For the second season running, Jimmy McCune swept the Southern Shootout season opening weekend for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
On Friday night, McCune scored the victory at Anderson Motor Speedway in Williamston, South Carolina. He followed that up with another trip to victory lane on Saturday night at Hickory Motor Speedway in Newton, North Carolina.6
McCune kicked off the weekend Friday night at Anderson Motor Speedway in dominating fashion. He passed former NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Bobby Santos on the outside on lap 19, and drove away to as much as a six second lead en route to the victory.
The caution-free race took just 12 minutes and 40 seconds to complete, at an average race pace of 88.816 mph.
McCune also drove into the series history books as a result of his performance on Friday night, scoring his record-breaking 17th career series win and second in a row at AMS.
“Wow. I don’t even know where to start,” said McCune, who broke a tie with fellow two-time champion Brian Gerster atop the series win list. “What a night. This car is just a blast to drive right now. I can’t thank everyone who lays a hand on it enough … because this was a team effort. I’m just the lucky guy who gets to drive it.”
While McCune admitted that Santos was “legitimately faster” over the first part of Friday night’s run, the Ohio veteran moved up a groove in a search for speed – a move that ultimately propelled him from fifth on the grid to the eventual win.
“He got out on us, and I just kept tweaking on the wing … trying to figure out where the car was fastest at. There were times when the car was fastest up on the high line, and I finally found a sweet spot where it really worked well up top. I could tell, once I started lapping cars, how much I was pulling away from them and I knew we had something special.”
Santos faded through the second half of the race after starting on the pole, ultimately coming home 4.831 seconds adrift at the finish.
“I think it was a combination of us losing a little bit and (Jimmy) gaining a bit,” said Santos, who led the first 18 laps. “We got a little bit tight, but those guys were really, really good tonight. Jimmy is on top of his game right now. They’re the guys to beat … so we’re just going to go home, work a little bit harder and hopefully come back tomorrow night and try to finish one spot better.”
Jacob Wilson finished third, with Jeff Bloom fourth and Johnny Petrozelle fifth.
McCune followed up Friday’s success with another victory, this time at Hickory Motor Speedway.
After qualifying fourth, McCune was shuffled to the pole on an invert, and he used the prime starting position to jump out to the lead immediately after the green flag.
From there, McCune survived two early restarts to lead every lap of the 50-lap feature, pulling out to a 3.578-second victory over Jacob Wilson.
“Wow, I don’t even know what to say,” McCune said after scoring his second Hickory win. “I’ve loved coming south (to race) for as long as I can remember. It didn’t matter what we were racing … midgets, quarter midgets … when we came south good things always seemed to happen, and they did again tonight. Hats off to these guys though (Wilson and Johnny Bridges), because I drove my tail off for 50 … so I know they did.
“This was a tough track tonight; it was a handful for us all the way through the race. We never really got a great handle on it … so I would just have to run the wing back until the tires came off of it, and then run it back some more. We just chased (the track) for 50 (laps) tonight. During the middle stint, I swear I could hear somebody (behind me), but maybe it was just my own echo off the wall, I don’t know.”
Coming down to the Carolinas for the first time in his series career, Wilson came home as the runner-up.
“There off the start, I actually feel like our car was a little better than Jimmy’s over the course of the run, to be honest with you,” Wilson said. “I just burnt my stuff up trying to chase him. When you’re in front, you can set the pace and everyone else has to drive around your dirty air, so good job to him for getting out front early and leading the whole way. We had a really good car, just not quite enough.”
After slight contact in turns three and four while racing for second with 12 laps to go, North Carolina native finished third, with Santos in fourth and Jeff Bloom in fifth.
The Must See Racing Sprint Car Series continues their 2017 season on May 13 at Michigan’s Berlin Raceway. For more information, visit MSRXtreme.com.
Must See Racing Sprint Car Series
Anderson Motor Speedway – Williamston, SC
Southern Shootout I – April 21, 2017
1. #88 – Jimmy McCune
2. #22A – Bobby Santos III
3. #07W – Jacob Wilson
4. #26 – Jeff Bloom
5. #59III – Johnny Petrozelle
6. #8 – Anthony McCune
7. #07 – Johnny Bridges
8. #75C – Jerry Caryer
9. #7 – Tom Jewell
10. #72S – Joe Speakman
11. #4L – Anthony Linkenhoker
12. #4B – Bronzie Lawson IV
13. #4X – Bronzie Lawson III
DNS: #33 – Joe Larkin
Must See Racing Sprint Car Series
Hickory Motor Speedway – Hickory, NC
Southern Shootout II – April 22, 2017
1. #88 – Jimmy McCune
2. #07W – Jacob Wilson
3. #07 – Johnny Bridges
4. #22A – Bobby Santos
5. #26 – Jeff Bloom
6. Johnny Petrozelle III
7. #9S – Charlie Schultz
8. #8 – Anthony McCune
9. #7 – Tom Jewell
10. #4L – Anthony Linkenhoker
11. #33 – Joe Larkin
12. #4B – Bronzie Lawson IV
13. #51 – Jay Dunham
14. #4X – Bronzie Lawson III
DNS: #72S – Joe Speakman
DNS: #75C – Jerry Caryer
http://accesswdun.com/article/2017/4/528017/mccune-sweeps-must-see-sprints-at-anderson-hickory