COLUMBUS, Miss. — Darrell Lanigan made easy pickings of Friday’s Magnolia State Cotton Pickin’ 100 opener at Magnolia Motor Speedway. Leading every lap from the outside front row, Lanigan of Union, Ky., topped sixth-starting Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., for a $4,000 victory. Marlar, the event’s 2017 runner-up, finished 0.890 seconds back in the 30-lap feature.

Chris Ferguson of Mount Holly, N.C., who won the event's weekend opener last season, finished third after starting fourth and running as high as second. Overall fast qualifier Chris Brown of Spring, Texas, improved one spot to finish fourth, while 10th-starting Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., completed the top five.

With the victory, Lanigan is now eligible for a $2,000 bonus from promoter Dewitt Singleton if he can sweep the weekend, which wraps up Saturday with a 70-lap, $12,000-to-win main event.

“(The car) was pretty good tonight,” said Lanigan. “I think we’ll just unload (Saturday) and tweak a little bit on (the) qualifying (setup) and see what we’ve got.”

Most of Lanigan’s heavy lifting was done early in the program Friday. Despite a lackluster qualifying effort — he timed in seventh quick among 17 drivers in the second group — he rallied to win the third heat after starting fourth. The heat win gave him his prime starting position on the outside front row alongside polesitter Garrett Alberson of Las Cruces, N.M. It was a stirring heat victory that came over both Marlar, Overton and upstart Braden Mitchell of Russellville, Ala., a Crate racer making a rare Super Late Model start.

“Any time you can start on the front row, it definitely helps the night out,” Lanigan said. “To get that heat win put us on the outside front row, so it definitely helped the night out.”

Marlar agreed the heat win was key, especially as the track became bottom dominant late in the feature.

“Darrell was fast. He beat me in that heat fair and square there,” said Marlar. “Then in the feature, we were pretty close … I think maybe the same speed. But I still think he was probably … on that last lap after we took the checkers I seen he squeezed it pretty hard to pull away from me a little bit. So I think he was driving it pretty easy.

“I got by Chris (Ferguson) there in the middle stages of the race and my only hope was maybe Darrell would get in there (and mess up) with a lapped car, but he’s too smart for that. He did a good job.”

The race was slowed by a single caution on lap three. But even with the field bunched up behind him, Lanigan was able to pull away again. He caught traffic on lap 12, but managed to pick off the slower cars one at a time while Marlar and Ferguson battled behind him.

“You can kinda run your own race there on that restart,” Lanigan said. “The leader has a little bit of an advantage. You know I’d rather been racing all over (the track), but our car was good either way. You kinda just … you don’t give up the bottom when it’s like that. You don’t really worry about passing traffic. I mean, you can’t pass traffic and they can’t pass you, so you kinda just get in line and run your own race.”

After chasing Lanigan early in the 30-lapper, Ferguson finally decided to give the outside a try. His bid for the lead however allowed Marlar to slip into the runner-up spot.  

“We didn’t come to run second so I tried it and it just bit me you know,” Ferguson said. “The bottom was a little bit better there. I seen Mikey and I was like, ‘Well, I probably should have just rode there.’ Darrell was really good tonight. Congratulations to him and Mikey. It was fun racing with them. Even whenever Mikey got around me, we could still run with those guys. Anytime you can run with them, it’s good, especially down here in the black slick.”

Notes: The victory was Lanigan’s second straight. He won the $10,000 World of Outlaws-sanctioned Jeff's Auto Body National Open at Selinsgrove (Pa.) Speedway on Sept. 21. ... For the second year in a row, the Magnolia State Cotton Pickin’ 100 is divided into two separate programs, with Friday’s $4,000-to-win, 30-lapper joining a $12,000-to-win, 70-lap finale on Saturday. … The long-running Magnolia State 100, which began in 1989 at Whynot Raceway in Meridian, Miss., merged with the Cotton Pickin’ 100 in 2013. The Cotton Pickin’ 100, which began in 2004 has been contested at Magnolia Motor Speedway since its inception, while the Magnolia State 100 was contested at five different tracks from ’89 through the 2012 season. For 11 years, the Magnolia State 100 was held at Columbus Speedway, just across town. … Lanigan finished 12th in the 2001 Magnolia State 100 at Columbus Speedway. … Marlar is a two-time winner of the Magnolia State 100, winning in ’04 and 2010. He hasn’t won the event since the two races merged. … Nineteen of the 24 starters finished the race, with 18 completing all 30 circuits. … Hall of famer Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., debuted a new Capital Race Car, which he drove to a seventh-place finish.

Preliminary notes and results

Feature lineup

Row 1: Garrrett Alberson, Darrell Lanigan
Row 2: Chad Thrash, Chris Ferguson
Row 3: Chris Brown, Mike Marlar
Row 4: Billy Moyer, Morgan Bagley
Row 5: Dane Dacus, Brandon Overton
Row 6: Brian Rickman, Dale McDowell
Row 7: Tanner English, Brandon Mitchell
Row 8: Colton Horner, Michael Arnold
Row 9: Rick Rickman, Austin Rettig
Row 10 Eric Cooley, Dalton Cook
Row 11: Kyle Beard, Ray McElhiney
Row 12: Manny Falcon, Jamie Elam

Consolation race results

First consolation (top four transfer): Rick Rickman, Eric Cooley, Kyle Beard, Manny Falcon, Neil Baggett, Hunter Rasdon, Jay Scott, Jason Michau. Scratched: Dwight Falcon.

Second consolation (top four transfer): Austin Rettig, Dalton Cook, Ray McElhiney, Jamie Elam, Jadon Frame, Austin Arnold, Shelby Sheedy, Jonathan Rowan, David Gentry.

Consolation lineups

(10 laps; top four transfer)
First consolation
Row 1: Eric Cooley, Kyle Beard
Row 2: Jay Scott, Rick Rickman
Row 3: Hunter Rasdon, Manny Falcon
Row 4: Dwight Falcon, Neil Baggett
Row 5: Jason Michau, Jeff Young
Second consolation
Row 1: Ray McElhiney, Austin Rettig
Row 2: Austin Arnold, Dalton Cook
Row 3: David Gentry, Jamie Elam
Row 4: Jaden Frame, Jonathan Rowan
Row 5: Shelby Sheedy

Heat race results

First heat (top four transfer): Garrett Alberson, Chris Brown, Dane Dacus, Tanner English, Eric Cooley, Jay Scott, Hunter Rasdon, Dwight Falcon, Jason Michau.

Second heat (top four transfer): Chad Thrash, Billy Moyer, Brian Rickman, Colton Horner, Kyle Beard, Rick Rickman, Manny Falcon, Neil Baggett, Jeff Young.

Third heat (top four transfer): Darrell Lanigan, Mike Marlar, Brandon Overton, Braden Mitchell, Ray McElhiney, Austin Arnold, David Gentry, Jadon Frame, Shelby Sheedy.

Fourth heat (top four transfer): Chris Ferguson, Morgan Bagley, Dale MdDowell, Michael Arnold, Dalton Cook, Austin Rettig, Jamie Elam, Jonathan Rowan.

Heat race lineups

(10 laps, top four transfer)
First heat
Row 1: Chris Brown, Garrett Albertson
Row 2: Hunter Rasdon, Eric Cooley
Row 3: Dane Dacus, Tanner English
Row 4: Jay Scott, Dwight Falcon
Row 5: Jason Michau
Second heat
Row 1: Chad Thrash, Billy Moyer
Row 2: Rick Rickman, Brian Rickman
Row 3: Neil Baggett, Colton Horner
Row 4: Manny Falcon, Kyle Beard
Row 5: Jeff Young
Third heat
Row 1: Mike Marlar, Brandon Overton
Row 2: Brandon Mitchell, Darrell Lanigan
Row 3: David Gentry, Ray McElhiney
Row 4: Austin Arnold, Jadon Frame
Row 5: Shelby Sheedy
Fourth heat
Row 1: Chris Ferguson, Michael Arnold
Row 2: Morgan Bagley, Dale McDowell
Row 3: Jonathan Rowan, Austin Rettig
Row 4: Dalton Cook, Jamie Elam

Qualifying results

Driver (car no.), hometown, time
Group A
Chris Brown (21B), Spring, Texas, 13.522
Chad Thrash (1), Meridian, Miss., 13.766
Garrett Alberson (1), Las Cruces, N.M., 13.829
Billy Moyer (21), Batesville, Ark., 13.889
Hunter Rasdon (R5), Jonesboro, Ark., 13.956
Rick Rickman (86), Columbus, Miss., 14.002
Eric Cooley (33), Fulton, Miss., 14.004
Brian Rickman (90), Columbus, Miss., 14.025
Dane Dacus (54), Lakeland, Tenn., 14.026
Neil Baggett (21xxx), Columbus, Miss., 14.041
Tanner English (22E), Benton, Ky., 14.054
Colton Horner (56jr), Katy, Texas, 14.070
Jay Scott (27J), Fayetteville, Tenn., 14.213
Manny Falcon (995), Pine Grove, La., 14.398
Dwight Falcon (4F), Pine Grove, La., 14.563
Kyle Beard (86), Trumann, Ark.    14.759
Jason Michau (11), Kilmichael, Miss., 14.862
Jeff Young (1J), Tutwiler, Miss., 15.207
Group B
Mike Marlar (157), Winfield, Tenn., 13.932
Chris Ferguson (22), Mount Holly, N.C., 13.966
Brandon Overton (2), Evans, Ga., 14.037
Michael Arnold (4),  Hattiesburg, Miss., 14.258
Braden Mitchell (64), Russellville, Ala., 14.347
Morgan Bagley (14m), Longview, Texas, 14.382
Darrell Lanigan (29), Union, Ky., 14.394
Dale McDowell (17m), Chickamauga, Ga., 14.451
David Gentry (56), Murfreesboro, Tenn., 14.456
Jonathan Rowan (56R), Whiteville, Tenn., 14.552
Ray McElhiney (20), Pulaski, Tenn., 14.555
Austin Rettig (94), Sikeston, Mo., 14.570
Austin Arnold (A8), Kosciusko, Miss., 14.595
Dalton Cook (44D), Smith Station, Ala., 14.599
Jadon Frame (8J), Winchester, Tenn., 14.604
Jamie Elam (112), Senatobia, Miss., 14.671
Shelby Sheedy (4G), French Camp, Miss., 15.619