Jacksonville, IL (June 16, 2023) – Steven Russell made his first start with the Morrow Brothers Ford MOWA Sprint Car Series since 2016 and his performance paid off, as he bested the field at Jacksonville Speedway on Friday night.
A fourth place finish in his heat race, after advancing three spots from his seventh-starting spot allowed the Rochester, IL driver to make his way into the A-Main redraw, where he was lucky enough to draw the pole position for the 25-Lap affair.
Russell used his prior knowledge and experience from turning laps at Jacksonville to help push him to his first career MOWA Sprint Car Series win at the track he considered his “home track” for a number of years in the early days of his racing career. Having to fend off challenges in the early portion of the race from fifth-starting Gage Montgomery, Russell knew he would have to drive a smart race should he want to be in Victory Lane at the end of the race.
Manuevering his machine through lapped traffic allowed for Montgomery, Korey Weyant and Joey Moughan to shorten his lead in the closing laps of the race. Weyant set his #47 Samonds Racing entry up on the high side, trying to track down Russell, hoping to pick up his second MOWA victory of the season.
In the final few laps, Russell was able to get lapped traffic to work in his favor to comfortably pull away from the field to secure his first-career MOWA Sprint Car Series victory. Korey Weyant, Joey Moughan, Will Armitage and Zach Daum completed the top five.
The Morrow Brothers Ford MOWA Sprint Car Series now shifts their focus to Macon Speedway, in nearby Macon, Illinois for a night of “fifth-mile smiles” to end the double-header weekend.
The finish:
Feature (25 laps): 1. 1JR-Steven Russell [1], 2. 47-Korey Weyant [9], 3. 31M-Joey Moughan [4], 4. 7A-Will Armitage [2], 5. 31-Zach Daum [8], 6. 79-Gage Montgomery [5], 7. 9X-Paul Nienhiser [3], 8. 3N-Jake Neuman [6], 9. 56-Mitchell Davis [7], 10. 77U-Chris Urish [13]. 11. 52F-Logan Faucon [18], 12. 99-Bret Tripplett [14], 13. 28-Jason Keith [15], 14. 33$-Shane O’Banion [11], 15. 83-Colton Fisher [22], 16. 83B-Jeff Beasley [16], 17. 6-Corey Nelson [23], 18. 42-Preston Perlmutter-DNF [17], 19. 8-Cory Bruns-DNF [12], 20. 10S-Jeremy Standridge-DNF [10], 21. 13-Van Gurley, Jr. – DNF [13], 22. 00-Robbie Standridge – DNF [19], 23. 90-Patrick Budde – DNF [21].