Jacksonville, IL (Friday, April 11, 2014) - Mother nature provided some great weather for the season opener of the Midwest Open Wheel Association (MOWA) presented by Casey's General Stores Friday night at the Jacksonville Speedway in Jacksonville, IL. It was also Jacksonville's season opener, which hosted the first race of the Big Ten UMP Late Model Series, Micro Sprints and UMP Hornets. Standing in victory lane at the end of the night was Jerrod Hull (MOWA Sprints), Steve Sheppard Jr. (UMP Late Models), Joe B Miller (Micro Sprints), and Oscar Tipsword (UMP Hornets).
The first feature up on the night was the 12 lap UMP Hornets, with Thomas Angelo and Oscar Tipsword leading the field to the drop of the green flag. But when Angelo's car wouldn't fire from the staging area, that moved Kole Jackson up to the pole. On the drop of the green flag Cliff Spencer and Ray Turner collided in turn 4 to bring out the first and only caution of the event. Tispword jumped out into the lead on the restart, over Jackson and Michael McKay. While Tipsword pulled away, the battle for second was the one to watch. As McKay and Jackson battled side-by-side for much of the race, with Turner coming from the back after his lap one involvement in the caution moving in to challenge late in the race. But nothing held back Tipsword, as he pulled away to pick up the win. Michael McKay won the battle for second, Jackson was third, Turner finished in forth, with Alan McKay rounding out the top 5.
Up next was the 25 lap MOWA Sprint car feature, with Wayne Johnson and Jerrod Hull making up the front row for the event. Just as the green flag dropped the red flag was waved to bring the event to a stop. Jim Moughan would spin in turn 1, with Ben Wagoner having nowhere to go clipping the front end of Moughan's car and sent him for an easy roll onto the drivers side. Wagoner would be okay, but both him and Moughan were done for the night. On the restart Hull took advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 over Johnson and Tiffany Wyzard. Hull started to pull away from the field, when he entered heavy lapped traffic on lap 5. Which allowed Johnson and sixth place starter Kevin Swindell to close in on his back bumper. The action up front was slowed on lap 11, as Cole Wood came to a stop in turn 3 to bring out the yellow. Hull once again grabbed the lead on the restart, with Johnson working to hold back Swindell in the battle for second. But Swindell would make the pass of Johnson on lap 13 and then went to work on chasing down Hull for the lead.
Hull once again entered heavy lapped traffic on lap 14, which allowed Swindell to close in on his back bumper on lap 15. Going into turn 3 on lap 16 Hull would choose the bottom to get around a lapped car, while Swindell took to the top of the track to try to make it three wide. But Swindell would run out of track space and got into the wall in turn four, sending him upside down. Swindell climbed from the machine in disgust, but was okay. On the restart Hull moved back out front, leaving Joey Moughan, who started 9th, and Brad Loyet, who started 14th, battling for the runner up spot. Just as Hull started to pull away from the field, the final caution of the event would appear on lap 20. This time Korey Weyant spun backwards into the turn 3 wall to bring out the yellow. Hull once again moved out front on the restart, with Loyet over taking Moughan for the second spot. Hull wouldn't get away from Loyet, as Loyet tried the high side of turn 4 on lap 22 to get past Hull. Only to jump the cushion and loose some ground. But coming to the white flag Loyet would move back up to Hull's back bumper, but Hull would hold off Loyet coming off turn 4 to claim the win. Hull, who is the three time and only champion in the history of the MOWA Series, picked the $2,000 top prize to go with his first win of 2014. Loyet settled for second, Joey Moughan was third, Ian Madsen charged from 11th to finish a close forth, with Cory Bruns coming home in fifth.
Brian Dively and Adam Mefford drew the front row for the 25 lap Big Ten UMP Late Model feature, with Mefford taking advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1. Mefford then had to work to hold off Dively and Steve Sheppard Jr. over the next 8 laps, as they tried to run three wide at times for the lead. Dively jumped to the outside of the track in turn 4 on lap 9 and went from third to the lead, with Sheppard Jr. following close behind in second. Sheppard Jr. then tried to work under Dively over the next 4 laps for the lead, only to have Dively use the top to hold him off. But then Dively jumped the cushion in turn 4 on lap 14, which allowed Sheppard Jr. to slide under him for the top spot. Sheppard Jr. then pulled away over the final 11 laps to pick up the win. Justin Reed came home in second, Ryan Little came from 6th to finish in third, Matt Taylor finished forth after staring in 8th, with John Beck holding on for fifth.
The final feature up on the night was the 15 lap Micro Sprints, with Shelby Bosie and Devin Feger leading the field to the green. Bosie took advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 over Joe B Miller, who started 4th, and Feger. Just as Miller was working to take the lead away from Bosie, the first caution of the event appeared on lap 3. Scott Campbell would spin in turn 4 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Greg Northrop spun in turn 1 to bring the yellow light back on. The following restart saw Miller jump to the top of the track to grab the lead away from Bosie, leaving Bosie to defend off Feger for second. Miller would pull away over the final 11 laps to claim the win. Bosie was second, Brad McDaniel was third, Evan Turner came from 7th to finish in forth, with Carlee Gress coming home in fifth.
Notes from Jacksonville: Thirty 410 Sprints signed in on opening night of the MOWA Series opener. Each driver drew a pill number to determine there starting spot for the three heat races. Then the top 16 in passing points out of those three heat races were locked into the A Main. With the heat race winners and the next three in passing points running the dash to determine the first three rows of the A Main. The final 14 cars would have to run the B Main, with the top 4 finishers in that race moving into the A Main. Several MOWA regulars along with a few travelers, Cole Wood from California, Wayne Johnson from Oklahoma, Kevin Swindell from Tennessee, Brad Loyet from Missouri, and Ian Madsen from Australia made up a great field of cars....Chris Urish started the feature in 16th and passed 10 cars to finish in 6th....Jimmy Hurley came from 12th to finish in 7th....Jeremy Standridge finished in 9th after staring in 13th....Levi Curry came from the B Main and started 18th, but passed 8 cars in the feature to finish in 10th....Ryan Kempin claimed the final transfer spot in the B Main and started the feature in 20th. But he would pass 9 cars en route to an 11th place finish....Wayne Johnson, who was running 3rd, pulled off the track on lap 14 when a oil line came loose to end his night in 15th....Terry Babb had troubles in his heat and was forced to scratch from the B Main....Brett Samonds took a nasty roll in his heat, but walked away okay, to end his night early....Paul Nienhiser clipped a tire in his heat race a broke the front end to force him to the B Main. But before the green was thrown on the B Main, Nienhiser's top wing collapsed to force him to scratch from the event....Bret Tripplett broke in his heat race, which forced him to scratch from the B Main....A.J. Bruns, who finished 2nd in points in 2013 with the MOWA, had troubles in hot laps and never made it back onto the track all night......Greg Kimmons came from 10th in the Late Model feature and took home a 6th place finish....Clint Kirkham came from 11th to finish in 9th......Greg Northrop recovered from his lap 3 spin in the Micro Sprint feature to take home a 6th place finish....Devin Feger, who was battling for the lead early, pulled off on lap 7 with troubles to end his night in 8th......Nick De Jaynes started the UMP Hornet feature in 12th, but would finish the night in 9th.
I would like to thank the crew from Jacksonville Speedway and the staff from the MOWA Series for allowing me to come down and cover both there season opening events. I hope to make another trip down to Jacksonville, Illinois sometime soon. As for the MOWA Series, they move to 34 Raceway in West Burlington, IA tonight (Saturday, April 12, 2014). Hope to see you there or at a track down the road!
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