MACON, Ill. — Paul Nienhiser added another MOWA Sprint Car Series victory to his résumé on Saturday night, earning his second career victory at Macon Speedway.
Nienhiser started fourth in the 25-lap affair but knew that his No. 9x machine would be in contention by the end. As the green flag fell over the field, a caution happened just as quick as Corbin Gurley’s feature run ended before it began as the left-front wheel broke completely away from the car.
On the first attempt of starting the A-Main as the field powered down the backstretch, Nienhiser had pulled alongside front-row starter Luke Verardi but had to revert back to his original starting spot.
On the restart, polesitter Tyler Duff surged ahead and held command over the field as the battle ensued behind him. Nienhiser was battling with Brayton Lynch and Luke Veradi in the top three in the early stages of the A-Main.
A yellow flag for Zach Daum slowed the field once more and allowed Verardi and Nienhiser to have Tyler Duff within reach. When the field returned to green flag conditions, Nienhiser put his No. 9x on the top shelf of Macon Speedway and muscled his way around Duff to take over the point. A yellow flag as the race neared the midpoint, for Joel Myers that collected Brayton Lynch, Cory Bruns, and Joey Moughan.
Nienhiser’s lead over the field was starting to shrink as he worked into lapped traffic. Jake Neuman had worked his way to second in the closing laps and pulled to Nienhsier’s rear bumper but wasn’t able to overtake the Chapin, Illinois, driver who made a last-lap move past Brayton Lynch to put a car between he and Neuman.
Exiting turn two on the final lap, Neuman worked past Lynch and came within striking distance but couldn’t capitalize, as NIenhiser crossed under the checkers first.
Neuman finished second with Myers, John Barnard and Kameron Key completing the top five.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[4]; 2. 3N-Jake Neuman[7]; 3. 19-Joel Myers Jr[9]; 4. B8-John Barnard[14]; 5. 31K-Kameron Key[5]; 6. 9-Tyler Duff[1]; 7. 6R-Ryan Bunton[12]; 8. 52F-Logan Faucon[15]; 9. 5-Zackary Sokol[18]; 10. 1JR-Steven Russell[17]; 11. 44-Cory Bruns[13]; 12. 5H-Joey Moughan[16]; 13. 29X-Brayton Lynch[3]; 14. (DNF) 1-Trevin Littleton[19]; 15. (DNF) 10S-Jeremy Standridge[20]; 16. (DNF) 28-Luke Verardi[2]; 17. (DNF) 7A-Will Armitage[6]; 18. (DNF) 31-Zach Daum[10]; 19. (DNF) 12-Corbin Gurley[11]; 20. (DNF) 99-Korey Weyant[8]