JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — The Morrow Brothers Ford MOWA Sprint Car Series closed their 2026 campaign with the annual “Ron Milton Race of Champions” at the Jacksonville Speedway.
Two unsuccessful attempts at starting the night’s A-Main saw four cars retire before officially scoring a lap.Working through turns three and four to complete the opening circuit, Logan Julien spun from his eighth starting position, collecting Joe B. Miller and Joey Moughan.
Miller’s No. 51 machine got upside down after contact with Mario Clouser, which ended the night early for the three-time winner of the event. Paul Nienhiser faced issues that forced him pitside during the red-flag period, ultimately ending his night.
The field realigned for a second attempt with polesitter Karter Sarff now joined by Colton Fisher on the front row. As the green fell, Sarff pulled ahead of the field with Fisher in tow. Joel Myers Jr. worked the bottom lane on the restart and slid up the surface, making contact with Colton Fisher, resulting in the No. 11 machine taking a ride in turn four that slowed the field once more for a flipping car.
At the third attempt to start the race, Sarff was then joined on the front row by Zach Daum. The field worked around the quarter-mile and Sarff extended his lead to nearly three seconds over the field. Encountering lapped traffic shortened the gap, which allowed for Daum and Joel Myers to seize the opportunity to close in on the leader.
By lap 12, Daum had worked past Sarff and moved to the point by a scant 0.001 seconds. Daum held the position while Sarff and Joel Myers swapped the runner up spot. Cars began to search all around the quarter-miler for the fastest line.
With laps winding down, third-running Joel Myers knew that he would have to
methodically plan his way past Daum, who held command for the better part of
the midpoint of the race.
Sliding past Daum in turn two, Myers held onto the top position for the remaining four laps as he went on to grab his first Ron Milton Race of Champions victory over Zach Daum, Karter Sarff, Gage Montgomery and Riley Goodno.
Further back in the field, eyes had been locked in on Jake Neuman who entered the night as the 2026 points leader. With Nienhiser retiring early, Neuman then knew that the pressure to secure his first series title was off. By virtue of an eighth-place finish, Neuman recorded his first MOWA Sprint Car Series championship.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 19-Joel Myers Jr[4]; 2. 92-Zach Daum[5]; 3. 21K-Karter Sarff[1]; 4. 22X-Gage Montgomery[6]; 5. 22-Riley Goodno[11]; 6. 5H-Mario Clouser[10]; 7. 1JR-Steven Russell[7]; 8. 3N-Jake Neuman[12]; 9. 83-Mitchell Davis[9]; 10. 3B-Shelby Bosie[19]; 11. 01-Justin Standridge[18]; 12. 9X-Tyler Duff[17]; 13. B8-John Barnard[20]; 14. 34-Sterling Cling[15]; 15. 37-Bryce Norris[16]; 16. 99-Joey Moughan[14]; 17. 9-Paul Nienhiser[2]; 18. 11-Colton Fisher[3]; 19. 85J-Logan Julien[8]; 20. 51B-Joe B Miller[13]
