Joe B Miller shines in MOWA finale at Jacksonville
Photo by Brendan Bauman
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — Joe B. Miller took advantage of a late race caution to overtake long-time race leader Paul Nienhiser during Friday’s Morrow Brothers Ford, Inc. MOWA Sprint Car Series Season Finale to grab his second series win of 2023.
Miller, who started in the fifth position had to bide his time as he prowled forward towards the front of the field in the 25-lap affair. Sliding back to the seventh position in the early stages of the race, was a positive sign for Miller, who avoided contact between second and third-running Colton Fisher and Jason Keith in the middle of the backstretch at the halfway point with Keith facing oncoming traffic. Paul Nienhiser continued to hold the top spot over Colton Fisher and Will Armitage who inherited the third position after caution. Joe B. Miller had worked back into the top five at this point and set his sights on the front of the field.
Returning to green flag action, Nienhiser put his #9X on the topside of the racing surface while the battle ensued behind him. Will Armitage muscled his way past Colton Fisher on the exit of turn two, to overtake the runner up spot with Joe B. Miller in tow. Both drivers had moved into the top three within one-half lap. The field then slowed once more on lap 16 after Brayton Lynch spun at the bottom of turn one, erasing the nearly two-second lead for Nienhiser. Lynch rejoined the field at the tail with no harm to his #29X, and the final ten laps were set to be completed.
Nienhiser’s #9X pounced on the restart with Joe B. Miller making a move past Will Armitage for the runner-up spot at lap 17. Working the 18th lap, Armitage got sideways in the middle of turns one and two, collecting Chris Martin who ended on his side, after making contact with Armitage, ultimately ending both of their feature run’s and Armitage’s bid for the 2023 MOWA Sprint Points Title.
A nine-lap dash to the checkers saw Nienhiser at the front of the field, trying to protect the top spot. Joe B. Miller saw a lane on the bottom side of the racing surface and powered past Nienhiser as he never looked back, leading the remaining nine laps to score the victory in the Ron Milton Race of Champions A-Main. Miller is the only repeat winner of the event, having won the 2022 edition. Following Miller across the line was Jake Neuman who moved past Nienhiser at lap 20, Trevin Littleton, who started the A-Main in 19th, Paul Nienhiser and Jason Keith.
RESULTS
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 51B-Joe B Miller[5]; 2. 3N-Jake Neuman[10]; 3. 1T-Trevin Littleton[19]; 4. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[2]; 5. 28-Jason Keith[8]; 6. 10S-Jeremy Standridge[16]; 7. 56-Mitchell Davis[17]; 8. 35-Tyler Robbins[20]; 9. 31-McCain Richards[18]; 10. 83B-Jeff Beasley[14]; 11. 29X-Brayton Lynch[7]; 12. 11-Colton Fisher[1]; 13. 17-Paul Haley[21]; 14. 7A-Will Armitage[6]; 15. 44-Chris Martin[12]; 16. 00-Robbie Standridge[13]; 17. 52F-Logan Faucon[15]; 18. 79-Gage Montgomery[11]; 19. 77U-Chris Urish[3]; 20. 47-Korey Weyant[4]; 21. 22-Riley Goodno[9]; 22. 357-Ryan Edwards[22]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 28-Jason Keith[1]; 2. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[2]; 3. 51B-Joe B Miller[5]; 4. 00-Robbie Standridge[3]; 5. 79-Gage Montgomery[8]; 6. 56-Mitchell Davis[6]; 7. 17-Paul Haley[4]; 8. 357-Ryan Edwards[7]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 29X-Brayton Lynch[2]; 2. 22-Riley Goodno[1]; 3. 7A-Will Armitage[5]; 4. 44-Chris Martin[4]; 5. 10S-Jeremy Standridge[3]; 6. 52F-Logan Faucon[7]; 7. 1T-Trevin Littleton[6]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 11-Colton Fisher[2]; 2. 3N-Jake Neuman[1]; 3. 77U-Chris Urish[6]; 4. 47-Korey Weyant[7]; 5. 83B-Jeff Beasley[4]; 6. 31-McCain Richards[3]; 7. 35-Tyler Robbins[5]
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MODIFIEDS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 9C-Russ Coultas[1]; 2. Z24-Zach Taylor[6]; 3. 22B-Ryan Blakeman[3]; 4. 15B-Eddie Bolin[5]; 5. 8R-Bryce Rives[8]; 6. 99L-Tim Luttrell[7]; 7. 12L-Bryan Leach[4]; 8. 787-Cody Zobrist[2]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9C-Russ Coultas[3]; 2. 787-Cody Zobrist[4]; 3. 12L-Bryan Leach[2]; 4. 22B-Ryan Blakeman[6]; 5. Z24-Zach Taylor[5]; 6. 15B-Eddie Bolin[8]; 7. 8R-Bryce Rives[1]; 8. 99L-Tim Luttrell[7]
305 SPRINTS
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 5H-Joey Moughan[5]; 2. 00R-Patrick Ryan[2]; 3. B8-John Barnard[4]; 4. 21-Aaron Andruskevitch[3]; 5. 14T-Evan Turner[9]; 6. 2-Mark Siciliano[8]; 7. 00-Matt Fair[12]; 8. 4-Brett Combs[6]; 9. 41-Joe Jiannoni[13]; 10. 99-Jarrett Weyant[7]; 11. 22K-Kelli Harter[10]; 12. 13-Joshua Cevela[11]; 13. 71-Jaxton Wiggs[1]; 14. (DNS) ?-Robbie Standridge
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Jaxton Wiggs[2]; 2. 00R-Patrick Ryan[4]; 3. 99-Jarrett Weyant[1]; 4. 4-Brett Combs[6]; 5. 2-Mark Siciliano[7]; 6. 13-Joshua Cevela[3]; 7. 41-Joe Jiannoni[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. B8-John Barnard[1]; 2. 21-Aaron Andruskevitch[4]; 3. 5H-Joey Moughan[5]; 4. 22K-Kelli Harter[2]; 5. 14T-Evan Turner[6]; 6. 00-Matt Fair[3]; 7. (DNS) ?-Robbie Standridge
STREET STOCKS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 67R-Rudy Zaragoza[1]; 2. 21D-Jaret Duff[2]; 3. 11-Terry Reed[3]; 4. 78B-Brad Peters[4]; 5. 3D-Dustin Smith[8]; 6. 63-Cody Kitselman[6]; 7. E21-Eric Boomer[7]; 8. T83-Tyler Crow[10]; 9. 187-Korey Bailey[5]; 10. 2C-Codey Smith[11]; 11. 282-Jacob Bowen[12]; 12. 44J-Jeremy Madsen[9]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Terry Reed[1]; 2. 78B-Brad Peters[3]; 3. 21D-Jaret Duff[6]; 4. 3D-Dustin Smith[2]; 5. 44J-Jeremy Madsen[4]; 6. 282-Jacob Bowen[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 67R-Rudy Zaragoza[4]; 2. 187-Korey Bailey[1]; 3. 63-Cody Kitselman[3]; 4. E21-Eric Boomer[5]; 5. T83-Tyler Crow[2]; 6. 2C-Codey Smith[6]
MICROS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 65E-Chad Elliott[8]; 2. 69T-Trey Erdmann[3]; 3. 71-Jaxton Wiggs[14]; 4. B8-John Barnard[5]; 5. 9C-Coleman Gilpin[12]; 6. 3-Johnny Huddleston[11]; 7. 30R-Lance Rockwell[9]; 8. 31E-Eric Erdmann[6]; 9. 5-Blake Galloway[21]; 10. 6-Cliff Powell[18]; 11. 01-Randy Huddleston[13]; 12. 55S-Daryn Stark[2]; 13. 11-Alex Midkiff[1]; 14. 5B-Chad Baldwin[17]; 15. 00-Joe Taft[16]; 16. 25-Tyler Grafton[19]; 17. 8W-Breanna Wirth[7]; 18. 21-Aarik Andruskevitch[4]; 19. 4-Chris DiBart[15]; 20. 09-Jayden Lucassen[10]; 21. 00X-Bryce Fair[20]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 31E-Eric Erdmann[1]; 2. 69T-Trey Erdmann[4]; 3. 8W-Breanna Wirth[5]; 4. 30R-Lance Rockwell[7]; 5. 00-Joe Taft[3]; 6. 6-Cliff Powell[2]; 7. (DNS) 5-Blake Galloway
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 55S-Daryn Stark[2]; 2. 21-Aarik Andruskevitch[4]; 3. 65E-Chad Elliott[5]; 4. 9C-Coleman Gilpin[1]; 5. 5B-Chad Baldwin[3]; 6. 71-Jaxton Wiggs[7]; 7. 25-Tyler Grafton[6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Alex Midkiff[5]; 2. B8-John Barnard[4]; 3. 09-Jayden Lucassen[3]; 4. 01-Randy Huddleston[1]; 5. 3-Johnny Huddleston[6]; 6. 4-Chris DiBart[7]; 7. 00X-Bryce Fair[2]