It looked like a two-man show for the $2,500 purse for the first half of the Mississippi State Championship Challenge Super Late Model race Saturday night.
Series points leader Bub McCool, winner of five series races this year, was trading paint for first place with Ronny Lee Hollingsworth, who set the track record during qualifying with a 13.02-second lap.
Chad Thrash, who entered the night trailing only McCool in points, was still searching for his first series win of the season. He held down third place for the first 25 laps, waiting for an opening against McCool and Hollingsworth.
The opening came shortly after McCool and Hollingsworth tangled in Turn 1, which eventually sent both to the pits. Only McCool returned after changing a tire.
But before both left the track, Thrash passed Hollingsworth shortly before the race’s first caution.
Thrash, much like he did in 2014, earned his first MSCCS win of the season at Columbus Speedway.
“I got lucky, really, with that first caution,” Thrash said. “I knew Ronny Lee was gonna pick that outside because he’d just passed Bub that way for the lead, and I found that middle on that re-start and was pretty decent there. I was a bit faster there. Then (McCool and Hollingsworth) got to jockeying, and it was like, ‘Which way are they gonna go? Are they gonna wreck us all, or clean up and go on?’ ”
Clay Fisher gave Thrash a run, but Thrash pulled away and won the race uncontested through the final five laps. Fisher finished second.
Thrash said he changed his approach and “drove smarter” later in the race, opting to dial back on the throttle as his tires began to catch a bit better.
“The way the track was, it was really rough on the bottom, so I couldn’t run down there,” Thrash said. “I was bottoming out really bad. That’s probably the best I’ve seen the track in a while … to have three grooves like that. Hollingsworth took the lead on the outside before the caution came out, and Bub was running the bottom, then I was running the middle, so we were pretty much all over it.
“I have a love-hate relationship with this track. We’re either really good, or we’re really terrible. Tonight feels good.”
Rick Rickman, McCool, and Brett White rounded out the top five.
McCool, despite leaving the race and returning to start at the back of the pack, pushed his way through the field and into the top. The climb was more difficult than holding off Hollingsworth for the early lead, however, as McCool was forced to take higher lines in the track.
McCool provided the most exciting action of the night, when he and Hollingsworth connected in Turn 1, sending McCool completely sideways and onto the cushion, where he was able to regain control of the car and maintain the lead through the backstretch.
“It was a good race,” McCool said. “He was up top and I beat him to the corner a bit, and I was gonna try to take his line and we ended up getting together. That’s what gave us a flat. It was fun. Anytime you can race that good, that close, it’s fun.”
In other race action, Blake Keonigsberger won the Limited Late Model race after a late pass of Trey Rickman. The race feature six cautions in the first 10 laps. Hunter Carroll, Chad McCool, and Billy Franklin rounded out the top five. Tony Shelton won the 602 Late Model race. Jonathan Pridmore, Jason Williams, Allen Simmons, and Jimmy Anderson rounded out the top five. Lee Ray won the Street Stock feature. Tony Silvestri, Jamie Sudduth, Harold Trimm, and Mark Barnett rounded out the top five. Matt Guin won the Mini Stock feature. Bobby Barnett, Adam Hollbrook, Nick Deese, and Anthony Goodwin rounded out the top five.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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