Chris Keller and Tim Fisher took top honors in the Sportsman Twin 25’s at Oakshade Raceway Saturday night.

Fast qualifier John Bailey drew for the inversion for the first segment of the Twin 25’s and ended up having the 12 fastest qualifiers inverted for the start. That put Rusty Smith on the pole and he took advantage of it by pulling away from Dale Cole with the early lead.

Keller worked his way up to second by lap nine after starting in the fifth position.

The first yellow flag flew on lap 11 when Randy Franks spun and Jackie Sheldrick plowed in late in turns three and four.

Keller took over the lead right after the restart as Smith began falling back through the field.

Jason Smith’s engine went up in smoke and his car came to a stop in turn two on lap 19 to bring out the second caution flag. Jason Smith was done for the night.

A series of cautions continued to slow the field in the final laps of the first 25-lap segment. Ray Klawitter spun on lap 21. Ron Shultz got into the rear of Brad Kendall (two-time Twin 25’s winner) sending the number 42 car around in turn three. Then on the ensuing restart, Shultz flew off the top of turn one for another yellow.

Tim Fisher was running third when his right rear tire went down. The caution came out for debris and Fisher went to the pits to get the tire changed. Fisher rejoined the race before the field went back to green.

Chris Keller went on to pick up his first feature win holding off Mike Jessen and Dale Cole in the first 25-lap segment of the Twin 25’s.

Lead lap cars were inverted for the start second 25-lap segment, which was run after the bomber A Main. That put Tim Fisher on the pole after his bad luck with the flat tire at the end of the first race.

A huge pile up on lap 31 (lap 6 of the second segment) brought out the only red flag of the night with the track almost completely blocked. The incident started when John Bailey and Mike Sudeth got together while battling for second in turn two. Dale Cole, Joe Derbeck, Bill Huston, Brian Fisher and Randy Franks were also involved.

Ray Klawitter took over second and put some pressure on race leader Tim Fisher for a few laps after the restart. Fisher eventually began to pull away with the lead.

Fisher went on to pick up the easy win in the second 25-lap segment of the Sportsman Twin 25’s. Mike Jessen took the second spot away from Klawitter on the final lap. Brian Przepiora finished fourth and Brad Kendall ended up fifth.

Andy Borton had trouble in the early laps of the bomber A Main. Borton spun to bring out the yellow after some contact with Bill Couts on lap two. Borton then spun just after the restart.

Matt Shipley led the first couple laps of the race until Dan Dippman got by on lap three. Shipley came to a stop coming off turn four the following lap and clipped Curt Lancaster, shearing off his wheel and sending Lancaster slamming into the front stretch wall and spinning down the front stretch.

Dippman continued to lead until Jake Rendel finally got by after several laps of riding on his back bumper. Two laps later on lap 13, Gary Domoe spun to bring out the yellow with just a couple laps left in the race.

Rendel went on to hold off Bob Gregory to pick up his fifth bomber A Main victory of the year. Bill Couts was third followed by Dan Dippman and Ron Tolles.

Steve Reeves and Jacob Gamber got together on the first lap of the bomber B Main causing another big wreck involving Brian Stricklin, Richard Patton, Gene Potridge, Al McKenzie and Rob Anderzack in addition to Gamber and Reeves. That resulted in a complete restart with the cars able to continue starting at the rear.

Joe Smith passed Karl Spores to lead lap one, but then Smith fell off the pace and went to the pits. Spores then held the lead until Dave Sibberson got by on lap five. Spores then slowed and retired to the pits the very next lap.

Sibberson led the remaining laps and was first to the checkered flag. Jared Rendel finished second ahead of Jody Burton, Chris Williams and Tim Zuver.

After a couple of early cautions in the bomber C Main, Jesse Burgett led a three car break away with Dan Drummond and Rob Price.

Burgett spun on lap five while being passed for the lead by Drummond to bring out another yellow.

Brad Blonde had luck on his side. He took second away from Rob Price with three laps to go. Then on the final lap, Dan Drummond had the checkered flag in sight coming off turn four, but Drummond got caught up with the lapped car of Sean Smith. Blonde took advantage and drove by Drummond to win his first bomber feature of the year.

Drummond managed to finish second with Rob Price third.

Topless late models (roofs cut off) and the 5th Annual Bomber Spectacular paying $1000 to the winner of the bomber A Main feature will highlight the final Saturday night racing program of the year at Oakshade Raceway on September 25.

Ray Klawitter won the 25-lap Sportsman Season Championship Feature at Oakshade Raceway, but could not defend his points championship from 2003 ending up second this year.

Tim Fisher took a 104-point advantage into the evening’s races over Ray Klawitter and despite some bad luck suffered by Fisher in the feature, he unofficially claimed the 2004 Sportsman Track Championship.

Things got exciting early in the sportsman feature with Brian Fisher leading the first lap after going three wide. Klawitter would snatch the lead away two laps later and never looked back.

The first yellow flag came out on lap nine for Steve Kester. While under the yellow, Tim Fisher suffered a flat tire and gave up a top five position on the track to change the tire back in the pits. Fisher rejoined competition just as the field was going back to green.

Chris Keller started 12th and worked his way up to second by lap 14.

A few late cautions kept the field tight with Klawitter continuing to lead Keller. The last caution came out with two laps remaining after Jeremy Grover spun and collected a couple other cars including the 4 car of Tim Fisher. Fisher retired to the pits for the final two laps.

Klawitter went on to hold off Chris Keller to pick up his sixth sportsman feature win of the year. Brian Fisher took third with Brian Przepiora and Brad Kendall rounding out the rest of the top five finishers.

Josh Steinacker led a much tighter bomber points race with a 33 point lead over Jim Scout and a 41 point cushion ahead of Jake Rendel as the night began. Steinacker started on the pole of the feature, but suffered mechanical problems early in the race and did not finish.

Billy Ruff started on the outside of the front row and took the lead early over Josh Steinacker.

Bob Rendel got loose in turn four on lap three and got into Ron Tolles to bring out the first yellow of the race. Both cars ended up going to the pits.

Andy Borton was running third and got sideways on the backstretch and Danny Hogrefe got into him to bring out the second yellow.

On lap six, Josh Steinacker dove to the inside of Billy Ruff to challenge for the lead, but then fell off the pace and parked his car in the infield.
Ruff then had to hold off Bill Toedter and Chuck Leininger for the lead after Steinacker’s troubles.

Leininger took the lead on lap 12 and began to pull away. Toedter had trouble coming off turn four and brought the yellow with two laps to go.

Shortly after the restart, Leininger drove his car too hard going into turns three and four, as the field was about to take the white flag. Leininger had to check up after driving way up on the top of the turns and watched at least three cars get by to the inside. One of those cars was the 65 of Bob Gregory who inherited the lead and went on to pick up the victory.

Curt Lancaster posted a second place finish with Tom Ordway finishing third. Leininger slipped back to finish fourth ahead of Jim Scout.

The official points had not been tabulated at press time, but Josh Steinacker will be the 2004 Bomber Track Champion by less than 20 points over Jim Scout, unofficially.

Bill Williams led from start to finish in the bomber B Main.

Williams led Craig Dippman and Jeff Foks Jr. in a three-car breakaway from the rest of the field. They went three wide for the lead on lap five, but Williams was able to maintain his lead.

Jeff Foks Jr. gave up third under a caution midway through the race to visit the pits. He made it back out before racing resumed, but had to restart at the back.

Williams went on to the victory and Dippman followed in second. Rob Price made a rare appearance this year to finish third ahead of Brad Blonde and Jeff Foks Jr.

Rob Anderzack closed in on Ben Thomas early on in the bomber C Main.

A wreck on lap two that involved David Goben, Steve Dempewolf, Jason Deshler and Dan Drummond brought out the first caution flag.

Anderzack challenged Thomas for the lead on the restart and finally took it on the next lap and went on to win the race. Thomas held on to second followed by Dave Sibberson, Dan Drummond and Chris Williams.

Jeff Foks Jr. started at the front of a special Australian Pursuit race sponsored by Racer’s Connection in Adrian, Michigan to finish off the evening and led the entire distance to pick up the victory.

Come on out to Oakshade Raceway on Saturday, September 18 for the exciting Third Annual Sportsman Twin 25’s. It will be the final night of competition for the sportsman division in 2004. The bombers will also be in racing action.