By DAVID MILLER
Special to The Dispatch
Chris Madden had raced just once at Magnolia Motor Speedway prior to the 2016 Cotton Pickin’ 100 Saturday.
That kind of inexperience on the famed “Black Ice” surface at Magnolia often takes a hundreds of laps to understand, but Madden prefers a surface that’s slicked over. And Saturday, the South Carolina native mastered Magnolia and won the $20,000 Super Late Model feature.
Madden started 12th and bided his time and didn’t make a move on lead cars Shane Clanton and Jack Sullivan until a re-start on lap 28. Madden eventually passed Kyle Bronson for the lead on lap 52 and held on for the win.
“They dropped the green flag and wet the race track there and most guys were blasting the race track,” Madden said. “We were just kind of riding, trying to stay in sight of them. We were waiting for the track to slick up. We knew we had a good car – we just didn’t want to wear it out.
“Basically, we’re pretty good in these really slick places like this. It was just about finding my line and making the car work for that, to make it faster for me and the way I want to run the track.”
Madden said he had to be patient while trying pass Bronson, who had navigated the top side of the track to overtake Clanton and Sullivan around lap 35.
“We got a couple of restarts on the front row, which helped us out to get clean air,” Madden said. “Kyle got a good run on the top side for a while, and I told myself ‘don’t try to race him – let him do his thing.’ I wanted to keep my rhythm going, and if [Bronson] could run 100 (laps) like that, he’ll win the race.”
Bronson eventually faded after clipping one of the tractor tires used to set the boundary on the infield apron and finished 11th.
Madden appeared to navigate lap-traffic with relative ease, but the action behind him began to pick up as Four Corners native David Breazeale, who started 13th, began to make his way through the field. He reached the top 5 by lap 50 and moved to second by lap 73. He trailed Madden by a couple of seconds before a caution fell on lap 87.
“[Madden] was gonna have to mess up,” Breazeale said. “They said I was catching him, but I didn’t even know I was in second … I was just finding the next car and passing it. If he slipped up, I would have tried for the pass. But Chris is too good and isn’t gonna make mistakes.”
Madden quickly extended his lead on the re-start, and Dale McDowell, who finished second in the 2015 Cotton Pickin’ 100, passed Breazeale and took second. Breazeale finished third. McDowell started 10th, as the top 3 finishers in the race started outside the top 9 cars. McDowell, like Breazeale surged late, mainly due to his choice of tire, he said.
“We were a little harder on the right rear tire than Chris, so I don’t know if that was the case for us struggling early,” he said. “It just seemed like the car started running better in the middle stages of the race. It was a little rigid. We need to make some shock adjustments to get it a little bit more maneuverable, but it was a good night for us.”
For Breazeale, the third-place finish was his best-ever at the Cotton Pickin’ 100. The former Mississippi State Championship Challenge Series points champion left Henderson Motorsports at the end of last season, began a new team early in the year, and eventually linked back with Henderson midway through this season. He’s won two of the last three State Series races and has positioned himself nicely for the lucrative Super Late Model stretch of the season.
“It’s a combination of years, not just this year,” said an emotional Breazeale. “I’ve always struggled in the slick. I guess I’m getting older and my foot’s not as heavy as it was. We worked all year to try and find a combination to run around the bottom here. We hit on something Thursday night (during practice). I screwed myself up last night in qualifying. We made the show, but I felt like we should have been more up towards the front.
“Every race I’ve ever run in this, we’ve always gone backwards. So to finally move forward and pass guys like (Billy) Moyer and Clanton, just being able to stay on the same straightaway meant a lot.”
Billy Moyer and Morgan Bagley, who won the 2015 Cotton Pickin’ 100, finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
In other race action, Kyle Bronson won the NeSmith Crate Late Model feature. Hunter Carroll, Jeremy Shaw, Scott Dedwylder and Josh Banes rounded out the top 5.
Spencer Hughes won the Mississippi Street Stocks Series feature, his 20th feature win of the 2016 season. Rodney Wing, Johnny Stokes, Lee Ray and Michael Blade rounded out the top 5.
Heath Beard won the Factory Stocks feature. Jason Byrd, Logan Lux, Jeff Lewis and Carl Kilgore rounded out the top 5.
Tony Shelton won the 602 Late Model feature Friday night. Justin Carter, Todd Robinson, Joey Maxwell and Brooke Carter rounded out the top 5.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.