Riley Hickman avoided “the big one” and clinched his second Southern All-Stars Super Late Model win of the season Saturday at Magnolia Motor Speedway.
Hickman narrowly missed a lap seven pileup that claimed then-leader Wendell Wallace and two others, including eventual race runner-up Jack Sullivan, who said his spoiler was knocked off and his quarter panel was knocked in because of the wreck.
Hickman exchanged the lead with Sullivan twice before leading the final 24 laps and winning the $5,000 purse of the 13th-annual Cliburn Tank Lines Governor’s Cup.
“Last year, we ended up with some issues with lap cars in this same race,” Hickman said, “so just coming out here, being able to capitalize on this and racing with Jack the way we were able to, we put on a good show for the fans, and I’m happy.”
The lead cars reached lap traffic seven laps in when Ashton Winger lost the rear end of his car in turn two. Hickman, who was running in second, a few car lengths behind Wallace, said the timing of where he was on the track during the spin likely was the greatest factor in escaping damage.
“Wendell was already committed to the top getting into (turn) one, and luckily I was able to drive to the bottom and miss it,” Hickman. “I saw it out the corner of my eye when he spun out and Wendell ended up hitting him. I wish we all could have raced together there and put on a good show.”
Wallace left the track during the caution but returned to the make the end of the lead lap before the race went green. Wallace cleared 11 spots to finish 10th. David Breazeale, Dane Dacus, and Eric Cooley rounded out the top five.
Lowndes County natives Shay Knight and Rick Rickman finished seventh and 20th, respectively.
Following the caution, Sullivan started to test Hickman on the bottom of turn four, where he was able to gain the most ground on the track. He got by Hickman in that corner on lap 21 but surrendered the lead two laps later in the same corner. Hickman led each of the remaining laps, despite Sullivan reaching his bumper several times between turns three and four.
“The biggest thing is just keep Jack behind you,” Hickman said. “He’s raced (at Magnolia) way more than I have. When it gets in that condition, you’re just trying to make good laps. When you get into lap traffic, you’re trying to pace the cars and time when you can get by them.”
Sullivan appeared to have an opening with five laps to go when he and Hickman reached Brent Barrett’s bumper. Barrett held his middle line, which slowed Hickman, who’d used the middle to high parts of the track for much of the race. But just as lap traffic slowed Hickman, it did Sullivan as well.
“At that point, all you’re trying to do is not screw up more than (Hickman) does,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan’s window to pass Hickman was narrow late in the race, but he said if it were to happen, it would have been in turn four, where Hickman routinely escaped to a two-car length lead exiting the corner. He said he’d “start to lose the nose” of the car once the air between the two cars disappeared.
“I could get off four a bit better than Jack could, and that’d help me get down the front straightaway a bit better,” Hickman said. “At the end, I was snug and couldn’t rotate the corner like I’d want to. But I could still maintain off three and four and get the run to keep him at bay.”
Hickman, of Cleveland, Tennessee, has more than 12 wins in three divisions this season. He has won races in NeSmith Crates, Super Late Models, and 525 Late Models and is the reigning champion of the Southern All-Stars dirt series. He has twice won the NeSmith race at the Cotton Pickin’ 100 at Magnolia.
In other race action, Spencer Hughes won the Street Stocks feature. Terry Taylor, Lee Ray, Chase Pennington, and Jamie Sudduth rounded out the top five.
John Johnson won the Factory Stocks feature. Jennifer Byrd, John Beard, Brandon Whitley, and Jacob Fargo rounded out the top five.
Tony Shelton won the 602 Late Model feature. Austin Steele, Brooke Carter, Lance Robertson, and Ray Mauldin rounded out the top five.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.