13 year old Russell Morseman IV picks up win number 1 of young career. Steve Lebarron and Kenny Peoples Jr., Dan Gardner, Joe Birdsall and Blake Snyder pick up first wins of 2025. Isabella Morseman notches win 2 of the season.
Story by: Joe Cook
(Woodhull,NY) A passing rain shower in the afternoon would not deter the Woodhull Raceway from completing event number 3 on the season. The rain would cease and the bullring in Steuben county roared to life. It was the annual salute to law enforcement, ems, and firefighter night brought to you by Hubertus Service Station and Kens Collision. The Wicked Tees warriors would kick off the action. Izzabella Morseman and Courtney Thomas would lead the field to the first green flag of the evenings feature events. Last weeks feature winner, Izzabella Morseman, would take the advantage over Courtney. Courtney would then settle into second until she would be involved in a caution with Matthew Freeman that required red flag conditions. Both drivers would be ok but unfortunately forced to retire. Izzabella would ultimately lead the rest of the way picking up win number 2 on the young season. Bryce Matthews finished in 2nd. 3rd would go to Cadin Thomas. Courtney Thomas and Matthew Freeman would finish 4th and 5th respectively. After a brief intermission, the mighty Insinger Performance modifieds made their way to the racing service. Father/son duo Russell Morseman and Russell Morseman IV would lead the field to the green flag. The younger of the pair, Russell Morseman IV, would lead through the beginning of the race. 2024 track champion, Brady Fultz, started 3rd and worked hard to get around the Morseman duo. Finally on lap 8, Fultz was able to take the top spot. However, after leading for only one lap, the Fultz machine seemly lost power and came to a stop at the top of turn 4, bringing out the yellow and collecting Joe Dgien as well. The Morsemans would once again restart on the front row. 13 year old, Russell Morseman IV, was able to hold off his father and all challengers as he would pick up win number 1 in his very young career. Russell Morseman would have to settle for 2nd. Aiden Grover would come home 3rd. Carter Crooker finished 4th and Jake Dgien would wind up 5th. The Southern Tier Customs RUSH crate late models would be next in the lineup. Kurt Stebbins and Steve Lebarron would start on the front row for race number 2 for the late models on the year. Steve Lebarron would jump out the early lead. Former track champions, Brett Marlatt and Austin Allen, would follow each other up through picking off a couple of spots until they found themselves 2nd and 3rd. Marlatt was finally able to catch Lebarron but he would have a difficult time finding a way around. A couple late yellows would bring the field back together, but it would not matter as Steve Lebarron would hold off all challengers for his first win of 2025. Marlatt would settle for 2nd. Allen would finish in the 3rd position. Completing the top 5 were Rich Mcneal and Kurt Stebbins. The Joe Willcox Performance Automatics would be out next for their 20 lap feature event. Dale Houghtaling and Clayton Mclean would lead the field to the drop of the green flag. Clayton Mclean would get the advantage and lead lap 1. Dan Gardner would then be able to get by Mclean and he would lead most of the feature. Teddy Morseman would start in the 5th position and he made quick work to get to the front. He finally caught the back end of the Gardner machine and they would dazzle the fans for a few laps. After throwing everything he could at Gardner, Morseman was finally able to get by Gardner as they came out of turn 4. However, as they exited turn 2 Gardner was able to muscle his way back by the Morseman machine and he would lead the rest of the race with little challenge from his competitors. Teddy Morseman would have to settle for 2nd. Clayton Mclean would come home in 3rd. Dale Houghtaling would end up up in 4th, and rounding out the top 5, in a rare appearance, was Jimmy Grant. Next in the lineup, was the Hometown Excavation crate sportsman division. Branden Morseman and Quintin Buchanon lead the field to the green flag in their 25 lap feature. Branden Morseman would take the advantage and lead the first quarter of the race. However, Kenny Peoples Jr. and Tim Guild made their way up to 2nd and 3rd respectively. A yellow flag would be displayed on lap 8. Peoples and Guild would make the most of the opportunity, both getting by the Morseman machine. Peoples would take the top spot and was able to fend off Guild for the rest of the race. Peoples notched the first win of 2025. Tim Guild would be 2nd. 3rd would be Branden Morseman. Kyle Leach and Quintin Buchanon would round out the top 5 in 4th and 5th. The Wicked Tees Quad-C would be next out. Chris Small and Ryan Stone lead the field to the green flag. Blake Snyder would capitalize on his 3rd starting spot and quickly take the lead. In a green to checkered run Blake Snyder would lead all 20 laps for his first feature win of the year at the Woodhull Raceway. The Ladd Rd. Auto hobby stocks were next on the grid. Reese Hackett and Cody Byler would lead the field to the green flag. A caution would come out on lap 3, in which Joe Birdsall had already made his up to the third position from his last starting spot. Joe Birdsall and Brandon Conklin would make it to the top 2 spots. In a display of great side by side racing action, Joe Birdsall would be able to hold off Conklin after numerous late race restarts. In the end, Joe Birdsall would come back from flipping in the heat race to pick up win number 1 of the year. Brandon Conklin would settle for 2nd. Brian Austin would finish in the 3rd position. Dillon Phillip would come away 4th. Rounding out the top 5 was Scott Brown. Congratulations to all competitors involved. Next up at the Woodhull Raceway is the George Williams Memorial sponsored by the Elkland Moose.
Insinger Performance Modifieds (16)
(25 Laps): 1. 444-Russell Morseman IV[1]; 2. 44-Russell Morseman[2]; 3. 21G-Aiden Grover[6]; 4. 32-Carter Crooker[9]; 5. 21-Jake Dgien[4]; 6. 17-Dayton Brewer[12]; 7. 7-Brian Doolittle[8]; 8. 88-Brady Fultz[3]; 9. 1-Stacy Jackson[10]; 10. 06-Ryan Tracy[16]; 11. 82-Wally Wade[14]; 12. 35-Greg Crooker[11]; 13. 00X-Gregg Turner[13]; 14. (DNF) 3X-Joe Dgien[5]; 15. (DNF) 4D-Marc Goodwin[7]; 16. (DNF) 4X-Larry Keegan[15
Home Town Excavation Crate Sportsman (12)
(25 Laps): 1. 5K-Kenny Peoples Jr[5]; 2. 06-Tim Guild[6]; 3. 44M-Branden Morseman[1]; 4. 8-Kyle Leach[3]; 5. 27B-Quintin Buchanan[2]; 6. 19-Glenn Trowbridge[11]; 7. 13T-Jacob Trowbridge[9]; 8. 84-Colton Coots[4]; 9. 58-Stephen Knapp[10]; 10. (DNF) 222-Eric Brigham[8]; 11. (DNS) 25-Braden Buchanan; 12. (DNS) 88M-Scott McCray Jr
Southern Tier Customs RUSH LM (10)
(20 Laps): 1. 29-Steve LeBarron[2]; 2. 99-Brett Marlatt[5]; 3. 32-Austin Allen[8]; 4. 68-Rich McNeal Jr[6]; 5. 26-Kurt Stebbins[1]; 6. 2T-Brian Knowles[10]; 7. 121-Joe Layfield[7]; 8. 4R-Rickie Loucks[9]; 9. 32M-Marshall O'Brian[3]; 10. 07-Markus Kerr[4]
Ladd Road Auto Hobby Stocks (10)
(20 Laps): 1. 88-Joseph Birdsall[11]; 2. 1-Brandon Conklin[8]; 3. 35-Brian Austin[5]; 4. 69-Dillon Philip[4]; 5. 87-Scott Brown[3]; 6. 7B-Cody Byler[2]; 7. 007-Mike Palmer[7]; 8. 26P-Cannon Palmer[6]; 9. 4X-Joshua Stone[9]; 10. 95-Reese Hackett[1]; 11. 75-Zachary Pipe[10]
Joe Wilcox Performance Automatics Street Stocks (11)
(20 Laps): 1. 62-Dan Gardner[4]; 2. 44-Teddy Morseman Jr[5]; 3. 2-Clayton Mclean[2]; 4. EX-Dale Houghtaling[1]; 5. 36-Jimmy Grant[9]; 6. 44B-Bradly Morseman[7]; 7. 1A-Andrew Whritenour[11]; 8. 12-Ricky Sinsabaugh[10]; 9. (DNF) 31-Mick Seeley[8]; 10. (DNF) 51-Thomas Moon[6]; 11. (DNF) 19-Michael Williams[3]
Wicked Tees Woodhull Warriors (5)
(10 Laps): 1. 44-Izzabella Morseman[1]; 2. 17D-Bryce Mathews[5]; 3. (DNF) 65-Cadin Thomas[4]; 4. (DNF) 44M-Courtney Thomas[2]; 5. (DNF) 1-Matthew Freeman[3]
Wicked Tees Quad-C (15)
(20 Laps): 1. 18-Blake Snyder[3]; 2. 97-Chris Woodard[4]; 3. 14M-Tony Dickerson[8]; 4. 5-Wesley Houghtaling[5]; 5. 26-Nate Freeland[12]; 6. 00-Chris Small[1]; 7. 44M-Danielle Thomas[6]; 8. 44-Kayleigh Morseman[7]; 9. 17D-Dalton Mathews[9]; 10. 39-Ryan Stone[2]; 11. 11-Brock Perry[11]; 12. 52N-joseph Gillespie[15]; 13. 1-Jessie Smith[14]; 14. 93-Justin Wilson[13]; 15. 273-Kevin Williams[10]