Loren "Bubba" Yarbrough followed an impressive training routine on the road to Saturday's annual Georgia hot dog eating contest at Lenox Square.

To expand his stomach, the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Newnan resident guzzled a gallon of water a day.

Elissa Eubanks/Staff (ENLARGE)

Loren 'Bubba' Yarbrough wished he could have eaten cleaner in the Georgia qualifier for the Nathan's July 4 hot dog eating contest.

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Readying himself for the challenge, he joked that he tried to put Atlanta area buffet restaurants out of business, gobbling as much as 13 pounds of food in one sitting.

Yarbrough entered all kinds of food-eating contests, competing over jalapenos, chocolate and meatballs.

He even enlisted the help of a training partner, his best friend, Larry "the Legend" McNeil, a fellow Atlanta sewer plant manager from Newnan. The two ate together and plotted strategy in the days leading up to the contest.

Yarbrough, 35, said he also perfected his "power nibble" technique, eating frankfurters like Bugs Bunny powers through a carrot.

But all this training wasn't enough for a victory on Saturday. A Yankee took the state title. Pete "Pretty Boy" Davekos, a Bostonian who is ranked 25th by Major League Eating, beat a field of 14 other competitors by downing 19 1/4 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. Yarbrough said he should have been credited for 20, but a judge took away some of his total for the pile of gooey mush that accumulated before him on the table, leaving him with 18 1/2 eaten.

"I got robbed," Yarbrough insisted afterward. "I didn't come here to lose."

It was Yarbrough's fifth attempt at the state title, a regional qualifying event; the winner advances to the Nathan's Famous July 4 International Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, N.Y.

Yarbrough and Davekos were neck and neck all the way through. Yarbrough shoveled hot dogs into his mouth three and four at a time, dunking the buns in water to make them easier to swallow.

Last year's state champion, Dale Boone of Buckhead, showed up to cheer Yarbrough on.

Davekos, meanwhile, pulled two hot dogs from their buns at a time, breaking them in half, slamming them into his mouth and then eating a single bun. When he started feeling full, he began eating hot dogs the traditional way.

With a mouth full of hot dogs and buns at the end of the competition, Davekos appeared as if he was going to vomit. His wife, Mia, urged him on, shouting: "It's all mental. Deep breaths!"

Davekos managed to keep it all in, claiming a green and gold trophy. Yarbrough walked over and patted Davekos on the back, later promising that he would return next year. He said he would perfect his swallowing technique and work on eating "cleaner."

"He's an awesome competitor," Davekos said of Yarbrough. "It could have gone either way."