PONTOON BEACH, Ill. — The Morrow Brothers Ford MOWA Sprint Car Series kicked off its season with the first of two visits of the year to Tri-City Speedway as Ayrton Gennetten outran a 28-car field.

Gennetten led flag to flag to score his first career MOWA Sprint Car Series victory, finishing ahead of second-place Clinton Boyles by an astonishing 11.197 seconds.

Joe B. Miller completed the podium after charging forward from his ninth starting position.

The race was slowed by two catuions, a spin for Zach Daum running fifth on lap four and a red-flag for Ryan Bunton, who made contact with the backstretch wall before flipping and coming to a rest on his side.

Upon returning to green flag action, Gennetten was able to pull away from the field while Cale Thomas, driving the Paul Hart Racing No. 44, battled for many laps among the top three with Boyles and Joe B. Miller.

A late-race charge by Brandon Hanks earned him the honors of Hard Charger, advancing 11 spots to score a fourth-place finish, just ahead of Cale Thomas, who was fifth.

The finish:

Feature (25 Laps): 1 – Ayrton Gennetten 3 (1), 2 – Clinton Boyles 98 (4), 3 – Joe B Miller 31 (9), 4 – Brandon Hanks 84 (15), 5 – Cale Thomas 44 (2), 5 – Josh Schneiderman 49 (6), 7 – Jordan Goldesberry 65 (8), 8 – Kyle Bellm 50K (16), 9 – Korey Weyant 99W (11), 10 – McKenna Haase 55 (5), 11 – Dustin Barks 22 (13), 12 – Kyle Schuett 9K (19), 13 – Jeremy Standridge 10S (20), 14 – Mitchell Davis 56 (12), 15 – Jacob Patton 79J (10), 16 – Andy Bishop 42 (21), 17 – Steve Short 8S (14), 18 – Logan Faucon 52F (18), 19 – Zach Daum 5D (3), 20 – Ryan Bunton 6R (7), 21 – Austin ODell 3 (17)