Moran Tops Thornton By .077 Seconds

GEORGETOWN, Del. — Devin Moran beat Ricky Thornton Jr. to the finish line by 0.077 seconds to win the Melvin L. Joseph Memorial on Friday night at Georgetown Speedway.

The two drivers entered the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series’ third visit to the track tied atop the points, but after the thrilling $20,049 victory, Moran leads Thornton by 10 points heading to Hagerstown Speedway on Saturday night.

Garrett Alberson registered another strong finish, coming from the 12th starting spot to secure a third-place finish. Brandon Sheppard, who started 14th, finished fourth, while Hudson O’Neal recovered from a pit stop to finish fifth.

Brandon Overton led the first 21 laps from his outside front row starting spot. Overton, who was seeking his first series win of the season, was in control of the first 21 laps of the race until a restart on lap 22 saw Daulton Wilson bolt to the lead.

Wilson stayed in front until Moran, who had started sixth, swept by him to become the third different leader of the race on lap 18. Moran opened up a sizable lead over the field until a caution with 43 laps complete bunched the field up.

Another caution with 46 laps complete would delay Moran’s trip to victory lane as he was narrowly hanging onto the lead with Thornton applying heavy pressure. With three laps to go in the race, the two fought it out; Moran edged Thornton at the finish line as Thornton tried a cross-move on him that fell just short.

In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 20th time in his career, Moran registered his fifth series win of 2025.

“That took a lot of hard work to win. I was super good early and bidding my time, and I knew I had hard tires,” Moran said. “There was a big hole getting into one, and you couldn’t hardly see it until you were right on it. After I got the lead, it was about five laps after I smoked it and demolished the whole right front. I don’t know what’s wrong with it. I was hanging on there at the end without a doubt.”

Thornton, who had captured the previous two Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events at Georgetown, was looking for a clean sweep of the night after setting a track record in time trials and easily winning his heat race to earn the pole.

“I don’t know. I tried to dive behind Overton at the start, but I got a bad restart and was buried back to about fifth or sixth,” Thornton said. “I messed up the next restart and nearly wrecked the field. After that, I started to throw it into the top of one and two. I thought in three and four you could move out, but it was so treacherous that you had to hit it right. I didn’t want that last yellow to come out. I felt like he (Moran) was stuck behind those two lapped cars, and I was able to get all the way to him.”

Alberson, who ran well at Georgetown a year ago finished third this time around.

“We just went back to our notes from a year ago here because we had a similar scenario. I think we went from 10th to third. I think we were on the podium with the same guys there, so I don’t know what it is about this track. I always enjoy coming here, and it always races really well in the feature. I was a little too tight to get in there with them guys, unfortunately, because they were having a heck of a battle. I wish I could have gotten in there to battle with them.”

The finish:

Devin Moran, Ricky Thornton Jr., Garrett Alberson, Brandon Sheppard, Hudson O’Neal, Daulton Wilson, Brandon Overton, Rick Eckert, Dan Ebert, Trevor Collins, Daniel Hilsabeck, Justin Weaver, Matt Cosner, Amanda Robinson, Jonathan Davenport, Donald McIntosh, Carson Ferguson, Cory Lawler, Ross Robinson, Spencer Hughes, Clay Harris, Brent Robinson, Tyler Erb, Donald Lingo Jr.