CHILLICOTHE, Ohio Reigning Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Champion Ricky Thornton Jr. secured his first victory at Atomic Speedway, taking home the $15,000 prize for winning the Buckeye Spring 50 on Friday night.

Thornton successfully fended off a determined Josh Rice, marking his fourth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season.

Rice, who closed in on Thornton several times during the last 39 laps of the race, finished second by 0.541 seconds at the line. Devin Moran came in third, followed by Mike Marlar and Hudson ONeal.

Thornton jumped to the lead at the start of the race, with Jonathan Davenport running in second place. Davenport stayed close to Thornton until a lapped car came down on him, forcing Davenport to spin in turn two after ten laps as the caution was displayed for him, requiring a restart from the back of the field.

Rice then moved into second place as he and Garrett Alberson raced hard for that position, with Moran joining the battle after starting in ninth. Moran briefly took second, but Rice fought back to reclaim the position. In the closing laps, Rice managed to catch up to Thornton, but he couldnt pull off a last-minute move on the final lap to try and steal the win from Thornton.

In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 46th time in his career, Thornton has now assumed the championship points lead as he heads to Brownstown on Saturday.

I knew Josh (Rice) was going to be good, really, I thought he was a little better than I was there I was just able to get out in front of him. Ive got a little right-side damage. I got behind a lapped car, and he kept kind of going low, and he turned back to the bottom finally, and I knew it was time I had to go, or I was going to get passed, so I and he hit a little bit, obviously I got some right-side damage. Its part of it, so we will have it ready tomorrow at Brownstown.

Rice, who came into the event with two career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victories at Florence Speedway, nearly stole the show at Atomic.

Really, I felt like I needed it to stay green. We were a little bit harder on tires than he was, Rice said. It was a heck of a race. Ricky did everything he had to do to win that one. I am sure all of the fans loved it. Really, this is our first weekend out; last weekend wasnt so good. We adjusted good on the car tonight. I feel like we did some stuff we dont normally do, and it worked out from hot laps to qualifying. I had a totally different race car with just a slight adjustment.

Moran, who maintained second in the points and heads to Brownstown tomorrow as the defending Indiana Icebreaker winner, rounded out the podium.

Ive got to start closer to the front. I feel like I have been starting all these races in the back and having to pass cars. Ricky and Josh were really good. I had a couple of chances to slide Josh, and I knew he was going to be on the gas, and I didnt want to do that. All-in-all, they did an awesome job with the race track.

The finish:

Ricky Thornton Jr., Josh Rice, Devin Moran, Mike Marlar, Hudson ONeal, Garrett Alberson, Brandon Overton, Carson Ferguson, Donald McIntosh, Jonathan Davenport, Brandon Sheppard, Ross Robinson, Tyler Erb, Daniel Hilsabeck, Daulton Wilson, Dan Ebert, Tyler Carpenter, Tyler Bruening, Clay Harris, R.J. Conley, Spencer Hughes, Brenden Smith, Tyler Wyant, Cory Lawler, Christian Hanger, Seth Daniels.