JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — Paul Nienhiser added another win with the Morrow Brothers Ford MOWA Sprint Car Series to his résumé, after winning Friday’s 25-lap main event at Jacksonville Speedway.
Nienhiser rolled from the fifth starting spot and was able to muscle his way forward and make a late-race pass over longtime race leader Will Armitage, who started outside of the front row.
With Nienhiser in front of the field, action picked up behind. Armitage fended off a late-race mount from Thomas Meseraull to grab another MOWA podium finish. Thomas Meseraull rounded out the podium, with Jake Neuman finishing fourth and Kameron Key fifth.
Further back in the field, all eyes were on Morton, Illinois driver Ryan Bunton who had an 18-point lead in the points chase coming into Friday night.
Bunton made his way into the A-Main by virtue of transfer position from a B-Main. Bunton started the race in 23rd, with one goal in mind – to move forward. At the end of 25 Laps, Bunton advanced forward 15 positions to score an eighth-place finish.
Heading into Saturday’s Championship event at Jacksonville, Bunton sits atop the standings, only three points ahead of Armitage.
The finish:
- 9X-Paul Nienhiser, 2. 7A-Will Armitage, 3. 50K-Thomas Meseraull, 4. 3N-Jake Neuman, 5. 31-Kameron Key, 6. 79-Gage Montgomery, 7. 51B-Joe B. Miller, 8. 6R-Ryan Bunton, 9. 22-Riley Goodno, 10. 1JR-Steven Russell, 11. GR8-Logan Julien, 12. 9-Tyler Duff, 13. 52F-Logan Faucon, 14. 14N-Kevin Newton, 15. 29-Brayton Lynch, 16. 14T-Tim Estenson, 17. 33$-Shane O’Banion, 18. 20G-Noah Gass, 19. 5H-Joey Moughan, 20. 77U-Chris Urish, 21. 4-Chase Richards, 22. 11-Colton Fisher, 23. 1-Trevin Littleton, DNS – Joel Myers Jr.