If Hunter Rasdon hoped to win the Comp Cams Super Late Model race Saturday at Magnolia Motor Speedway, he had just a narrow window to do it.
Rasdon, of Jonesboro, Arkansas, started second and opened a multi-second lead over the field, moving freely between the high and low sides of the track before Ronny Lee Hollingsworth, of Northport, Alabama, climbed from fifth to second by lap 10 and took Rasdon on the high-side in turns 3 and 4.
Hollingsworth maintained the lead until lap 20, when Rasdon regained the lead in turns 3 and 4. The pass couldn’t have come at a more critical juncture, as the track rubbered up and the top line vanished. But Rasdon, who has competed in roughly 10 races at Magnolia, outlasted the Magnolia vet, Hollingsworth, to win the 40-lap, $2,500 race.
“Being the leader out there, you’re a sitting duck,” Rasdon said. “I knew the race track was gonna lock down, but I didn’t know when. When (Hollingsworth) kind of slid me, I knew I had to get back by him quick. He just found the rubber before I did.”
Rasdon became the Comp Cams’ first repeat winner of the season and helped him continue a string of successful outings in which his team “doesn’t have to work hard on the car.” Rasdon was fast throughout the night and immediately pulled away from Bub McCool, who started second.
“When we fired off, my car was really good, really stable,” Rasdon said. “I didn’t know I’d be that much better than everybody else.
“We’ve kind of hit on something the last few weeks. We’ve switched our shock and spring package up a little bit and found some speed.”
Hollingsworth, though, knew Rasdon would be quick after watching him win the third heat race. And while Hollingsworth set the fast time in qualifying (14.109 seconds), he said he didn’t perform was well in the heats.
But when Johnny Stokes watered the track, a new lane opened up top, where Hollingsworth capitalized.
“It wasn’t a top where you could get up there and be married to it, but our car was pretty good to where we could drive up there, use that top leaving both corners, and pick up some good speed,” Hollingsworth said. “And if those other guys didn’t hit it right, they’d lose some ground and we’d pick up two or three car lengths. That’s really what set me up for that pass on Rasdon and Chris Brown. I got a good run out of there and was able to slide them both.
“Our car was a little bumpy down there in three and four, and I let it push a few times and let that Rasdon slip back by me. I felt like we had the best car, but when it locked down and rubbered up, Rasdon was better.”
Hollingsworth was satisfied with the finish and noted his team’s up-and-down start to the season. Hollingsworth won a race in Arizona to open the season, but he said he has been inconsistent in pre-race adjustments and finishes.
“We’ve raced about four or five times since then, and two or three weeks in between, we’d make some changes, get rained out, then go race, then we’d be off,” he said. “It’s like we would just dial ourselves out. This past week, we came back, set everything to standard, decided to just start over, and go out here and see what we got. We got a few minor changes, but now we have something to build off.
Chris Brown, Bub McCool, Wendell Wallace, and New Hope’s Brian Rickman rounded out the top six.
In other race action, Millport’s Jeremy Shaw won the NeSmith Late Model feature. Evan Ellis, Mark Stokes, Delbert Smith, and Steve Russell rounded out the top five.
Meridian’s Spencer Hughes won the Street Stocks feature, his third straight at Magnolia Motor Speedway. Justin McRee, Lee Ray, Brian Rickman, and Terry Taylor rounded out the top five.
Jennifer Byrd won the Factory Stocks feature, her first win at Magnolia of the season. Josh Lawley, Heath Beard, Chambers McGilberry, and John Beard rounded out the top five.
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