BUFFALO TWP — Ricky Thornton Jr. and Hudson O’Neal continued to trade places and the Firecracker 100 appeared headed for perhaps its most exciting finish ever.

Then Thornton cut the game short.

The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points leader grabbed the lead from O’Neal for good on the 75th lap and pulled away to capture the Firecracker 100 checkered flag and the $50,000 that goes with it Saturday night at Lernerville Speedway.

“For a while, I didn’t think I’d get past J.D. (pole-sitter Jonathan Davenport), then I got behind a lapped car ... It wasn’t going my way early,” Thornton said. “Then I felt the race coming to me.”

It was coming to O’Neal as well. Davenport led for the first 44 laps before Thornton got around him. He and O’Neal then swapped the lead four times between laps 53 and 74.

Thornton, from Martinsville, Ind., pulled away over the final 15 laps and won by a final margin of 4.9 seconds over O’Neal. Davenport finished third.

“I kicked into another gear,” Thornton said of the final laps. “I just needed to stay in the middle toward the end of the race. My stuff was good.”

While Thornton maneuvered around lapped traffic, O’Neal wasn’t so lucky.

“I had to deal with a lapped car. I couldn’t get around him,” O’Neal said. “That cost me time. I’m not going to bow my head over finishing second. Ricky is Ricky. He’s having a great year.”

Thornton’s win was his 10th feature triumph on the Lucas Oil circuit this year. He won one of the features Friday at Lernerville as well. He became the 12th different winner in the Firecracker 100’s 17-year history.

No driver has ever won the race in consecutive years. Last year’s Firecracker 100 winner, Tim McCreadie, left Saturday’s race after 30 laps due to transmission problems.

Six Lernerville regulars drove their way into the Firecracker 100 field. Michael Norris of Sarver won the fifth heat race. Colton Flinner of Allison Park took second in that heat and Cabot’s Levi Yetter third. The top three finishers in each heat race qualified for the 100-lap main event.

At 17 and entering his senior year at Knoch High School, Yetter was the youngest driver among the 56 drivers competing for berths in the Firecracker.

Alex Ferree of Saxonburg took third in the fourth heat race and John Garvin Jr. of Sarver was third in the sixth heat.

Perhaps the biggest longshot to qualify for the main event was Sarver’s Ken Schaltenbrand. A two-time Lernerville Late Model points champion, he started sixth in a B-Main and had to finish among the top three to make the race.

He wound up passing two cars on the final lap to take second and make the feature.

“I knew I had a (Lernerville) provisional spot locked up, so I was just out there in the B to get a feel for the track conditions,” Schaltenbrand said,. “The way the race developed, I had a chance to drive my way in. If I did that, Gary Lyle would get the provisional.

“Gary and his team work just as hard as anybody here each week. He deserved a chance to be in that race. I’m glad it worked out the way it did.”

The Firecracker 100 itself worked out even better for Schaltenbrand. He started 21st and finished eighth. Only Norris (seventh) finished higher among local drivers.

“If I didn’t feel good about the car, I would have gone around for a couple of laps and gotten off the track,” Schaltenbrand said. “The car, the tires ... it was all there. I was moving and thought to myself, ‘let’s go.’ I picked off some pretty good cars along the way.

“I’ve been in this race a few times over the years, but this is the first time I finished the whole 100. This is the best I’ve ever run here.”

Ferree and Garvin got caught up in a four-car mishap during the 33rd lap and were done for the night. Current Lernerville points leader Tyler Dietz of Saxonburg got in on a provisional and finished 17th.

Max Blair, who won a Lucas Oil feature Friday, won the 50-lap Bill Emigh Memorial RUSH Late Model feature for the third time in five years Saturday. He started on the pole, fell behind Cody Overton, but passed him for good on the ninth lap.

The Centerville, Pa., driver picked up his 31st win in the series. He won $20,000 and a ring worth another $7,000. Norris finished fourth in the race.

Drivers from 12 states — and one from Australia — comprised the racing field over the weekend.

FIRECRACKER 100

June 24

Lernerville Speedway

1-Ricky Thornton Jr. (Martinsville, Ind.), 2-Hudson O’Neal (Martinsville, Ind.), 3-Jonathan Davenport (Blairsville, Ga.), 4-Gregg Satterlee (Indiana), 5-Devin Moran (Dresden, Ohio), 6-Brandon Overton (Evans, Ga.), 7-Michael Norris (Sarver), 8-Ken Schaltenbrand (Sarver), 9-Mason Zeigler (Chalk Hill), 10-Max Blair (Centerville), 11-Tyler Erb (New Waverly, Texas), 12-Ross Robinson (Georgetown, Del.), 13-Daulton Wilson (Fayetteville, N.C.), 14-Spencer Hughes (Meridian, Ms.), 15-Colton Flinner (Allison Park)

16-Earl Pearson Jr. (Jacksonville, F;a.), 17-Tyler Dietz (Saxonburg), 18-Logan Zarin (Moon Twp.), 19-Chub Frank (Bear Lake), 20-Tyler Bruening (Decorah, Iowa), 21-Levi Yetter (Cabot), 22-Boom Briggs (Bear Lake), 23-Garrett Alberson (Las Cruces, NM), 24-Alex Ferree (Saxonburg), 25-John Garvin Jr. (Sarver), 26-Tim McCreadie (Watertown, N.Y.), 27-Gary Lyle (Leechburg), 28-Ryan Montgomery (Fairmont, W.Va.)

Bill Emig Memorial

RUSH Late Models, 50 laps

Top 5 finishers

1-Max Blair (Centerville), 2-Cody Overton (Evans, Ga.), 3-Joe Martin (Punxsutawney), 4-Michael Norris (Sarver), 5-Darrell Lanigan (Union, Ky.)