for the feature and forfeit his fifth-starting spot.

Rolling off 25th for the $50,000-to-win Rumble by the River finale, Ricky wheeled his way up to second before the team found a hole in his radiator during a lap-40 caution, ending his night early.

Following Saturday night’s program Ricky received a $7,500 bonus from UNOH as the current LOLMDS point leader.

Thornton holds a 290-point lead atop the latest series standings.

Full results from the events are available at www.LucasDirt.com .

SSI Motorsports and Ricky Thornton Jr. now lead the LOLMDS contingent into battle this weekend in a pair of events in Ohio and West Virginia. The action opens on Saturday at Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park with a $15,000-to-win event before rolling into Tyler County Speedway (Middlebourne, W.V.) on Sunday for the 2023 edition of the Hillbilly Hundred, which posts a $30,000 winner’s check.

Ricky Thornton Jr. would like to thank all of his marketing partners, which include: SSI Motorsports, Dyno One, Excel Floor Covering, Coltman Farms, Hoker Trucking, Certified Inspection Service (CSI), High Performance Lubricants, Big River Steel, Van Meter Insurance Group, Varsitee Screen Printing, West Side Tractor Sales Co., Sub-Surface of Indiana, Midwest Sheet Metal, D&E Outside Services, Lethal Chassis, Dylan Earven Foundation, EMD Wraps, Brembo, Keyser Manufacturing, Wiles Driveshafts, Barnes Systems, Strange Oval, Schoenfeld Headers, The Joie of Seating, Earnhardt Technologies, FK Rod Ends, BMRS, Wilwood Disc Brakes, Hoosier Tire, Performance Bodies, Jones Racing Products, Simpson Racing Products, NAPA (Morgantown – Bargersville), Swift Springs, Bilstein, Winning Edge Carburetion, Longhorn Chassis, Clements Racing Engines, and MyRacePass Marketing Services.

Visit the team’s official website at www.TwentyRT.com often for the latest team information. You can also stay connected with Ricky Thornton Jr. on social media at https://www.facebook.com/rickythorntonjrracing on Facebook, and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RThornton20rt.

PR Contact:
Ben Shelton (ben.shelton@myracepass.com)