OREGON, Wisc. — official series release by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — CSP/Chris Seelman photo —
One week after having his three-race winning streak at Anderson Speedway snapped, Jimmy McCune proved that he’s still the king of the hill in Must See Racing Sprint Car Series competition.
McCune bided his time in Friday night’s 30-lap feature at the half-mile Madison International Speedway, waiting for the right moment in slower traffic before blowing by race-long leader Jason Cox entering turn three and sailing off into the Wisconsin night.
The defending series champion led the final eight laps en route to victory, his third Must See Racing score of the season, and extended his series points lead in the process.
“I could see that (Cox) was struggling a little bit in traffic, and I was just pedaling the hell out of it,” McCune said of his late race run. “It was about the only thing that I could do was get in the middle of the corner and mat (the throttle) to run it sideways … whatever it needed, really. Just a thrill to be standing here in victory lane on the series’ first visit to this place. It’s a fun joint.”
“We struggled with the car all day again. The motor didn’t seem to want to run right, at all. It felt like I was just pulling a stump all the way around the track, all night. I thought we had it sorted out, and the longer we ran the feature, the worse it got, so I’m not really sure what’s up there. We might have to change motors tonight, but we got the win and that’s what counts.”
Jacob Wilson set the night’s Engine Pro fast time in qualifying with a lap of 14.720 seconds (122.283 mph), but a roll of five on the invert die left him stranded on the inside of row three for the green flag and meant that Cox and Brad Wyatt moved to the front row to lead the field to green. While Wyatt got a solid start in the Mike Blake Racing No. 81, Cox got a better one and led by three-quarters of a second by the time a lap was in the books.
Cox extended that margin to 1.2 seconds the next time around, and by lap six he held two seconds over the rest of the field, with Wyatt having no steam to challenge. A caution on the ninth round, however, for a pesky water puddle causing several drivers problems forced a restart and meant that the whole field was on Cox’s tail to give chase.
That restart was a pivotal point for McCune, who followed David Byrne past Wyatt as the duo went to second and third, respectively, at the one-third mark of the race. Still though, no one was able to run down Cox as he put up a full second’s lead on Byrne in just two laps and set the fastest lap of the race — 15.333 seconds — on the 13th time past the flagstand.
At halfway, it was still Cox ahead of Byrne and McCune as Wilson took his machine pitside with a broken rear end, but the mechanical woes weren’t through there. Byrne slowed to a crawl and pulled off two laps later with his own issues, elevating McCune to second as the leaders entered heavy traffic.
McCune would use a masterful swath through the slower cars to lead laps 18 and 19, but would get held up himself and have to cede the point back with 10 laps to go.
However, the traffic would be the ultimate decider in the end, turning things back the other way.
