FULL RACE: 2025 Kubota Gateway Dirt Nationals Modified Finale

There it is. Furled flag. Held high. Ricky Thornton, Jr., Mike Harrison up front set to bring this field to life. They idle. Out of turn number two and down the back straightaway. So here we go, race fans. Help me out, because love it or hate it, you know you want to say it. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, it's time to drop the hammer. Good. Even starting up front, got them side by side, down into turn number one and two. Harrison looking around the outside. Thornton's going to take over. Back behind. Air slides into the number three spot. Trying to get three wide. As Harrison comes up, gives a little kick to the keister. Down into turn number one and two. Trying to hustle. Thornton along. Trying to break away from the field. Murty caught in that tussle with Ayers. Back behind. Still side by side by side. All the way back through the field. Little stair step formation coming out. Turn number four onto the front chute. Amada down on the inside. Watching Trent Young get into the wall. Down into turn number two. Debris falls off the race car like rain. Let that push up against the wall. We should be good to go. Just a bunch of little pieces. Hopefully nothing important. Thornton able to step out away from Harrison. The 24-inch car. Still side by side. Back behind. Dallin Murty able to get himself up onto the high side. Works to the outside of Amada. That battle for fourth on the field. Sixth and a hand to Ayers. He's going to tiptoe around the bottom. Shuffles onto the back straightaway. Meanwhile, back behind. One TPO. Tyler Peterson coming to call now. Takes him three wide down into the corner. He's got to be wide. down. You want to run across the middle here. You want to larsen down on the inside. Watching on the 15W as Alex Williamson, that's back at six, seventh and eighth on the field. As we singled out up front through the first five cars. Little hops. Giving a jump. Coming down turn number four. And that's a tremendous tussle taking place between the ones. Larsen able to come out ahead on that one. Moves up into P6 at least temporarily. And shuffles Peterson back. Seeing Glaze's against the wall. The one TPO car. Williamson still looking down on the inside. To 15. Clausi's way on to the front chute. In the mix. Happy Texas right now. The runner back behind Sanders is following in his footsteps as he moves around Tyler nicely. Nicely shuffled back to position. Now, meanwhile, out front, it's still Thornton showing away. He's got himself a nice little advantage. About 1.7 seconds over Harrison in the 24-inch car. This will click off lap number next. This time by that's nine in the books. As Thornton keeps the nose into the wall down on the inside, that bottom groove boogie is working very well for Ricky Thornton Jr. Down in turn number one and two. He keeps himself out of the rough and tumble. He's up on the highway. As Carlos Amada continues to follow along in the tire tracks of the number six car ahead, Murray has come down on the inside. As Larson slides up to the high side back behind and allows Rodney Sanders to get through in the 20 car. He'll pick up a spot and prop the door open perhaps for Tyler nicely and Tyler Peterson as the Tylers are in the two-step tango back behind out of turn number two and down the back straightaway. Working the wheel on it as they hustle through turn number three and four and on to the front chute. Great four-car cluster. The battle back behind as now the 12 car steps out of line and goes up to the high side for Dallin Murray. Trying to find some steam to run down one of those top four spots as he works fifth on the field. Meanwhile, up front, the 20 R.T. Of Ricky Thornton Jr. Has closed in on the tail of the field. Now he's got himself a conundrum as he has to figure out how to get past the three-wide battle for not last. Trent Young's back here dabbling around along with the one of Dean Hoffman down on the inside. And Thornton, with no room to roam, now peeks through the middle. The eye of the needle is going to squeeze it through. Coming out of turn number four, gets a lap car between himself and the rest of the field. Now he's got to slice his way through. He's back behind. Harrison not able to close on him. Mike Harrison's running some pretty solid lap times and unfortunately, he's just watching Ricky Thornton Jr. recede into the distance as Thornton looks to double up on this one and become the first two-time winner. So we're past the halfway point now. 16 laps scored in the books of this 30-lap affair and Thornton's now got room to the outside of the lap traffic. Harrison back by a full straightaway in second, all by his lonesome. The 6 of Ayers works off the bottom and onto the front chute. Carlos Amato Jr. Still hanging tough in fourth. Fifth is the 12th. Dale Earnhardt down on the inside. He'll challenge out of turn number two. Can't quite get there in time. It's just behind him is the 15W of Alex Williamson. Williamson carving around the bottom as well out of turn number four. Rodney Sanders got himself a little too high on the racetrack and gouged up the side of the 20 car. He's got it dangling in the wind as he works out of turn number two and down the back straightaway with Tyler Peterson on the inside. Peterson, a little slide job out across the racetrack trying to steal that spot away as Rodney works back down low. Meanwhile, Thornton still doing a stellar job getting himself through the lap traffic Follows along with the young gun, the 40D, 16-year-old racer just ahead of him, Blake Adams, trying to stop himself from going a lap down to Thornton as George Grabowski pulls to the infield. Suspension damage on the back of the number 30 car went into the wall over in turn number two and the Coltman Farms caution comes out, and I think that's the only thing that was going to allow the field to catch up to Ricky Thornton Jr. Seems gone faster than breath mints at a singles bar. So we get him stacked back up on the front of the field. Breath mints at a singles bar. They go quick. Chet Christner? Yes, sir. I'd just like to say how much I missed listening to you call a race. That's all I've got. Oh, well, thank you, Blake. I'll give you your $20 when we're done. Chet Christner? I was just going to say it was a 4.3 second advantage for Ricky Thornton Jr., and I don't have any breath mints either. That was all I was going to say. It was. It was a huge advantage. Ricky Thornton Jr. So I watched this. I watched him in the late model as well, and somebody else that does this was B-Chef was really good at this, too. They're really good at finding traction where others can't, and if you watch, they'll work around on the racetrack and kind of pick up a hole or a crease or just something to get a hold of, and everybody else seems to miss that mark, and once they find it, they're on it like a dog on a bone. They will get that every lap around the racetrack. They will hit that, and that's exactly what's happening right now with Thornton. Thornton's found a good line kind of through the middle of the racetrack, turn number three and four, and he's able to crank up just enough corner speed to keep himself out ahead of these guys. And that's what we talked about last night. He relishes in track conditions that others might loathe or feel very uncomfortable. He likes it. He finds what nobody else can. He had a 4.3-second lead. That's a raced nine-lap dash, $20,000. Chet lights her up. There we go. 21-lap score. Did books. Nine laps to go. Ricky Thornton Jr. set to bring the field to life. He'll try to hang on to him out of turn number four and down to front straightaway. Side by each. Back behind. That's for my Wisconsin friends up there. As Harrison's got company out of Ayers. Ayers down on the inside of the number six car. Looking low. We'll bring out the caution flag. Unfortunately, Drake Troutman around down here along with the number 14 of Rick Conoyer. We'll go to the Eibach Springs instant replay. See what went awry down in turn number one and two. Oh, he got stacked up. Williamson got on the binders. It was a chain reaction. Unfortunately, the end result was two cars around. It was a tough break for Drake Troutman. From back in my stomping grounds, I've been watching a kid race for a long time. Rodney Sanders pulling to the infield for the number 20 car. Unfortunately, the six-time USMTS national champ picked up the championship this year is done for the night, so Ben's pick is out of the mix now and started in that number eight spot. You know, it was picked for me, but I would have taken Rodney. Rodney's a good racer. I said that. He's a very good racer. He's been around a time or two. It's not lost to me that Dustin picked the pole sitter and gave me the eighth place starter, but that's fine. So, I'm not an expert on car setup, but I'm looking at Drake Troutman's car, and I'm thinking it's a little out of whack on the right front these days, so he's going to need a hook to get him off the racetrack, because I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be at that attitude. So, we get the tow truck out there, get the number five car picked up. I'm going to give a shout-out to Shoes Diesel Performance. I know they support Drake Troutman in some of the racing back in Frostburg, Maryland. Drake picking up that 100,000-win modified world championship, kicked off the 2025 season and just won the 12th running of the Ruderman memorial not too long ago. Another big payday for him in the modified, but doing very well in the late model, was rookie of the year with Lucas Oil late models back in 2024, and then this year picked up the rookie of the year honors with the world of outlaw late models, so obviously focusing more on the late model racing, but still a very good shoe in the modifieds, and I know whenever he first started racing modifieds, he was about 11 years old, used to see him come down to East Bay and race down there during the speed weeks, so get him dangling off the hook, cleared off the racetrack and get back to it, so still nine laps remaining, 21 laps in the book. Ricky Thornton Jr. Is out front. Mike Harrison is running second. Third is Ryan Ayers. The number six car is 65X. Carlos Abada Jr. Rounds out the top four. And then Dallin Burney running fifth in the 12T. Alex Williamson scored sixth in the 15W. Tyler Peterson, the one TPO, is running seventh. Rodney Sanders was running eighth. Now he's down to infield. So Tyler nicely will inherit the number eight spot. Ninth is Boone Larson in the B1, and then rounding out the top ten, Adam Stricker in So Thornton set to bring the field back to life, finish it off with these nine laps. Single digits remain in the lap count category, and kind of watching the horde back behind. So we have a three, maybe a six-car cluster coming out, turn number two down to back chute. Boone Larson trying to weasel his way through the field. Looked like he was going to have a charge down in the corner. Peterson eyes up the eye of the needle down into turn number one and two. See him setting his sights on that little gap that lies between the 12T car to the outside of Dallin Burney and the 15W. Alex Williamson down low. He just can't quite fill the void as Thornton continues to show the way out front. Stepped out by about three, four, let's call it five car lengths down into turn number three now as he's found his rhythm again for the 20RT car. Harrison's got nothing for him. Mike's just going to ride along into number two spot. Not contested for second on the field. Carlos Amato Jr. Looking stout in the 65 car holding down P3 as Dallin Burney just got brushed up against the wall. It's getting a little tight confines back in that general facility on the racetrack. We've got five laps remaining that time by. Peterson continues to work that middle line, the 1TPO car. He'll again go down to the inside, a little lower that time, kind of chopped down. And Williamson, no room to roam there. Checks him up a little bit. Now Larson comes to play in that battle for position back in the field. It's a great race taking place from about third on back. Up front, not so much. As the caution flag comes out, we've got Erwin facing an oncoming traffic. So Tyler nicely bringing out the caution flag, the Coltman Farms caution 2023 dirt car modified national champion. I mentioned picked up the modified nationals champ this year or championship this year during the hell tour. Just got out from underneath. Turn number one. You saw him pivot out through. Nobody made contact. So no harm, no foul. Even wonder at the angle of that, and I only caught the tail end of it, admittedly, maybe clipped the inside wall as well, getting into the corner. A lot of them are dragging their front bumper around there, just trying to get that moisture down on the inside of the racetrack. And if you can get a good pivot going on, you can make some enough speed down there to hang with the field. But we'll watch it again. Oh, he did get tagged. He did get tagged. Well, that answers that question. Let's get him back to the tail of the field. Hey, how about a head tip there as well? Carlos Amada Jr. Has put on a really, really impressive performance so far in this one, and Ryan Ayers still hanging out there inside the top five, and Blake's pick, Dallin Murty, rounding out the top five right now as well. Bigger and better things for Dallin Murty starting 2026. Tyler Bruning in that Skyline motorsports entry running some bigger regional open late model shows in 2026. We're pretty excited about that, too. He's got a lot of backing, a lot of supporters out in Iowa, so it's good to see. Good to see a young driver get a chance like that. So here goes Thornton. A handful of laps remain or less than a handful. I guess it's a handful if you lost a finger. So four laps remain on this with Thornton bumps on the throttle, leaps down into turn one and two. Back behind Harrison working P2 on the field. Sees a little glimpse of Amada in the 65, but Carlos not able to get up next to him. Ayers is going to follow down on the inside. Bottom group. Boogie seems to be in place to be, and Dallin Murty is going to try to showcase the 12T car up on the top shelf and see if he can run off position. Maybe get on the podium. Williamson keeping him company down low. He gets caught up behind Peterson. Peterson checks up the 12T, and now we've got a three-car tussle taking place for what is fifth on the field. Meanwhile, Thornton says, not my fault. He's got himself out in front coming around here to pick up the white flag for the Hochetown saloon. Last call. It's in his last lap around for Ricky Thornton Jr., the 20RT car, going to be the first two-time winner in modifieds here at the Kubota Gateway Dirt Nationals presented by Raleigh Auto Parts. As he works it out, turn number four, the checkered flag will go up, and Ricky Thornton Jr. picks up the win. Second is going to be Mike Harrison. Carlos Amada Jr. Rounds out the three podium positions. Back behind. That battle we were talking about. Tyler Peterson comes out ahead. He'll finish out in fourth. Ryan Ayers bumped back to fifth. But tonight, picking up the win at the ninth-ranking Kubota Gateway Dirt Nationals presented by Raleigh Auto Parts in a Summit Racing modified, it's Chandler, Arizona's Ricky Thornton Jr. I don't care where he moves. He's always going to be from Chandler, Arizona, as far as I'm concerned. Mike Harrison goes second. Carlos Amada Jr., your top three. Here he comes. I think he's got it. Ricky Thornton Jr. makes his way to victory lane in a place he knows quite well. Ricky, this 20RT looked to be completely on rails. It felt like you were kind of out in your own neighborhood there. No one really had anything for you. What is it about this thing? You don't get it but a time or two a year, and it just clicks right away for you, it seems. I mean, Mike, he's worked his butt off building this race car. And Ledford's ran for him all year, too. And I think, honestly, this is probably the best I've felt in this condition all four years. So it was pretty awesome. I was a little down after running second to Bobby there. I'm like, man, I can't screw this startup. If I let Mike get in front of me, I know I'm not going to be able to pass him. So I made sure I set a slow enough pace where I could take off the moisture and really get a really good start. And after that, I just kind of felt pretty good. And then we got to those lap cars, and actually I started moving around. And I think I got better because of the lap cars. So kind of figured out the middle of one and two. And it was a lot of fun. I got next to my buddy Blake right when the yellow came out. I'm like, man, I really want to laugh just because I want to wave at him. But, no, overall, like I said, Mike and Lauren are all race cars. Without them, we wouldn't be running the mod here. So I got to thank Cody and Emma for letting me. I kind of feel bad for Emma. She picked me in the late model. So that means Cody got an automatic pick. So that means Cody swept the night. So hopefully next year we can be just as competitive. This track, I feel like it changed a lot tonight from where you saw it earlier in that late model feature to where it ended here in the modified feature. How difficult was it trying to kind of keep up on this racetrack and keep, you know, an all-star field of modified drivers behind you at bay? Yeah, I mean, obviously, at the start of the late models, it was a little bit fast. But then the start of us, they watered the bottom, and it made the bottom really competitive. And I felt like every time I looked up the lap cars, there were two and three wide, which really just means they did a really great job at the track prep and everything else. And really, I felt like this is probably the best racetrack we've had since I've been coming. So hats off to all the track crew. I mean, obviously, there's a lot of people behind doors that nobody sees. So I just got to thank all of them for everything they've done to have this deal be able to go for another nine years. Hopefully, we can come back and run both for ten. Nine years of this event. You're the first two-time champion. Congratulations, Ricky. Thank you. I appreciate it. How about it for Ricky Thornton Jr.? And real quick, before we go to Chris Moore, Tyndall Truck Sales throwing up an extra $10,000 to the winner tonight. Jeff Tyndall, thank you very much for doing that. That's really cool. I know it means a lot to our guys to race for that kind of extra cash. Yes, sir. It's an awesome deal what Cody and them put on here. We've been coming since the beginning and just all the track work and everything that comes into it. Just glad he let us be a part of it. So 2026, the date's announced. We on again next year, you think? I'd say so. How about it, St. Louis? Next year, another $10,000 bonus from Jeff and the guys at Tyndall Truck Sales. We really appreciate it. Thanks for being such a great part of this event. It's things like this that separate this event from every other event in the world. Congratulations, and we appreciate it. Yes, sir. Thank you. Chris Moore, you've got second place. Yeah, thank you, Blake. Here with Mike Harrison. Mike, boy, I bet any other scenario you'd draw the two, you'd feel like you had a great shot to win this. Obviously that guy drawing the pole makes it a little tougher. What more did you need out of your race car to hang with that 20RT? Yeah, we just, the way the track was, we just did a little something to the car and it kind of bit us. But, you know, you don't know unless you try it. Yeah, so that just kind of hurt us there. But you can't take nothing away from Ricky. I mean, he's damn good with whatever he drives. And, yeah, I just wish I could have finished the damn late model feature out. We was really running good there. And I think we would have ended up, you know, top three or four the way it was going. And, yeah, that's just kind of a bummer. But, yeah, second here, I don't know how many years in a row this is on the podium. Cody kind of makes a joke out of it that I just always constantly seem to be on the podium here in the mods. So I don't know how many years in a row it is. But keep taking it, you know, go home with some money and keep the race operation going and come back and do it again next year. Another podium with the modified and then obviously the great performance this weekend in the super, I imagine, despite not walking away with the win and some stuff you'd like to go a little differently, I imagine you'll still look back on this weekend with a lot of pride for the performance you and your team put on. Oh, yeah, for sure. Like I said the other night, yesterday, the night before, whatever, my wife will see the bad side of me for the next couple nights because I'll beat myself against the wall about what happened with the late model deal. But, you know, I just didn't want to run over Fager. He kind of turned there in front of me, you know, and I didn't want to run over him and I just flat spun myself out to keep from running over him. So I'll beat myself up over that for a while, but I can't hang my head for running second at this event and putting on a show for all these great fans and all you guys and Cody and Emma and my crew. I did the best I could and I'm going home to live another day. Great job. We'll see you next year. Thank you. There you go. Mike Harrison comes home with a runner-up finish in the summit racing equipment modified. Trenton Barry has our third place finisher. How about this one? All the way from El Paso, Texas. Staying up to watch this one here at the dome. Carlos Amato Jr. Started fifth, finished third. You love coming to race the dome this year. Probably your best showing yet. How much confidence did you have and peace of mind today knowing your qualifying night went so well? I mean, it takes so much stress and I guess anxiety off of your shoulders, but I got a great crew behind me that helps take a lot of that stress off from the get-go. I got country. I got my dad. I got my girlfriend's dad here. And I got a lot of people, great people behind me. Huge racing chassis. Showing headers. Performance. Larry's performance carburetors. Cornett's racing engines. Swiss springs. So it takes a team to make the whole thing go around. So I can't thank them enough. Thinking about the race here just a little bit after climbing out of the car. Anything you'd do to attack it differently after having ran it? I don't know. That's the best I've run so far. And there's a few things we can improve on. A lot of it in the driver's seat. Some of it with the car. But I think we showed speed every time we come here. And I think that's something to be proud of. We consistently got better. And hopefully get invited again next year and see what we can do. You know, one of the big things, a lot of your experience is not this type of racetrack. And I don't mean rugged, running through the holes, this and that. But you're more sweeping turns. You prefer to race at the bottom. That's more your style. I wouldn't say this is typically a Carlos Amato Jr. Signature type racetrack. But you're running against guys all over. But a lot of guys from Illinois that are really good in this condition. How much confidence does that give you here just going into the winter, knowing that your Hughes car was that good? Plenty of confidence. It means our package is good. And it's balanced. And it's something we have that we can take anywhere and compete with anybody. And a lot of these guys are here. Some of the best in the nation. We got USMTS, UMP. A lot of the best. The best of the best modified drivers are here. And I think we showed out. We did pretty good. Great job, dude. Going to be a long drive back to El Paso. But you're going to be on cloud nine. Carlos Amato Jr., tonight's third place finisher. Another race recap coming up here on the big screen. And we're underway. 30 laps the total distance. And Ricky Thornton Jr., I believe, leads every one of them. Got himself out front on the point for the pole. And it was good luck. Everybody else back behind. Some great battles taking place through the field. A little contact with the wall there. And you saw some chaos, some debris. All kind of standard operating procedure for any racing that takes place out here at the dome at America's center. But phenomenal modified race. Tipped the cap to all the racers out there. All the racers across the board. Coming in to support this ninth-ranked Kubota Gateway Dirt Nationals presented by O'Reilly Auto Parts. But Thornton definitely classed the field into modified. He worked his way through lap traffic. Like a master. Middle of the racetrack. A couple of cautions coming out. But overall an impressive performance by the racer out of Chandler, Arizona. These race recaps are long, Jeff. They're long. And I'm watching it. I feel like I should call the race again, to be honest with you. Here we go. Checker flag coming out. And there he is, Ricky Thornton Jr. In victory lane for the second time. Two-time winner.