Brian and Rick Rickman are in familiar territory.
Nearly two-thirds of the way through the Mississippi State Championship Challenge Series, the brothers, who are Super Late Model veterans and New Hope natives, sit comfortably atop the points standings. Brian leads Rick by 35 points.
Can they stay there? Can either win their first State Series points title in the modern era?
Before the State Series was officially branded in 2001, Rick won a points title when it was a six-race series in the early 1990s.
But for the last four years, as both have committed to competing in each State Series race and chasing points, each of them has finished in the top five each year. Rick took second and Brian finished third in 2012 and 2014.
“It’s pretty cool to be in this position,” Rick said. “It’s about as good of a payout as you’ll find in Super Late Models, especially around here. You can’t really afford not to (run the State Series).”
Magnolia Motor Speedway will host its second State Series race of the season Saturday. Hot laps begin at 7 p.m. Crate Late Models, Street Stocks, 602 Late Models, and Factory Stocks also will have features.
Brian has a pair of runner-up finishes and a third-place finish in the series this season, but he is searching for his first win since June of 2015, when he held off eventual champ Bub McCool. Brian ascended to the lead this season when McCool, who owns three State Series wins this year, dropped out of the points chase three weeks ago. McCool hasn’t made each of the last three races.
That’s fine with Brian, though he likens leading the points to leading a race late.
“It’s so stressful. I hate leading the points,” he said. “Sometimes that kills you. Being so worried about the points, you don’t want to tear your car up and you’re cautious. You’re trying to protect yourself, but in a way it hurts you because you’re trying to be too cautious.
“It’s like, if you’re running second or third in a race and you have a good car to win it, you’ve got the hammer down. But sometimes, if you’re in the lead, you just trying to not mess up.”
Brian said the key to winning the title will be avoiding the bad luck that dashed his 2015 chances. He has run a limited schedule this season, mainly sticking to State Series races.
“Just saving that wear and tear,” he said. “We made a team decision to sit out and keep the car fresh and ready.”
Rick has taken a different approach and has competed in weekly shows at Magnolia Motor Speedway. Part of that decision has been influenced by a new Bob Pierce car, which, entering this weekend has four races on it, including a second-place finish two weeks ago at Magnolia.
Rick’s only win of the season came in his old car and in a similar twist of fate that saw him lose the lead to Chad Thrash on the last lap two weeks ago.
“We go over the cars every week and usually we got a standard setup we work off until we get to the track,” he said. “You look for those small advantages then, through hot laps to see how the car is doing and tune on the car through there. When the race situation comes, you got to bide your time. When Chad got me there on the last lap, it’s easier to be running second in lap traffic than it is to lead. When you make the wrong drive like I did … I’ve won races that same way and lost several leading through lap traffic. That’s how the luck goes.”
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