For Super Late Model racers in the Golden Triangle, the Mississippi State Championship Challenge Series is about the only sure-fire slate of races they’ll have in the state each year.
While Columbus Speedway and Magnolia Motor Speedway have weekly races around their large-purse feature nights, those typically feature races in other divisions. So when inclement weather postpones MSCCS races, drivers have no chance but to stay home, or to race in other divisions, if they have the opportunity.
For the second time this season, MSCCS drivers will race without the chance of rain washing out yet another series race. The MSCCS will make its first stop of the year — one of four scheduled this year — Saturday night in at Columbus.
“This is basically the season-starter for us,” said Brian Rickman, driver of the No. 90 car. “It’s been aggravating. Everything’s been ready. It’s been nice to have a bit of a break, but we’re ready to go.”
In the series’ only race this year Rickman finished fifth March 28 at Whynot Motorsports Park in Meridian. He finished third in the series points last year behind brother and teammate, Rick Rickman, and series winner, David Breazeale.
While Rick Rickman has turned a few practice laps at Columbus to break in his new car, drivers won’t get a practice session this week.
“It does make a difference (turning practice laps),” Brian Rickman said. “This should be our 10th race of the year.”
Mark Dodson, Caledonia native and driver of the No. 32 car, said practice sessions aren’t vital for him on a race weekend, at least not for a MSCCS race. And even when there are practice sessions, he often doesn’t participate in them.
“A lot of the times, the track is just vastly different,” Dodson said. “Sometimes there’s more traffic out there, and sometimes they may wet the track a bit more.”
Despite the long layoff, Dodson doesn’t anticipate a sloppy start to the race. MSCCS drivers hope to avoid the same woes Limited Late Model drivers encountered at the season-opener at Columbus, when four cars were knocked out of the race and four caution flags marred the first four laps.
“Incidents can always happen, but the guys in this series are good,” Dodson said. “You don’t have to worry about anyone tearing up your car. We raced three or four times at Columbus last year and we made it just fine.”
Saturday’s race will be the first of three series races in 14 days for Super Late Model Drivers in the Golden Triangle. Next Friday in Greenville, drivers will run a co-sanctioned race by MSCCS and COMP Cams. They’ll turn around and run a similar race at Magnolia Motor Speedway the following night, May 9.
“It’s a lot of fun, a fun way to start the season with this weekend and next,” said Brian Rickman, who’ll run both races next week. “We’ve run well at Greenville, where I have a lot of seconds. We tend to struggle a bit at Magnolia, so we’ll see how we do there. But these next two weeks will be really competitive with drivers from both series.”
Saturday’s race is a $2,500-to-win feature. Other weekly series races include Limited Late Model, 602 Stock Late Model, Street Stock, and Mini Stock.
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