LINCOLN, Ill. — Leading a race-high 13 laps, Tyler Duff was able to finally add a Morrow Brothers Ford MOWA Sprint Car Series victory to his resume on Friday night.
Two attempts at a green flag start slowed the field before a lap was scored. Jarrett Weyant climbed the wall in turn two before coming to a stop on the backstretch, ending his night.
On the following restart, Brayton Lynch got airborne and made contact with Colton Fisher.
Duff, from nearby Weldon, Illinois, started on the pole of the 25-Lap affair and led the first eight laps until 2024 series champion Will Armitage slid past in turns one and two, working lap nine.
At the midpoint of the race, Armitage had extended his lead over the field to over two-and-a-half seconds, but saw that disappear after a lap-19 red flag that collected Chris Urish, Luke Verardi and Mitchell Davis who unfortunately received the worst damage, flipping on the backstretch. All three drivers escaped without injury. Verardi had the eyes of many fans on him as he muscled his way forward from his 23rd starting spot into seventh.
Bringing the field back to green with five laps remaining, Armitage was poised to pick up his second MOWA victory of the season. Duff worked alongside Armitage and slowly pulled ahead at lap 21, and never looked back.
Armitage kept Duff at bay under two tenths of a second as they raced toward the finish. Duff crossed under the checkers by 0.183 seconds over Will Armitage, Mario Clouser, Logan Julien and Korey Weyant.
“Will and I raced hard there at the end and made contact with about three laps to go. We noticed after the race that Jacobs ladder was broken. Thankfully, that didn’t stop us from picking up the win. It feels great to pick up a win with MOWA after scoring two local victories at Jacksonville. Lincoln is only 20 minutes from the shop, so this is home for us. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without the help of my sponsors and my great crew – my Dad, Grandpa and brother. It’s a family affair that finally paid off,” said Duff.
The finish:
Feature (25 laps): 1. 9-Tyler Duff(1), 2. 7A-Will Armitage(3), 3. 6-Mario Clouser(9), 4. 85J-Logan Julien(6), 5. 47-Korey Weyant(11), 6. 3N-Jake Neuman(2), 7. 5D-Zach Daum(16), 8. 01-Justin Standridge(7), 9. 44-Cory Bruns(14), 10. 99-Tyler Brabant(22), 11. 2A-Austin Archdale(10), 12. 10S-Jeremy Standridge(18), 13. 70-Eric Shelton(24), 14. 77U-Chris Urish(8), 15. 28-Luke Verardi(23), 16. 56-Mitchell Davis(4), 17. 1JR-Steven Russell(13), 18. 52F-Logan Faucon(12), 19. 12-Corbin Gurley(19), 20. 83-Aaron Andruskevitch(21), 21. 22-Riley Goodno(5), 22. 29-Brayton Lynch(15), 23. 5H-Colton Fisher(17), 24. 99W-Jarrett Weyant(20)
