Hudson O’Neal and Ricky Thornton Jr. Win Twin Features at West Virginia Motor Speedway

Two 25-lap features split the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series field at West Virginia Motor Speedway on Saturday, with Hudson O’Neal and Ricky Thornton Jr. taking the wins. The rain-delayed program paid $5,000 to each feature winner and set the stage for Sunday’s season finale, which is scheduled to pay $100,000 to win on the same track.

O’Neal and Thornton lead the twin features

O’Neal won Group B from second on the starting grid, finishing ahead of pole starter Jonathan Davenport and third-place Brandon Sheppard. Josh Rice was fourth, followed by Dan Ebert, Garrett Alberson, Zack Dohm, Ryan Gustin, Carson Ferguson and Daniel Hilsabeck. O’Neal’s win capped a strong night: he had qualified fifth in Group B2 and finished first in his 10-lap heat.

Thornton started fourth in Group A and finished first, with Dillon McCowan moving from 10th to second. Devin Moran, who started third, took third place. Chris Ferguson finished fourth after starting 11th, while Max Blair climbed from 14th to fifth. The top five were separated from the rest of the field by a mix of starting positions and results across the qualifying heats; the results list records each driver’s starting spot in brackets.

Both features ran 25 laps. The two winners came through different routes in the preliminary program: Thornton had topped Group A2 hot laps and won his 10-lap heat, while O’Neal had won the Group B2 heat. Their feature victories were the headline results from a format that gave each group its own qualifying sequence and main event.

Group A: full 25-lap feature results

Ricky Thornton Jr. finished first, followed by Dillon McCowan and Devin Moran. Chris Ferguson placed fourth and Max Blair fifth. Dennis Erb Jr. was sixth, Eddie Carrier Jr. seventh and Tyler Erb eighth. Kyle Bronson took ninth, ahead of Drake Troutman in 10th.

Kyle Hardy finished 11th and Clay Harris 12th. Michael Lake was 13th, Benji Hicks 14th and Brenden Smith 15th. Brian Shirley finished 16th, Chris Carpenter 17th and Corey DeLancey 18th. Brock Morris placed 19th, Ryan Montgomery 20th, Corey Miller 21st and Garrett Smith 22nd. Ethan Dotson was 23rd, with Tyler Carpenter 24th.

Several drivers made notable gains relative to their listed starting positions. McCowan rose from 10th to second, Blair from 14th to fifth, and Tyler Erb from 17th to eighth. Thornton began fourth and converted that position into the win. These changes make the feature order useful context alongside the preliminary results, although the source does not provide lap-by-lap detail or explain how positions changed during the race.

Group B: full 25-lap feature results

Hudson O’Neal won from the second starting position, ahead of Jonathan Davenport and Brandon Sheppard. Josh Rice placed fourth and Dan Ebert fifth. Garrett Alberson finished sixth, Zack Dohm seventh and Ryan Gustin eighth. Carson Ferguson was ninth, with Daniel Hilsabeck completing the top 10.

Mason Zeigler finished 11th and Lincoln Smith 12th. Brandon Overton was 13th, Henry Hornsby III 14th and Dave Hess Jr. 15th. Bobby Pierce placed 16th, Brandon Francis 17th and Brody Smith 18th. Michael Leach was 19th, Chase Hunley 20th, Kevin Davis 21st and Luke Morey 22nd. Michael Chilton finished 23rd, ahead of Braeden Dillinger in 24th.

Davenport started first and finished second; Sheppard started third and held that position. O’Neal moved up one place to win, while Hess advanced from 22nd to 15th. The result sheet also shows Pierce in 16th after starting 11th and Dillinger in 24th after starting 15th. It offers the finishing order and grid positions, but no incident, tire, setup or track-condition notes that would explain the larger moves.

Qualifying and heat-race context

Dennis Erb Jr. set the quickest listed Group A1 qualifying time at 14.378 seconds. Devin Moran led Group A2 with a 14.472-second lap. In Group B, Jonathan Davenport topped B1 at 14.328 seconds, while Dan Ebert led B2 at 14.497 seconds. Those times are group-specific; the results do not present them as one combined ranking across the full field.

Heat winners included Tyler Carpenter, Drake Troutman, Devin Moran and Thornton in Group A, and Davenport, Sheppard, O’Neal and Rice in Group B. The 10-lap heats helped determine the route into each feature, while the two 12-lap B-mains offered another path for drivers farther back. Brian Shirley won the Group A B-main, and Michael Leach won the Group B B-main.

Hot laps produced a separate early snapshot: Thornton was quickest in Group 4 at 14.044 seconds, and Eddie Carrier Jr. led Group 1 at 14.096. Hot-lap pace, qualifying order, heat results and feature finishes each tell a different part of the night; the source provides the classifications but no fuller account of how the track changed after the previous day’s rain.

Sunday’s finale follows the delayed program

The event shifted to a Saturday-Sunday schedule after rain on Friday. Saturday’s twin features paid $5,000 to each winner, while the following day’s finale was listed at $100,000 to win. That large difference in posted prizes makes the Sunday race the weekend’s main draw, but the Saturday results provide the immediate form guide: Thornton and O’Neal arrive as feature winners, with Davenport, Sheppard, Moran and McCowan among the leading finishers.

The source lists a video-highlights section but contains no video embed. Event information is available from West Virginia Motor Speedway and the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. Saturday’s classifications establish who won each group’s feature; Sunday’s finale is the next result to watch as the series season reaches its close.