(Bill W) June 16, 2015 – Bad luck has plagued Joey Moughan this year. His JM Motorsports #17M has been fast on the racetrack, qualifying for every MOWA Dash this season, but bad luck has followed. That ended Saturday night at Route 45 Raceway in Flora, Illinois when he picked up his first win of 2015. This weekend, he’ll drive the Wilson Brothers 360 in USCS action in Greenville, Mississippi.
Joey drew a starting spot inside row two for his heat race on Saturday in Flora. “They had a couple small cells come through,” he says of the weather. “One got us right before the heats. All that did, was make the track better. That helped them out a lot. It helped me out too. We had a good car in the heat race. We were able to use the moisture and get out front. Man, we were fast!”
He drew outside row one for the Dash. “I couldn’t take off on the starts well all night long,” says Joey. “We were stumbling. We ended up running second. We broke a right front shock. That was pretty good, because it put us on the outside of the front row (for the main event).”
Cars pushed off for the feature. “It was misting as soon as the feature started,” says Joey. “I was penalized a row for jumping the first start. I just couldn’t get the car to take off on the initial start. We were really good on long runs though. I had it rich for the longer straightaways. That’s what happened.”
Joey wasn’t deterred by moving back to row two. “I was able to get around (Hunter) Schuerenberg and my uncle Jim (Moughan) right off the bat,” he says. “I was chasing Korey (Weyant) down. He led most of the race. He had a great car. I had a hard time getting by him. I couldn’t get him on open air, but I got him in lapped traffic. That was called back for a yellow.”
Restarting second, he worked hard to take the lead from Weyant. “We had a pretty good race,” says Joey. “I started trying some different lines. In dirty air, I couldn’t pass him. I was able to get the bottom going in one and two and started challenging him. He went to the bottom in three and four. I think he had a rear-end starting to lock up, and I got around him on the top.”
The race was called after fifteen of the 25 laps were completed. “We were cruising the last five laps or so before there was a red flag for AJ Bruns,” says Joey. “That’s when it really started pouring. They called the race at that point. For all the bad luck I’ve had, at that point, I took it! A win is a win!”
If the race had been concluded, bad luck likely would have sidelined him again. “When I got home and looked at the tire, there was a hole in it,” says Joey. “I had run over something. I probably wouldn’t have been able to restart if we kept racing. For all the bad luck we’ve had, something finally went our way!”
Joey feels good about the car’s speed this season. “We’ve had our share (of bad luck) in the last two years,” he says. “I don’t know how many nights we’ve run up front and something always seemed to happen. We just couldn’t put it all together, but finally Saturday, everything went well and we put a night together. When you go through a drought like we have, you wonder if it’s going to happen again. We’ve made every Dash this year with MOWA, so I kept telling myself as long as you’re up front you’re going to put it together sooner or later.”
He is very thankful for his supporters. “I couldn’t do it without all the people that support me,” says Joey. “To get a win for them is great. The people that help me are pretty amazing. We tried some new plug wires from Tommy Scott this week (Multi-fire High Performance Spark Plug Wires). They made the motor a little crisper. It definitely had some more power.”
Joey will be heading south this weekend. “We’re going to race the Wilson Brothers car with USCS this weekend,” he says. “I can’t thank them enough for sticking with me here. I have the weekend off with my stuff, so we’re able to go race with them. They are great people. We’d like to get a win for them.”
Joey’s Releases
If you’d like to be added to Joey’s e-mail list, e-mail sprntcar@hotmail.com with “Joey” in the Subject Line.
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Joey and the JM Motorsports team would like to thank: Moughan Electric, Modern Paving and Scrap, Conaways Handyman Service, Jared Culbertson Transport, Inc., Ciltrak, Glenn Brothers Garage Doors, Fire and Ale, Bob Hawks Autobody, Wilson Brothers Motorsports, Seth Motsinger Motorsports, Law Automotive, Racebumpers.com, Maxim Chassis, Claxton Engines, DMI, Simpson Race Products, Butlerbuilt Seats, Ti-64 Titanium Products, Supershox, Multi-Fire Spark Plug Wires, and Engler Injection.
Also want to thank: Moughan Electric, Modern Paving and Scrap,
Conaways Handyman Service, Jared Culbertson Transport inc, Ciltrak, Glenn Brothers Garage Doors, Fire and Ale, Bob Hawks Autobody, Wilson Brothers Motorsports, Seth Motsinger Motorsports, Law Automotive, Racebumpers.com, Maxim Chassis, Claxton Engines, DMI, Simpson Race Products, Butlerbuilt Seats, Ti-64 Titanium Products, Supershox, Multi-Fire spark plug wires, and engBill W Media
Twitter: @BillWMedia
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