Rusty Schlenk continued his dominance on a hot and humid night of racing at Oakshade Raceway Saturday night winning his sixth UMP Late Model Feature of the year.

Casey Noonan started on the pole of the Raceway Energy sponsored UMP Late Model Feature and immediately took the lead at the drop of the green flag. Noonan began to pull away from Greg Martin in the opening laps.

Rusty Schlenk started ninth and quickly reeled in Noonan for the race lead. Schlenk closed the deal for the lead on lap 10 and then started to open up his advantage.

It was the second consecutive week the UMP Late Model Feature ran caution free with a lot of great racing action throughout the field.

Schlenk smoked the competition with a half track advantage over second place Casey Noonan at the finish. Justin Paxton moved up after starting 12th and got by Hillard Miller to finish third. Ronnie Perrine Jr. finished fifth.

Schlenk has been comfortably in the Oakshade Raceway UMP Late Model points lead as well as in the UMP Sportsman points lead, but Josh Steinacker has been closing the Sportsman points gap the past few weeks.

Steinacker, having won the past three UMP Sportsman Features at Oakshade, drew a pole starting position for the feature on Saturday.

With Steinacker leading, Rusty Schlenk was working his way toward the front when a flat tire sent him spinning as he came off turn two on the third lap. Luckily for Schlenk, the rest of the field made it by without contact. Schlenk then proceeded to bring his car back to the pits for service and had the tire changed before the race resumed. He rejoined the field at the back of the pack for the restart.

Chris Keller moved up to second and both he and Steinacker pulled away from the rest of the competitors. Keller eventually got close enough to start putting pressure on Steinacker for the lead, but then the yellow flag came out after Jason Smith spun with six laps to go.

Steinacker got a good restart and Keller never could close in enough to make bid for the lead giving Steinacker his fourth UMP Sportsman Feature win in a row and his fifth of the year.

Steve Mills had a strong third place finish behind Keller. Schlenk worked all the way back up through the entire field to salvage a fourth place finish just ahead of Mike Jessen.

Rob Anderzack led most of the Bomber A Main in an attempt to get his first A Main win of the year. Kevin Hanford, Dan Dippman and Jim Scout ran just behind Anderzack for much of the race as they tried to find away around the leader.

Jake Rendel, second in Oakshade Bomber points when the night began, was up in the top five battling until he and Dippman got hooked together which resulted in Rendel spinning down the backstretch and into the infield which did not bring out the caution flag.

Anderzack held on to the lead for as long as he could until Jim Scout eventually got around the 8A car shortly before the conclusion of the race. It was Scouts fifth Bomber A Main win of the year and further tightens and already heated Bomber points battle with Tom Ordway and Jake Rendel.

Anderzack held on to finish second ahead of Tom Ordway, Kevin Hanford and Ron Tolles. Dan Dippman would have finished fifth, but he was penalized for contact with Hanford that sent Hanford spinning across the finish line at the checkered flag.

Rookie driver Dean Thompson shot out to a big lead early in the Bomber B Main after starting on the pole.

Danny Hogrefe closed the gap and put the pressure on Thompson. The leaders came up on a lapped car going into turn three on the final lap. Thompson, still with the lead, dove to the inside as Hogrefe darted to the outside of the lapped car. Hogrefe went in a little to fast and had to check up allowing Thompson to go on to his first ever feature win.

BJ Gregory finished third behind Hogrefe who managed to hold on to second. Cody Tredway had another good finish in fourth with Dustin Sauter rounding out the top five.

Wade Rick was another driver trying to win from the pole. Rick appeared to be well on his way, but Kyle Light who started near the back had the advantage of some cautions in the Bomber C Main to be able to close up behind Rick in second.

The two drivers put on a heated battle for the lead with Light diving to the inside and edging ahead in the corners, but Rick maintained his momentum and edged ahead on the straightaways.

Light made one last ditch effort to the inside of Rick coming off turn four on the final lap, but it wasn’t enough as Wade Rick was just able to hold him off to pick up the victory.

Terry Rushlow finished third followed by Jim Plotts and Corrina Belcher.

Oakshade Raceway will host another American Late Model Series program paying $2000 to the winner of the UMP Late Model Feature on Saturday, August 5. UMP Sportsmen and Bombers will also be back in racing action with the gates opening at 4pm and racing at 7pm.

Justin Paxton of Lambertville, MI appeared to be on his way to his second UMP Late Model Feature of the year at Oakshade Raceway on Saturday night after building a straightaway lead over the rest of the competitors.

Country Charm Cafe in Metamora, OH put up lap money for all of the evenings feature race lap leaders. Paxton took most of that money in the UMP Late Model Feature leading 24 of the 25-lap event.

Rusty Schlenk worked his way up to second and then had to make up a lot of race track to mount a challenge on Paxton. That was exactly what he did, wheeling his car through lapped traffic until he caught the 34 car of Paxton.

Paxton was caught behind a group of soon to be lapped cars that were racing each other fairly hard as the white flag flew setting up a dramatic finish.

Schlenk tried to stick his car to the inside going into turn three for the final time. Paxton, feeling the pressure, had to make a move on the slower traffic in front of him to try to hang on the the lead, but contact with Josh Steinacker slowed Paxton just enough to allow Schlenk to get alongside coming off of turn four.

With no traffic on the inside, Schlenk powered off turn four in a drag race to the checkered flag with Paxton having to negotiate slower traffic on the outside.

Schlenk made up an impressive deficit without the aid of any caution flags to capture his fifth UMP Late Model Feature win of the year at Oakshade Raceway.

Paxton settled for a second place finish with Hillard Miller ending up third after starting 12th. Rody Schroyer was fourth and Zack Olger was fifth.

Bruce Stuart had a problem at the beginning of the UMP Sportsman Feature and was slow at the drop of the green flag after starting on the pole. The field stacked up behind him and eventually ended up in a big pile up in turn two. Many cars involved pitted and made it back out to the track before the complete restart.

Ray Klawitter led the first lap back under green with Josh Steinacker closing. Steinacker took control by lap two, but Klawitter kept the pressure on for a few laps until Steinacker began to extend his advantage.

Steinacker went on to pick up the easy victory which was the third consecutive UMP Sportsman Feature win for the Grass Lake, MI driver. Brian Fisher held off Rusty Schlenk for a second place finish and Schlenk settled for third after starting near the back of the field and avoiding the first lap pile up.

Klawitter slipped back to finish fourth followed by Joe Derbeck.

Ron Tolles jumped out to the lead in the Bomber A Main after starting on the outside of the front row.

Tom Ordway started right behind Tolles and began to put the pressure on for the lead. Ordway took over the top position by lap four with Jake Rendel closing in quickly.

Rendel made the move on Ordway to take the lead by lap six. Ordway hung with Rendel for most of the remainder of the race, but Rendel had the car to beat as he went on to post his fourth A Main win of the year which further tightens an already close Bomber points race between Ordway, Rendel and Jim Scout.

Craig Dippman finished third behind Ordway with Ron Tolles and Garry Domoe finishing fourth and fifth respectively. Scout had back luck earlier in the night and had to start 20th in the feature but ended up salvaging a seventh place finish.

Karl Spoores and David Goben raced side by side for the lead in the early running of the Bomber B Main until Spoores slipped up a bit in the corner. Goben took over the lead but then felt some heat from Chris Williams, Jarrett Rendel and B.J. Gregory.

Spoores closed back in on the leaders and then lost control coming off turn four. His car came to a stop in the infield at the end of the front stretch which brought out a caution.

Williams went on to hold off Gregory and Rendel for the win. Roger Davenport started 16th and ended up fourth followed by Bob Rendel in fifth. Goben slipped back to finish sixth.

Billy Garland led early in an action packed Bomber C Main that featured a slew of different race leaders.

Jeff Krotzer got into Garland while racing for the lead and spun Garland to take over the race lead. A short while later, Josh Overmyer overtook Krotzer for the top position, but Krotzer fought back to reclaim the lead.

Jared Rohrs closed in on the back of Krotzer on the final lap. Rohrs got into the back of Krotzer sending the 31 car spinning in turn four as Rohrs continued on to pick up the checkered flag.

Overmyer finished second with Garland recovering to finish third. Krotzer gathered back control of his car to take home a fourth place finish with Donovan Paskin finishing fifth just behind all that actiion.

Saturday, July 29, is Raceway Energy’s Night at Oakshade Raceway featuring a regular racing program of UMP Late Models, UMP Sportsmen and Bombers. Gates open at 4pm with racing at 7pm.

Torrential rains in the days leading up the the scheduled 9th Annual Birthday Race/UMP Summer Nationals Finale threatened to make the event a washout, but the hard-working crew at Oakshade Raceway was determined to have the track ready for race day.

Pumping out the infield until 3am Saturday morning helped have the track in great racing condition for Saturday evening. The rest of the grounds were a bit soggy here and there, but that did not stop a huge crowd from gathering at Oakshade Raceway’s premiere event of the summer.

Sixty-seven Late Models qualified for a chance to make it in to the big 60-lap Birthday Race Late Model Feature paying $10,000 to the winner and $500 just for making the field of 21 starters.

The front row paired up Oakshade regular Rusty Schlenk alongside defending UMP Summer Nationals Champion Shannon Babb. Babb got the advantage at the start and never looked back.

The race started off a bit sloppy with three cautions within the first three laps. After a couple cautions on lap 16 for Dan Wallace and Jerry Bowersock in separate incidents, the race ran caution free all the way to the finish.

Babb lead Wendell Wallace after the last restart with Schlenk in third. Schlenk took advantage of lapped traffic and moved by Wallace to take second around lap 40.

Babb had opened up a straightaway lead over Schlenk, but Schlenk began to cut into that advantage ever so slightly in the closing laps while both drivers continued to navigate through lapped traffic.

Not enough laps remained for Schlenk to get within striking distance as Shannon Babb from Moweaqua, IL went on to win the 9th Annual Birthday Race earning himself a check for $10,000. Babb was also crowned the 2006 UMP Summer Nationals Champion for the second consecutive year.

Considering the company he was in, Rusty Schlenk was not too disappointed with his second place finish. Wendell Wallace held off Jeep Van Wormer at the finish to hang on to third. Randy Korte was fifth and Dennis Erb started 16th and finished sixth.

After the victory lane celebration on the front stretch with the champaign spraying everywhere concluded, the Bomber A Main took to the track with the top two in Bomber points starting beside one another in the front row. That being Tom Ordway and Jim Scout

Ordway got the early jump and led the first lap in front of Scout, but Scout would be leading the way by the completion of lap two.

Chris Dotson put on a show for the fans after losing control and doing a 360 in front of the flag stand and never lifting off the gas and not getting hit by any other cars.

The race continued until a late caution for Dean Thompson would tighten up the field behind Jim Scout.

Scout went on to win the Bomber A Main in an effort to reclaim the Bomber points lead in a very tight race. Ordway posted a second place finish followed by Garry Domoe, Brian Przepiora and Jake Rendel.

Chris Williams and Chris Howard put on an exciting show in the Bomber B Main trading the lead every other lap until lap 7 when Howard was able to hold off Williams to lead two consecutive laps for the first time in the race.

While those two raced each other, Dan Dippman closed in and got by both Williams and Howard to take the lead on lap eight.

Howard made a final surge back to the lead on the final lap, but Dippman got back around to lead at the finish line giving Dippman his first feature win of the year.

Howard finished second followed by BJ Gregory who was racing among the leaders the entire race. Chris Williams slipped back to finish fourth and Dave Sibberson was fifth.

The Bomber C Main can sometimes get pretty ugly, but not tonight. The race ran caution free with some pretty great side by side racing.

Brad Blonde got by Rick Dippman on the second lap to take the lead and then set sail. Blonde opened up a commanding lead over a heated battle for second between, Gene Potridge, Rick Dippman, Satch Crispen and Richard Noonan III.

Blonde went on to take the checkered flag with Crispen finally winning the battle for second. Potridge was third followed by Dippman and Noonan.

Oakshade Raceway will be back to its regular Saturday night racing program on July 22 which is Country Charm Cafe Night featuring the UMP Late Model, UMP Sportsman and Bomber divisions. Gates open at 4pm with racing at 7pm.