Morris brothers sweep wins at Davenport Speedway

DAVENPORT — It was a good night to have the name 'Morris' at Davenport Speedway on Friday night.

The brothers Morris from McCausland, Mitch and Jake, got their weekly points season started off in a big way on the 1/4-mile, each dominating their main events — both from front row starting positions. Jake got things started with a wire-to-wire win in IMCA Sport Mod, then just a few minutes later, Mitch led all 20 laps en route to a win in IMCA Modified.

It became the second time the two had won on the same night at the same track — a fact not lost on either one.

'My brother and I, we did pretty good. We work on these things every night. We make sure the cars finish the race, and went out there and gave our best,' Mitch Morris said after his win. 'It's pretty cool. We did it once last year, and to do it again this year is really special. Hopefully we can do it a couple more times.'

Jake Morris got his win first, with the event order putting Modifieds right after Sport Mod, so the 20-year-old got to watch his 26-year-old brother dominate his main event. The younger Morris paced on the stage in the infield, gesturing and cheering on his big brother.

Jake looks up to Mitch in a big way, and he was almost happier Mitch won than for himself — but still thrilled to get himself a win at Davenport after running there for years.

'It's awesome. We both won heats, too,' Jake Morris said. 'He's kind of my hero, even though he's my brother. I look up to him. It's really exciting to see us both running well.

'I've been racing here for about three years, and I could never get one here. I'm pretty excited about this one.'

Both brothers finished 2015 strong, with Mitch getting a few big wins and cracking the top 10 of the Eastern Iowa Driver Rankings for the last few weeks of the season.

The success they found at the end of last season has translated into early 2016, and both attributed that to keeping the same cars they had, plus going back to notes they had from when things were going well. They each have a head start on the points battle. As cool as wins on the same night were, season championships would be a step further.

'Same everything from last year. We didn't really tear anything up on it too bad last year,' Mitch Morris said. 'The Victory Chassis, we've got it figured out and it's going good. Those guys help us out and we (both) decided to stick with the old one. It's been good.'

They had the benefit of starting up front, but with how holes formed in Turns 3 and 4, and the heavy, tacky nature of the racing surface made it a bit of an adventure staying consistent and staying out front for both.

Both had to deal with lapped traffic, but in the end handled it with ease. Jake got his win ahead of Don Anderson and Cedar Rapids' Tony Olson (who started last). Mitch beat Bryce Garnhart — who moved up from Sport Mod to Modified this year — and Doug Crampton to win Modified.

Mitch got to watch Jake from his grid position, and obviously has kept as close an eye on Jake as Jake has on him throughout the years.

Before long a win on the same night might not be possible.

'I'd say another year or two, and he'll be in a Modified,' Mitch Morris said. '(Jake) just needs to keep doing what he's doing, keep his head in it and hopefully the wins come. Once he can afford to move up to a Modified, he should be able to hang with everyone. It'd be pretty cool to race him side-by-side.

'He's helped me and helped my dad before he hung it up. He comes to me for advice, and we work well together. It pays off for us in the end.'

DAVENPORT SPEEDWAY RESULTS

IMCA LATE MODEL

1. 39 Rob Toland; 2. 37b Brunson Behning; 3. 44 Luke Goedert; 4. 07 Matt Ryan; 5. 6 Jay Chenoweth

IMCA MODIFIED

1. 70 Mitch Morris; 2. 3g Bryce Garnhart; 3. 40 Doug Crampton; 4. 7 Todd Hansen; 5. 19d Darin Duffy

IMCA SPORT MOD

1. 86jr Jake Morris; 2. No7 Don Andersen; 3. T23 Tony Olson; 4. 1m Mike Goben; 5. 03 Casey Wages

DAVENPORT STREET STOCK

1. 96 Jesse Owen; 2. 86x Jeremy Gustaf; 3. 86 Nick Claussen; 4. 81 Cary Brown; 5. 31 Donnie Louck

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com