Ricky Thornton Jr. and Hudson O’Neal split Saturday’s 25-lap semifeatures at West Virginia Motor Speedway, each earning $5,000 and securing a solid starting spot in Sunday’s $100,000-to-win finale of Carl Short’s 46th annual ARP Dirt Track World Championship.
The fourth-starting Thornton took command on lap 10 of the opener and finished 1.358 seconds ahead of 10th-starting Dillon McCowan for his third consecutive Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory.
In the second semifeature, O’Neal used an outside move entering turn one amid traffic to overtake polesitter Jonathan Davenport on lap 16, pulling away to win by 2.213 seconds over Davenport with series points leader Brandon Sheppard third.
2026 Lucas Oil Late Model Saturday Dirt Track World Championship Prelim Results At West Virginia Motor Speedway
Group A
| Finish | Start | Car No. | Driver | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 20RT | Ricky Thornton Jr. | +3 |
| 2 | 10 | 8 | Dillon McCowan | +8 |
| 3 | 2 | 99 | Devin Moran | -1 |
| 4 | 11 | 22F | Chris Ferguson | +7 |
| 5 | 14 | 111 | Max Blair | +9 |
| 6 | 13 | 28E | Dennis Erb Jr. | +7 |
| 7 | 7 | 75 | Eddie Carrier Jr. | 0 |
| 8 | 17 | 1T | Tyler Erb | +9 |
| 9 | 15 | 40B | Kyle Bronson | +6 |
| 10 | 3 | 5T | Drake Troutman | -7 |
| 11 | 16 | 99H | Kyle Hardy | +5 |
| 12 | 20 | 6 | Clay Harris | +8 |
| 13 | 12 | 27L | Michael Lake | -1 |
| 14 | 6 | 55 | Benji Hicks | -8 |
| 15 | 19 | 17SS | Brenden Smith | +4 |
| 16 | 21 | 3S | Brian Shirley | +5 |
| 17 | 22 | 18C | Chris Carpenter | +5 |
| 18 | 23 | 9-11 | Corey DeLancey | +5 |
| 19 | 24 | 17KN | Brock Morris | +5 |
| 20 | 9 | 12M | Ryan Montgomery | -11 |
| 21 | 18 | 22M | Corey Miller | -3 |
| 22 | 8 | 10 | Garrett Smith | -14 |
| 23 | 5 | 74X | Ethan Dotson | -18 |
| 24 | 1 | 28 | Tyler Carpenter | -23 |
Group B
| Finish | Start | Car No. | Driver | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 71 | Hudson O'Neal | +1 |
| 2 | 1 | 49 | Jonathan Davenport | -1 |
| 3 | 3 | 1 | Brandon Sheppard | 0 |
| 4 | 4 | 11 | Josh Rice | 0 |
| 5 | 6 | 60 | Dan Ebert | +1 |
| 6 | 7 | 58 | Garrett Alberson | +1 |
| 7 | 8 | 17 | Zack Dohm | +1 |
| 8 | 5 | 19R | Ryan Gustin | -3 |
| 9 | 10 | 93F | Carson Ferguson | +1 |
| 10 | 9 | 22 | Daniel Hilsabeck | -1 |
| 11 | 12 | 25Z | Mason Zeigler | +1 |
| 12 | 17 | 31 | Lincoln Smith | +5 |
| 13 | 13 | 76 | Brandon Overton | 0 |
| 14 | 14 | 39 | Henry Hornsby III | 0 |
| 15 | 22 | 44 | Dave Hess Jr. | +7 |
| 16 | 11 | 32 | Bobby Pierce | -5 |
| 17 | 20 | 2 | Brandon Francis | +3 |
| 18 | 16 | 17SR | Brody Smith | -2 |
| 19 | 21 | 09 | Michael Leach | +2 |
| 20 | 18 | 3 | Chase Hunley | -2 |
| 21 | 24 | 50 | Kevin Davis | +3 |
| 22 | 23 | 49M | Luke Morey | +1 |
| 23 | 19 | 11M | Michael Chilton | -4 |
| 24 | 15 | 0 | Braeden Dillinger | -9 |