Bub McCool was patient Saturday night.
For nearly 50 laps, the Vicksburg native was mired in a slugfest for second place in the Southern All-Stars Super Late Model Race at the 12-annual Governor’s Cup at Magnolia Motor Speedway.
Randy Weaver, the leader through 48 laps, was strong on re-starts and kept a two-second lead through much of the race, so all signs pointed to Weaver winning his fifth-straight race and the SAS’ largest purse since the series started in the early 1980s.
McCool, though, had a strategy: conserve tires and wait for the track conditions to change.
McCool closed the gap behind Weaver before reaching Weaver’s bumper on lap 48. In turn four, McCool passed Weaver and never looked back, clinching his first SAS win and second $10,000 prize in his career.
“At the first of the race, I kind of paced myself to save my tires,” McCool said, “and then I hit that line on the bottom and started gaining on (Weaver). I just waited until about 20 to go and started going after him. And when we got by him, I kind of slowed down again to try and save my tires.”
McCool added a signature win to what has been a landmark year. McCool has won five of seven races in the Mississippi State Championship Challenge Series. He hasn’t finished lower than third in series races. He finished ninth in the 100-lap Lucas Oil Clash at The MAG in June.
“It’s definitely awesome,” McCool said. “We’ll keep working hard and trying to win the next one.”
McCool said the track surface was more slick than the last state series race at Magnolia, but the surface started to gain traction along the bottom portion of the track, which made his final run at Weaver — and his ability to hold him off — possible.
“I was feeling better because it starting rubbering up on that bottom and forming one groove about the last 10 or 12 laps, and that makes you feel good as long as you don’t get out of the groove and let them get by you,” McCool said.
McCool was flawless in the last 12 laps, even in passing Weaver’s teammate Grant Pearl, one of the lap cars both drivers had to pass in the final laps.
“I just had to make my mind up, set him up and go by (Pearl),” McCool said. “They teach you to hold your line, and he did what he was supposed to do. I just got by him on the outside, hit that rubber, and got by him on the straightaway, and I could still see him there on the bottom.”
Weaver wasn’t as calculating in the final laps.
“We had the race track up until about 10 or 12 to go, and it rubbered up,”
Weaver said. “Anytime it’s like that, and it’s one lane, and then you catch the lap cars in that one lane, it gets you messed up. We got out of the rubber and that’s all it took for him to get by. We got back on Bub, but he didn’t make that same mistake.
“Bub’s good down here. But when you show up, you have to race the whole field. A lot of these guys that run this region are really good. I just love this race track, but it’s hard when you have three races in 100 degrees, racing on any track. Then they stretch a $10,000 race into a two-day, then they add 10 more laps … what do you expect? Nothing you can do.”
Wendell Wallace finished third, while Scott Dedwyler finished fourth and Billy Moyer Jr. was fifth.
n In other action, Jason Byrd won the Factory Stock race. Brad Gable and Andy King took second and third. Lee Ray won the Street Stock feature. Danny Christian, Brian Rickman, Tony Silvestri, and Scooter Ware founded out the top five. Jason Cliburn won the NeSmith Late Model race. Jeremy Shaw, Evan Ellis, Kyle Shaw, and Nick Thrash 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 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.